Judge Jeanine: Our kids have suffered tremendously because of Randi Weingarten
'The Five' co-hosts discuss American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's role in pushing COVID school closures that harmed the education progress of the nation's public school children.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten doubled down Monday on a blameless approach toward decisions made during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of which had resulted in catastrophic consequences for children's academic proficiencies.
About an article arguing for "pandemic amnesty," Weingarten said, "I agree."
"We need to forgive one another for what we did and said when we were in the dark about COVID," the article said.
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The tweet accumulated a barrage of condemnation for Weingarten's pandemic policies, which pushed for school closures.
For example, Outkick's Clay Travis said, "you were 100% wrong on shutdowns and refuse to apologize for it. If you had any decency at all, you'd resign for presiding over the greatest American education failure of our lives."
Actor Nick Searcy accused Weingarten of "ruin[ing] more children's lives than the Grinch."
Randi Weingarten was compared by a critic as being worse than the "Grinch" over her lockdown policies. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images | Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A spokesperson for Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Jeremy Redfern, said, "Randi, of all people, doesn’t get anything resembling 'amnesty.'"
Republican strategist Matt Whitlock said, "The grim reaper of COVID school lockdowns won't admit she did anything wrong."
Republican nominee in the Michigan gubernatorial race, Tudor Nixon, accused Weingarten of "trying to rewrite history."
Just the day before Weingarten was called a "backpedaling hack" for penning a tweet about "everyone" suffering during the pandemic as the nation's report card reveals drastic impacts to reading and math skills.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2017. (REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein)
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"The bottom line is everyone suffered in the pandemic… because of the pandemic. The disruption was everywhere, and it was bad regardless of whether schools were remote or in person. We are focused now on the urgent need to help kids recover and thrive," Weingarten had tweeted.
Contributing editor at the Spectator, Stephen Miller, said, "Here's another example of ‘It’s not important for who is to blame.'"
(Fox News)
Math scores saw their largest decreases ever, while reading scores dropped to levels not seen since 1992 for fourth and eighth graders across the country, according to the Nation’s Report Card.
The average mathematics score for fourth-grade students fell five points from 2019 to 2022. The score for eighth graders dropped eight points. Reading for both grades fell three points since 2019.
American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten famously pushed shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Research at Harvard and Stanford found that achievement losses "were larger in higher poverty districts."
The study revealed that the pandemic "widened disparities in achievement between high and low-poverty schools."
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Furthermore, the study shows that a "quarter of schools with the highest shares of students receiving federal lunch subsidies missed two-thirds of a year of math learning, while the quarter of schools with the fewest low-income students lost two-fifths of a year."
Fox News Digital reached out to the AFT for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson and Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.