Biden slams Trump over school reopenings amid COVID-19

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten joins Yahoo Finance’s Reggie Wade and Kristin Myers to discuss the latest concerns over some school reopenings as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes aim at President Trump.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: Well, Democratic candidate-- presidential candidate, I should say-- Joe Biden did not mince words as he lambasted President Trump for his failures to tackle the pandemic and its impact on reopening schools. Take a listen to what he had to say.

JOE BIDEN: If President Trump and his administration had done their jobs early on with this crisis, American schools would be open and they'd be open safely. Instead, American families all across this country are paying the price for his failures.

KRISTIN MYERS: With more about this, we're joined now by Randi Weingarten, the American Federation of Teachers president. I do want to note that this is the second-largest teachers union in the United States. And we are also, of course, joined by our on Yahoo Finance's Reggie Wade, who is also a former teacher. So this will be a very interesting conversation. Thank you both for joining us.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Reggie, you can come back anytime.

REGGIE WADE: I think I may need to.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: I was going to say, we need you in the teaching ranks.

KRISTIN MYERS: Randi, you can't come on our show to steal our amazing reporters right now. I want to ask you about--

RANDI WEINGARTEN: It's just good organizing, what can I tell ya?

KRISTIN MYERS: I want to ask you about the president and some of that criticism that, you know, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden essentially levied against him. The White House and the administration has not done enough and has not done enough to help schools reopen safely. Do you agree with that criticism?

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Yes, I completely agree with the criticism. And you know, before Joe Biden said this, I mean, just roll back the tape to April, May, June, July. Where we had started in April, just go to our website, AFT.org, you know, and anybody can see the reports we put out in April about how to reopen schools safely.

We knew we needed the resources. We knew we needed to tackle the virus first. We knew you needed to deal with community spread and have a testing infrastructure and then have the-- you know, what the CDC ultimately said and still say you need to do to prevent virus transmission in a school or any kind of indoor space. And what happened is that the president in July decides in all caps, we must reopen schools-- no plan.

Betsy DeVos is missing in action. No guidance-- that's never happened in any crisis in a Republican or Democratic administration. No resources-- just threats, bullying, and bluster. And now, in places like Georgia, Florida, Texas where you saw this huge surge, now they're trying to actually cover up cases because they don't want people to know what the truth is.

So you know, he's basically created a situation that has-- I mean, I'm not saying that-- the president is not responsible for COVID, but his actions have made it much worse and has actually created far more anxiety for every parent and every teacher in America, wherever you are on the-- you know, in the question of how can we reopen? How do we reopen? Do we have remote? Do we have hybrid? Do we have in person? Do we have the resources? What's the risk to my kid? What's the risk to myself?

And he has made it much, much worse. And so I think that Joe Biden was right to call it a national emergency and to completely blame Trump for the kind of lack of leadership and failed and mishandling-- failed leadership and mishandling of all this.

REGGIE WADE: Randi, Reggie Wade here. In the AFT's plan, they call for investing in not only fighting the virus, but in recovery. And as we see with the gridlock in Washington, the federal government doesn't seem to be stepping up. So a lot of times, the onus falls on the state and local governments. Do you think they're prepared to step in?

RANDI WEINGARTEN: No, not right now. I mean, I can see it-- Reggie, look, we represent 3,500 places in the United States, including most of the big districts. But we also represent a whole bunch of small districts and suburban districts. And what you're seeing is from the, you know, simple GoFundMe pages for teachers trying to get soap for schools, trying to get PPE to, you know, the things that we know are important for learning-- teaching and learning and for well-being, like having a nurse in every school, having guidance counselors, standing up remote education so that you have the curriculum-- the curricula helps in place, because teaching remotely-- as you know, teaching remotely is a heck of a lot different than teaching in person.

And so I'll also do one more kind of-- anyone, you don't have to be a member, go to our website, share my lesson where we have done a whole bunch of tricks of the trade and strategies to help parents and students and teachers. But the states are facing a 20% budget cut, so they're not really prepared to do this. And frankly, the one criticism I have of the states and localities and school districts is that all of us spend too much time on the logistics as opposed to on the instruction.

And so now, we have to have the professional development right now in the first few days of school to actually help teachers use all of this technology for-- you know, for teaching kids remotely.

REGGIE WADE: Randi, we saw in New York City that teachers and the UFT fought back against the mill reopening schools on September 10. And now that has been pushed back to the 21st, and new guidelines have been implemented. Have you had a chance to look over New York City's updated plans, and what are your thoughts on that?

RANDI WEINGARTEN: So, yes. And look, you know, I was part of-- you know, what the UFT has done-- if you look at what AFT and UFT have done, we are very much in sync. I want to just give a lot of credit and a shoutout to Michael Mulgrew, the current UFT president. And you all know that, you know, I am-- you know, this is my home local, so I can have a little bit of boasting rights here.

But what's important about what Mulgrew did was that he actually made the issue of testing really not just important, but really, really, really-- testing became something that was a centerpiece here. So the delay of school has gotten most of the ink, but what is happening now is that kids and educators are going to be tested each month about 10% to 20% so we can make sure there is no asymptomatic spread that is hidden that one does not see.

Because-- and you're starting to see this in Europe right now-- that, you know, if 40% of the spread is asymptomatic and you don't see it until it's too late, then it's hard to keep an outbreak as an outbreak, and it's hard to mitigate that. So what he fought for based upon listening to the scientists and the doctors at Northwell, at Monte, at other places was how to make sure you protect communities and not let schools become super spreaders.

And that-- and the mayor finally ackow-- I mean, the union said this is so important, we will go on strike over this. And the mayor finally acknowledged its importance. And that's how they got to that agreement yesterday-- or two days ago. But the other thing in terms of the extension of time before there's a reopening is that the schools were not ready.

And that's why there was an extension of time. And that's why there was a need to use that other time, not just for infrastructure-- you know, of getting the soap and getting the PPE and getting the ventilation systems ready-- but to also make sure that teachers had the appropriate professional development.