The president of the second-largest teachers union in the United States got slammed for recently saying that teachers are “tired and exhausted,” despite being at home for months. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also said that “we have to find a way to repair and nourish” teachers, which was lampooned by online commenters.
Weingarten appeared on MSNBC Friday night, where she attempted to persuade viewers that the AFT wants to reopen schools, despite having yet to commit to in-person learning in the fall.
“Number one we want schools to reopen for a rapport and we don’t want outbreaks,” Weingarten said. “We want schools open and we want them to stay open.”
But Weingarten said that teachers “don’t want to be the mask police,” adding that Texas and Iowa made a politically motivated decision to “rush to say no mask mandates when we still don’t have a vaccine that’s okay for elementary school students.”
“Well there’s two plans: one is for the summer and one is for the fall,” the union boss of 1.7 million members said. “In the fall we have to first and foremost create a safe and welcoming environment.”
Weingarten attempted to garner sympathy for teachers.
“Teachers are tired; they are exhausted,” she said. “We have to find a way to repair and nourish them as well as families in terms of attracting and retaing our teaching force.”
Online commenters mocked Weingarten’s comments about teachers being “exhausted.”
- “From what? Sitting our your asses on Zoom? People have had it with your no work, whining nonsense.”
- “Why do public school teachers think they’re so special? Parents and students not exhausted and tired too. medical workers and grocery store workers need to be nourished and repaired too. You. Aren’t. Special.”
Reagan would have broken that union.
The public school needs to be scrapped… oh I mean reimagined
Teachers who chose not to teach and listen to the boards of education and unions and funded to stay home deserve nothing. They should not be able to teach ever again. Let them find other jobs and until they do deserve no pay, they destroyed the education to our youth.
Break the unions ok…then what? Already a shortage of teachers in the first place. Also a huge shortage of younger teachers coming out of college (most public schools want newbies with a masters too).
Funny to poke at problems and this is a huge problem nation wide and in major cities where public schools systems are struggling in minority areas. Charter and private helps the few…thjs is bigger than that.
Where his biden hide’n on this. Harris cant or wont help.