Why are Unions Driving the School Reopening Conversation?

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest concerns was how to adapt the education system to our new normal. After a year of remote learning, parents are eager to get their children back into the classroom so they can move forward with their learning and catch up where they may have fallen behind. Yet, the people driving the conversation regarding getting students back to their desks are not parents or students– they’re the teachers unions. 

Last week, the New York Post reported that the American Federation of Teachers(AFT), one of the country’s largest and most persuasive teachers unions, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were exchanging emails regarding the CDC’s school reopening guidelines. One of AFT’s directors, Kelly Trautner, said that they were able to “provide some initial feedback to several staff this morning about possible ways to strengthen the document.” After the exchange, two of AFT’s language suggestions were included in the CDC guidelines, according to the NY Post. 

The language suggestions include a loophole for returning to in-person learning if a new variant of COVID-19 became transmissible, and remote work concessions for individuals with high-risk conditions or who live in a household with a high risk individual. This exchange is not surprising, given that  back in December teachers unions like the AFT were urging the CDC to prioritize teachers and school staff for the COVID-19 vaccine in order to return to in-person learning swiftly. Yet, the CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said that it was not necessary for teachers to be vaccinated in order to return to in-person learning. This comment was met with pushback from the AFT, as was the recently released guidance that reduced the social distancing requirements for schools from six feet to three feet between desks.

It’s no question that teachers unions have a big, if not the biggest, influence over the public school system. Going back and forth with the CDC and questioning their guidance has been a constant during the pandemic. Many other organizations, including the World Health Organization  and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have agreed that it is safe to reopen schools and resume in-person learning; they have even weighed in positively on guidance the same guidance that AFT has opposed, including the 3-feet social distancing requirement. 

While Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers claimed that AFT has been “working to reopen schools since last April,” unions affiliated with AFT in states across the country have refused to budge. The hesitancy during the pandemic to provide what students need: in-person learning, speaks to the larger issue of teachers unions as a whole and their willingness to put their own organizational interests ahead of the needs of students.

Students and parents should drive the conversation regarding in-person learning – unions that continuously protect bad teachers, advocate unfairly, and do not act in a bipartisan manner should not be the primary voice for the public school system.