Randi Weingarten, the powerful union boss who heads up the American Federation of Teachers, has been on a revisionist campaign this week trying to convince the country that she was not a stringent lockdown advocate for public schools.

Her effort to rewrite history ran into a buzzsaw on Thursday when Weingarten faced off with CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, as he admonished the left-wing union chief for claiming that she wanted to reopen schools.

“Speaking on behalf of millions of American parents — I have four at home — I had to teach them at home, my wife had to teach them at home,” Jennings said. “I am stunned at what you have said this week about your claiming to have wanted to reopen schools.”

To be clear, Jennings looked Weingarten square in the eyes as he dressed her down and conservative commentator Clay Travis was impressed, “Holy sh*t… This is phenomenal. Well done.”

Holy shit, a @cnn! commentator called out @rweingarten live last night on air for her lies about fighting to reopen schools when she did everything in her power to keep them closed. This is phenomenal. Well done. pic.twitter.com/94O8LcQEZ0

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 28, 2023

“I think you’ll find that most parents believe you are the tip of the spear of school closures,” he said. “There are numerous statements you made over the summer of ’20 scaring people to death about the possibility of opening schools. And I hear no remorse whatsoever about the generational damage that’s been done to these kids.”

Jennings explained that two of his children have learning disabilities and were negatively impacted by Weingarten’s policies.

“I have two kids with learning differences,” he said. “Do you know how hard it is for them to learn at home and not in a classroom that was designed for them? And for you to sit in front of Congress and the American people and say, oh, ‘I wanted to open up them the whole time.'”

“I am shocked. I’m stunned. I’m stunned,” Jennings continued. “And there are millions of parents who feel the exact same way.”

Weingarten responded with the same double talk heard throughout the pandemic about wanting to reopen schools BUT making sure they were safe first — all the while fighting to establish that schools were not safe.

“I knew and understood the importance of reopening schools and the importance of making sure that people were safe,” she countered. “And poll after poll that we did of parents — and I spent a lot of time with parents — said that they basically understood and supported that we needed to do both.”

Weingarten tried to peddle the falsehood that she “fought to reopen school” Thursday on Twitter and got fact-checked by Community Notes

Right-wing press and Republicans in Congress want you to think that I tried to keep schools closed. Start in April 2020 I fought to reopen schools. Here’s what I actually said. pic.twitter.com/TTWuYgC5nN

— Randi Weingarten ‍ (@rweingarten) April 27, 2023

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on Twitter:

And some of us will NEVER let it go.

— Ryan (@Ryan_L_Heath) April 28, 2023

When you delete this

You should delete your account too pic.twitter.com/L1oliljohn

— Marc Escens  (@Marc_Escens) April 28, 2023

It is interesting watching Randi attempt to rewrite the history we all lived. It’s also truly unfortunate that normal people don’t have five minute memories like your average union member.

— PhotographicFloridian (@JackLinFLL) April 28, 2023

• About
• Latest Posts

Tom Tillison

Senior Staff Writer
Tom@bizpacreview.com

The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.

Latest posts by Tom Tillison (see all)

• Muslim scholar in Chicago: ‘Islam did not come to coexist’ - December 13, 2025
• New York man calls into CSPAN and rips Dem Rep a new one - December 12, 2025
• Insane ‘blue slip’ tradition nukes another highly qualified conservative US atty - December 12, 2025

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.