President Donald Trump said he is going to pressure governors into opening schools despite the surge in coronavirus cases.
What We Know:
- Trump emphasized his enthusiasm about schools potentially opening while criticizing schools that are currently choosing not to reopen.
- “We hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said at a White House event. “They think it’s going to be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed,” the President alleged without evidence. “No way.”
- “We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open,” said Trump, who has been anxious to reopen America to kickstart the economy and otherwise move on from the pandemic, despite its resurgence. He also stated that the United States is “not closing” and “never will close”.
- Despite Trump’s stance, the most recent study from John Hopkins University show that at least 32 states are reporting higher rates of new cases this week compared to last week.
- The Trump administration used several events at the White House on Tuesday to promote a plan to urge a return to schools. The events were attended by higher education and K-12 administrators, teachers, students, parents, and health and education leaders from the state level.
- School reopening has emerged as one of the trickiest issues the nation has had to endure in order to adopt a sense of normalcy under the pandemic. Some schools have made multiple plans so they can stay flexible just a few weeks before the start of the 2020-21 academic year.
- Trump did acknowledge that the responsibility remains largely on governors to comply with the administration’s suggestions to reopen academic institutions.
- The President also commented on Harvard University at the event, saying the school’s leadership “ought to be ashamed of themselves” for its plan to bring up to 40% of undergraduates back to campus for the fall semester but have all course instruction delivered online.
On a call with governors earlier Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos also pushed for school reopenings, tying Americans’ return to the classroom with the health of the US economy.
