Teachers union boss, Randi Weingarten, was criticized on social media for taking a trip to Ukraine while US schools still haven’t recovered from her Covid policies.
American children are behind in reading, writing and arithmetic… meanwhile Randi Weingarten is vacationing in a warzone and pretending to be a diplomat?
“Weingarten is joining pediatrician and public health activist Dr. Irwin Redlener, Karen Redlener and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum in Ukraine this week to meet with Ukrainian students and teachers displaced by the war. The group went “to offer solidarity and support in the face of relentless attacks that have forced hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the country’s east,”” Fox News reported.
“The AFT was invited by the Ukrainian teachers union, the Trade Union of Education and Science Workers, to bear witness and call attention to the effects on children, families and educators and the impact of Russia’s attacks on democracy and democratic institutions,” the press release explained.
“Woke up this am to reports of disgusting Russian missile strikes in Kyiv, Lviv & other cities .Heading to the border now to assess the situation. This Russian attempt to frighten civilians & the effect on children (who are learning online today) is why this Ukraine trip is so important” Randi Weingarten tweeted on Monday.
Weingarten crossed over the border into Ukraine.
Some on Twitter questioned the optics of Weingarten going abroad when so many students in the U.S. continue to struggle in the wake of the pandemic’s school closures.
“Why is the president of the American Federation of Teachers in Ukraine while our kids’ schools are failing?” asked Post Millennial editor-in-chief Libby Emmons.
“Randi Weingarten has such a broad and deep knowledge base that in addition to piloting our venerable teacher’s union she has been an epidemiologist and a foreign policy consultant in the past 2.5. years. Good luck getting on her level.”, Twitter user Guy Faux tweeted.
“What the F can you even do at the Ukr/Rus border, Randi? Shouldn’t you be busy trying to criminalize parents who want school choice?” wrote journalist Ian Miles Cheong, who also recalled an apparently since-deleted tweet showing Weingarten holding a Ukrainian flag upside-down.
“I wonder how many public teachers are happy to see how their money is being spent today,” tweeted Gerry Callahan, host of The Callahan Show.
“Now, I’m really sad that PJ O’Rourke isn’t around to join this trip,” tweeted National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin.
Former congressional candidate Shukri Abdirahman tweeted: “What business does the teachers’ union boss have heading to the Russia/Ukraine border? And since when has anyone in her role had the job description to ‘assess’ active war zones? Unreal.”
“‘To assess the situation,'” tweeted journalist Charles C.W. Cooke. “Er, why?”
“America’s students need you on the front lines of K-12,” journalist Caroline Downey tweeted at Weingarten. “Here’s a crisis you should feel compelled to address: math and literacy proficiency plummeted this year due to school closures you supported. You desert children when you put union politics and other issues above education.”
“Why is the leader of a teacher’s union trying to assess the situation? And what the hell is she doing in Ukraine?” asked prominent Twitter user Comfortably Smug. “Lmao this is what teachers are paying union dues for? Randi to have a vacation in a war zone?”
“This is all so strange. But Randi already played the role of CDC Director, maybe Biden’s prepping her to play Secretary of State too,” tweeted Republican Communicator, Matt Whitlock.
