Teachers unions wield 'gross imbalance of power' in school reopening debate, say critics

by Barnini Chakraborty, Senior Investigations Reporter  | March 26, 2021

 The coronavirus pandemic changed education in the United States forever. It cast a critical light on school financing, the ability of students, teachers, and parents to adapt to a new scholastic landscape, and gave teachers unions more power than they've had in a generation. In this series, Students Left Behind, the Washington Examiner takes a closer look at the toll the pandemic had on our nation's public school system and the lessons learned along the way.

President Joe Biden wants schools to reopen. So do parents, students, and thousands of teachers. So, what's the holdup? Powerful teachers unions, critics claim.

With COVID-19 vaccines increasingly available and scant evidence asymptomatic children pose a transmission risk, more and more people are growing frustrated with the pace of school reopenings in the United States. Critics, including parents, have accused the unions of using the pandemic as leverage. They've blamed unions for putting the desires of teachers over the needs of students and have accused them of holding the public school system hostage in a cynical power grab.

Tactics on repeat and endorsed by national union leaders include the "general gaslighting of parents and students," agreeing to reopen schools before backing out, and threatening to strike if districts play hardball, Diana Rickert, vice president of the Illinois-based Liberty Justice Center, told the Washington Examiner............To Read More....