A journalist questioned White House media secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday on the large impact closing Chicago schools will have on Hispanic and black students.
The Chicago Teacher’s Union voted this week for Chicago Public Schools to switch back to remote learning until January 18 amid a rise of coronavirus cases citywide. The union’s resolution mentioned high positivity rates and low vaccinations among minors as why they need a temporarily stopped in-person classes.
“As we speak, 350,000 school children in Chicago are now out of school. Most are Hispanic, black and are very poor,” the reporter stated. “This White House has called for education equity, so who does the President Biden White House blame for failing these kids?”
“Well, firstly, President Biden has been very certain. He wants these schools to stay open, including in the city of Chicago and across the nation,” Psaki replied. “That we took actions early in this pandemic, even against the skeptics who did not think we needed this kind of funding in Biden’s Rescue Plan to pass a $130 billion that was already given to states and went to many schools around the nation to put in place mitigations.”
“He would like for schools to stay open. He thinks not having them open, as you have said, impacts the mental health of kids, we have seen this. We understand that learning gaps are a thing we are at risk of at this time and that is why we’ll keep calling for schools to be reopened,” she said.
Psaki said Biden “stays in touch” with administrators and teachers across the country on a daily basis to push for schools to stay open. She added that schools across the nation have used the American Rescue Plan’s mitigation rules “very effectively.”
The teachers union in Chicago “overwhelmingly” voted to endorse Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris in Oct., 2020. The endorsement was said to “stop the fascist takeover” of the nation. Which is a common anti-white notion used to justify attacking and hating white Americans for defending themselves from discrimination and racial attacks.
Author: Steven Sinclaire