According to Vice President Mike Pence, the decision to reopen schools during a deadly pandemic came after his wife advised him to.
The Trump administration has decided to politicize the decision of putting children back in schools mid-pandemic. Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have even threatened to defund school districts who don’t open back up.
“You’re seeing the president provide leadership,” Pence told reported Wednesday, “and what we are providing for the White House coronavirus task force is partnership with the governors and the state health officials, because we’ve just got to get our kids back.”
As one would expect, Pence offered no kind of safety specifics as to how children would go back to school buildings without being at risk of contracting the coronavirus and spreading it to their families. But according to him, his wife told him it would be a good idea and she’s an “expert” on the topic.
“I have to tell you,” he said, “the best expert I know on this topic is my wife, Karen, and she spoke at the summit yesterday very compellingly about how a lot of our kids are hurting out there. They’re struggling with loneliness, with social isolation. The American Academy of Pediatrics spoke about that, a very forceful statement from pediatricians across the country that said we got to get our kids back into school.”
Mike Pence is going to his wife, Karen Pence, for advice on reopening schools because she used to be a part-time art teacher, yet, she has no medical training.
“The president is going to continue to provide leadership,” Pence added. “I expect as the debate in Congress goes forward about additional resources we’re going look to build in incentives for states to go forward, but the president’s made it clear, and I think most parents in America would agree with him that we’ve got to got other kids back to school and back into the classroom, and we can do it in a safe and a responsible way.”
Take a look at his remarks in the video clip below:
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