North Fairfax News

The Fairfax County Parents Association (FCPA) has obtained text messages exchanged between Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, that the FCPA says contradict Weingarten's public statements about making efforts to keep schools open during the pandemic.

"Closing replies like you closed the schools," American Federation for Children Senior Fellow Corey DeAngelis tweeted.  

The messages, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the FCPA, were sent early in 2021. The content of the messages directly contradicts Weingarten's public statements regarding her efforts to ensure the opening of schools during the pandemic, a Fairfax Republican Party publication says.

"In the exchanges between Weingarten and Walensky, the union boss objected to draft language stating that “all schools can provide in-person instruction.” After Weingarten’s objection, the CDC revised the language to read, “all schools have options to provide in-person instruction,” the publication said.

In the wake of the GOP characterizations of the texts, a wave of hate tweets has been directed toward Weingarten. Some parents and parent advocates have accused Weingarten of deceit throughout the entire ordeal. Weingarten disabled commenting on her Twitter account, which further fueled the allegations against her.

“That’s a complete rewriting of history. Any parent or child can tell you that,” FCPA spokeswoman Christy Hudson said, according to Fox News. “What we saw over and over were the teachers union and the CDC putting adult wants in front of children’s needs. Students were sacrificed during the pandemic.”

Others on social media said they believe that schools remaining closed was the fault of Weingarten. 

"NYT (the New York Times) sent Randi CDC draft saying all schools should be open," tweeted Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment and Unleash Prosperity. "Randi told Rochelle that's 'at odds with our discussion.' CDC changed the language to *option of* opening. Randi texted her statement of praise. Rochelle: 'This gave me the biggest smile of my week. Thank YOU Friend!'"

The FOIA-obtained message exchange, tweeted by FCPA, doesn't say Weingarten recommended keeping schools closed. Weingarten wrote to Walensky, "I told NYT we were looking for a metric like WHO (the World Health Organization) has 4 school closure if high community spread particularly in light of variant. The Germany/GB exception."  The message exchange says Weingarten wrote to Walensky that she was concerned about school districts in large areas "with greater density and where it is less likely those schools have proper ventilation."

"Here is the language the NYT sent me," the FOIA-obtained messages quote Weingarten as saying. “At any level of community transmission, all schools can provide in-person instruction (either full or hybrid), though [with] strict adherence to mitigation strategies. Recommended learning modes vary to minimize risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in school by emphasizing layered mitigation, including school policies requiring universal and correct mask use. The recommended learning modes (in-person, hybrid) depend on the level of community transmission and strict adherence to mitigation.”