Former President Donald Trump, in his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday, said President Joe Biden needs to open schools “right now” after months of lockdowns due to the CCP virus pandemic.
Children “must get back [to school] and get back right now,” Trump said.
The White House, he added, is “selling out America’s children to the teachers’ unions” and has “shamefully betrayed America’s youth and he is cruelly keeping our children locked in their homes. No reason for it whatsoever.”
“On behalf of all the moms and dads, I call on Joe Biden to open the schools and get them open now,” Trump added.
Days ago, Biden promised that a majority of elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, restating his goal after his administration came under fire when aides said schools would be considered open if they held in-person learning just one day a week.
Biden had pledged in December to reopen “the majority of our schools” in his first 100 days but has since faced increasing questions about how he would define and achieve that goal, with school districts operating under a patchwork of different virtual and in-person learning arrangements nationwide.
He said comments by White House press secretary Jen Psaki earlier this month that one day a week of in-person learning would meet his goal were “a mistake in the communication.”
“I said open a majority of schools in K through eighth grade, because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home,” Biden said.
Trump’s remarks Sunday come as parents and children in Los Angeles rallied for schools to re-open. Similar scenes have emerged across the United States in recent weeks.
“We have felt the most vulnerable, we have failed for 180,000 kids of color. We have failed,” LA School Uprising founder Ross Novie told KTLA. “That’s our record so whatever we say we want to do, we’re not doing it, we’re hurting the children, and it’s got to stop.”
He added: “We understand there are families that are at risk, there are teachers that are at risk—people who are at risk should not go back to school, we understand that. But there are many more who are OK to go back, and with proper mitigation, we have seen it can be a safe place to teach and work—just like every other workplace that has opened up.”
The Epoch Times reached out to the White House for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
