Head of teachers’ union accuses Republicans of ‘brutalizing’ public school proponents and ‘terrorizing gay families’

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten made a number of accusations about Republicans over the weekend in a segment about education issues on MSNBC.

Talking with host Ayman Mohyeldin, Weingarten said Republicans are trying to “sow distrust” in public education. While Mohyeldin and Weingarten spoke of this as the Republican “midterm campaign platform” – the GOP platform actually makes no mention of this – Weingarten makes clear that the language comes from a lecture by Christopher Rufo, Senior Fellow of the Manhattan Institute. 

Weingarten then moves from the lecture excerpt to the false claim that Republicans are “terrorizing gay families.” The accusation appears to refer to the Florida “Parental Rights in Education” law which prohibits teaching sexual content to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Similar bills have been introduced in other states. 

Weingarten also said, “They don’t even care if they have public education and they will brutalize anyone who is in their way.” Mohyeldin added, “They want to make parents hate public schools.”

But this appears to sidestep the substantive criticisms of public education from parents, not politicians, which include concerns about race-focused curriculum, sexually explicit content and gender identity policies that they feel endanger their children.

And in spite of many parents around the country feeling like the schools and unions let their kids down with enforced masking and remote learning – the resulting mental health issues and learning loss are monumental – Weingarten claimed parents “need us to do everything in our power to help kids recover and thrive.” But Weingarten’s AFT fought to keep schools closed, as did other unions, leading some parents to sue to open the schools.

Parents also felt demonized when teachers’ unions and the Biden administration appeared to coordinate a response to parental involvement in school board meetings, labeling parents as “domestic terrorists.” 

These concerned parents may well wonder, if the head of the second largest national teachers’ union doesn’t take their criticisms seriously, how can the unions be trusted with their children’s education?