Thread by @karenvaites

The trouble with @michelleinbklyn’s latest, and her last:

Parents (and behind the scenes, superintendents & pro-open schools teachers!) judge AFT and @rweingarten by actions.

Michelle is judging her by her PR efforts.

Big difference.

Some thoughts…

nytimes.com/2022/01/10/opi…

If @michelleinbklyn was going to link one of my recent tweets from her piece, I'd have suggested this.

It doesn't fit her narrative, tho... it's Randi using meaningless data to fear monger about school safety. (Read the whole thread.)

Which is my point.

https://twitter.com/karenvaites/status/1480247391156682753?s=20

Her Chicago tweet fits pattern from the last year, as parents saw it.

When Randi intervened, it was often fear-and-doubt sowing. Respectfully, I think parents watched this far more closely than @michelleinbklyn.

And then there is the locals.

I mean…

wwlp.com/news/health/co…

I was hearing from Baltimore teachers last night at 7pm. They still didn’t know if schools would pivot to remote.

How’s that feel for families, nearing year 2 of disruption?

The union wanted two weeks remote, period. Compromise below.

I could go on.

wbaltv.com/article/baltim…

If you look at what Weingarten and affiliates were *actually doing,* not what they were saying in reporter conversations and parent round tables… it tells a very clear story of impeding opening/reopening.

The ancient history of last year recounted here (long, sorry).

https://twitter.com/karenvaites/status/1472024773601509377

And you cannot tell me that it’s all about safety.

Exhibit A was all the locals pushing for rent relief and a break from state testing as reopening conditions last year. (I could go on.)

Exhibit Eight Million:

https://twitter.com/j_g_allen/status/1480537325792907271

But @michelleinbklyn & I agree on a lot.

We agree @rweingarten faces challenge of a field fearful of health risk from in-person, even when NONE has been proven.

Teachers’ anxiety is heartbreaking.

Q: when’s @rweingarten going to be held accountable for her role in that fear??

If this is what @rweingarten @BeckyPringle were saying to @AlecMacGillis in autumn, 2020…

Can you imagine what was happening behind the scenes??

Teachers’ fears didn’t just happen – and critically, there is no evidence of these “leaders” working to address them since.

https://twitter.com/karenvaites/status/1358773561972977664

Every day I see Q’s like this. Why do they persist?

Look at the replies. Why is it parents, not AFT, sharing Duke & CDC studies that show teachers aren’t at risk?

Look at AFT, NEA, Randi, Becky Twitter feeds. Have they shared any of that research, EVER?

LOOK AT THE ACTIONS.

https://twitter.com/chm91364/status/1478009184817975298

Accountability journalism would look like: digging into what Randi is doing for a national field in which many have deep fears about going to work.

Ask for, evaluate evidence of what she has done to address fears.

Same for reopenings. FOIA districts. Look at paper trails.

This simply isn’t phone call journalism.

We all know Weingarten is a good politician. Charming, even.

Do we judge leaders by what they say in Sunday phone calls…

Or what they DID on Saturday?

https://twitter.com/rweingarten/status/1479974135560392708

.@michelleinbklyn, @rweingarten, & I all agree that most schools are open.

As of today, less than 1% are known to be closed, according to @BurbioCalendar.

👉 Which makes those unions pushing for remote real outliers, huh??

Also, makes the progressive Twitter hand-wringing +

… about whether or not schools should *possibly* stay open through Omicron look like an extreme example of armchair media elites weighing in with zero connection to actual realities, but I digress.

Shout out to all the educators who got it done and opened up, though! 🙌

Back to the subject at hand… yes, schools are mostly-open.

Whether because of the evidence finally penetrating the field, state leaders, parent pressure, political pressure <ahem>, it’s hard to say.

But @michelleinbklyn’s last column wasn’t about 2022.

nytimes.com/2022/01/08/us/…

.@michelleinbklyn’s Dec column put forward Randi’s version (revision) of 20-21 events.

The record showed otherwise; that wasn’t hard to show.
👇👇👇

The outcry abt that column was fair.

Michelle should talk to folks close to ground; we have a lot more receipts than this.

https://twitter.com/karenvaites/status/1472024773601509377

And the fact that we could *finally* keep schools mostly-open, 21 months into a pandemic, as COVID became endemic, doesn’t change anything about the need for accountability for American Exceptionalism on school reopening.