Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy blasted the Chicago Teachers Union for fighting a return to schools saying, “If you don’t want to teach, go do something else.”
Gowdy, the former Representative from South Carolina, began with an emotional story about a child walking to school for miles because he had missed the bus.
“I didn’t want to miss school,” the child had said after walking for an hour already and still remaining miles from the school.
“That is how bad he wanted to be in school,” Gowdy explained. “That is the power of education. It can change your life.”
That’s when the former Rep. pivoted to the situation in Chicago, where he says “it seems like the teachers have all the time in the world for dance videos and union meetings, but no time for the children.”
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The Chicago Teachers Union Refuses To Go Back To Work
The Chicago Teachers Union is currently in a standoff with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, refusing to return to in-person classes due primarily to concerns over the pandemic.
“Our goal is, and has always been, a mutually agreed-upon safe reopening plan for our schools,” the Chicago Teachers Union said Thursday. “These decisions, however, cannot be made unilaterally in a vacuum.”
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“We will continue to lift democracy in soliciting feedback from educators and families in bargaining for the safe return that our students deserve,” they added.
Lightfoot and the city’s public school leader announced Friday that they had offered the union their “last, best, and final offer” to open the schools.
Don’t defund the Chicago police. Defund the Chicago Teachers Union.
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) February 2, 2021
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The Unions Are a Disgrace
Gowdy insists the Chicago Teachers Union isn’t ‘following the science’ with their pandemic concerns.
Indeed, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) former Director Robert Redfield recently announced, “one of the safest places” for kids during the pandemic is school.
“They can give you all the reasons not to go back into classroom, but they can’t seem to find a single reason to go back into classroom,” Gowdy observed.
“Teaching is hard work even without a pandemic … I get it,” Gowdy said, “But if you don’t want to teach, go do something else.”
Last week the CDC made its case for in-person learning, arguing that data from K-12 schools that took precautions like wearing masks, social distancing and ventilating rooms show little evidence that in-person classes contributed to the spread of COVID-19. https://t.co/oy3bgUiit3
— NPR (@NPR) February 5, 2021
The head of the CDC says vaccinating teachers is not necessary for schools to reopen.
“There’s increasing data to suggest that schools can safely reopen and that that safe reopening does not suggest that teachers need to be vaccinated in order to reopen safely,” new CDC Director Dr. Roshelle Wilensky said.
President Biden has been siding with the Chicago Teachers Union in their battle with the mayor to keep the schools closed.
“It’s not so much about the idea of teachers aren’t going to work. The teachers I know, they want to work,” Biden said. “They just want to work in a safe environment and … as safe as we can rationally make it. And we can do that.”
The Center for Responsive Politics reports that teachers’ unions – 2% of which donated to Republicans – spent $43.7 million on political campaigns in 2020.
