The Department of Homeland Security has appointed Randi Weingarten, the president of the second-largest teachers union to advise the DHS school safety board, the Washington Examiner reported.
Weingarten, who heads up the American Federation of Teachers, has been widely criticized for her support of school lockdowns during the pandemic that resulted in the worst academic decline in decades.
But Weingarten is a fiercely loyal supporter of the Biden administration and the Democrat Party, frequently acting as a campaign surrogate for Democrat candidates. And in the Biden administration, such loyalty is always rewarded.
In a press release last Wednesday, Homeland Security announced that Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appointed 20 new members, including Weingarten, to the Homeland Security Academic Partnership Council, which provides recommendations to DHS on campus security and safety, hiring, research priorities, and “improved coordination.”
Mayorkas explained that the council will “support” Homeland Security’s mission is “to safeguard the American people,” while helping the country “think through and prepare” for the threats that may “lie ahead.”
Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach for Parents Defending Education, expressed surprise at Weingarten’s appointment, telling the Washington Examiner that it “turns out” calling parents “domestic terrorists” while working to keep schools closed during the pandemic qualifies Weingarten to serve as an advisor to Homeland Security.
Sanzi said it is a “major red flag” that DHS would appoint a “hyper-political” and “very anti-parent” partisan like Weingarten to the council. She said in recent years, Weingarten’s role “has been defined by lies and failure,” which, given Biden’s DHS, makes her a “perfect fit for the job.”
Virginia Republican Rep. Ben Cline called out Homeland Security for Weingarten’s appointment, saying in a tweet that during the pandemic, the AFT president placed “appeasing teachers unions” ahead of getting children back into the classroom which resulted in the “worst decline” in math and reading scores among 13-year-olds “in decades.”
Cline demanded to know why Biden’s Homeland Security Department is “rewarding bad policy.
