As we told you earlier, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten fired up her trusty gaslight in a truly shameless effort to convince the American public that she’s ackshually been fighting for what’s best for our kids this whole time.
Thankfully after two years of disruption from a pandemic that killed more than 1 mil Americans, schools are already working on helping kids recover and thrive. This is a year to accelerate learning by rebuilding relationships, focusing on the basics https://t.co/FuqozCPONK
— Randi Weingarten ☮️🇺🇦🇺🇸 (@rweingarten) September 1, 2022
That’s what we in the biz like to call chutzpah.
https://t.co/MXaCyFflUy pic.twitter.com/4BcJ42iVfa
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) September 1, 2022
Notably, the piece she linked to to toot her own horn was this one from the New York Times:
Breaking News: Test results show the pandemic’s effect on U.S. students: The math and reading scores of 9-year-olds dropped steeply, erasing two decades of progress. https://t.co/m571VGe4Lc
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 1, 2022
Notice anything interesting about the tweet? Or the headline?
“The pandemic.”
Even now, the Times can't bring itself to write "Lockdowns" or "School Closures" in the headline.
The virus didn't devastate the kids. The government did. pic.twitter.com/nJzwnQmXlz
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) September 1, 2022
Come on, New York Times. Surely you know better.
Not "the pandemic" but the decisions of leaders to keep kids out of school.
In FL, @GovRonDeSantis prioritized in-person education. As a result in 21-22:
-Statewide, students improved math performance & maintained in ELA
-Afr.Am. and Hispanic students narrowed achievement gaps https://t.co/3evdF88gbe— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) September 1, 2022
Or, New York Times, maybe you guys are just trying to CYA.
NYT headline fail. “The pandemic” didn’t erase two decade of student achievement results. Our leaders did by keeping schools closed.
(And the NYT times contributed by stoking unnecessary fear of returning kids to in-person learning.) pic.twitter.com/zAaFwrHUdO
— Marc Porter Magee 🎓 (@marcportermagee) September 1, 2022
This isn’t the pandemic. This is how we responded to it. You were cheering it on.
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) September 1, 2022
It’s on you and we won’t forget it. pic.twitter.com/pC7ra47R0w
— Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) September 1, 2022
No matter how badly they want us to forget.
The decisions we make in a crisis matter.
A lot of our leaders failed to put kids first. A lot of media misreported the risk to kids.
Accountability matters.
— Marc Porter Magee 🎓 (@marcportermagee) September 1, 2022
Accountability does matter.
So why won’t the New York Times hold the accountable parties accountable?
This is not the pandemic's effect. Kids in Sweden had almost no learning loss. This is the effect of public policy choices by some parts of U.S. https://t.co/43ILf4ZZsj
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) September 1, 2022
COVID-19 does not have a learning loss or homicide spike or drug overdose effect, public policy does though.
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) September 1, 2022
What's with all the passive voice, schools just closed themselves? pic.twitter.com/0X4Mt6E9UX
— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) September 1, 2022
Apparently we’re supposed to believe that schools are sentient beings afraid of catching COVID.
We feel like we’ve been saying this a lot lately — a lot today alone — but they really think we’re stupid.
Correction: how the unions and district schools *handled* the pandemic erased two decades of progress. https://t.co/U3Ll5JL2bZ
— Jason Bedrick (@JasonBedrick) September 1, 2022
Dishonest NYT reporting intentionally aided and abetted the school closures that predictably caused this.
Don't you dare blame it on "the pandemic." https://t.co/Av0Z6dVALZ pic.twitter.com/RY3szUgWmk
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) September 1, 2022
Don't blame COVID for what AAP and teachers unions did to kids. pic.twitter.com/Cs0Tnh9XZN
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) September 1, 2022
Pediatricians were supposed to care about kids. But they put politics first. In a literal joint statement with the teachers unions. Never forget.https://t.co/d1jKfHz0z4
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) September 1, 2022
Congratulations to all of the “experts,” politicians, teacher’s unions, media outlets and activist doctors who did everything in their power to keep schools closed and mandate masks because it suited their political agenda https://t.co/7BEcVSPDd3
— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) September 1, 2022
Great job.
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