>> you are watching c-span2, unfiltered view of government. c-span2 created by america's cable television company and today brought to you by television companies to provide she spent two years as a public service. ♪♪ >> this morning as the president of the national education association here to talk about president biden education during the pandemic. here is this tweet but i want you to respond to. the white house confirmed to cbs president biden's goal of a majority of schools in the first 100 days opening does not apply to bicycles and there's no word of the timeline for reopening secondary schools. what you know about the plan?g, >> good morning, good to be back on "washington journal".

we've been so encouraged by president biden understanding it is essential that our students, educators have access to money nothing, i know i'd rather than being in front of my students doing science labs. that's how everyone around the country feels. ten months, to do that we need the resources and that is exactly what president biden plans. he talks about rescue. to rescue, he knows we have to make investments in our schools and not just that but honestly, $1.9 trillion package sent to congress also includes states because state governments have cut their education funding. we have almost 1 million teachers and other educators who have been laid off.

understand it will take resources to reopen but mostly he's going to follow the sites. i tell you the science, i didn't ever think i have to say that but for a president to believe in science and listen to the slightest, that's what he is asking for such in the plan, he saying the virus is transmitted at much the younger students. the president understand that even with that, you have to have litigation strategies to protect our students and teachers and the other men and women care and nurture a needs for everyone. >> are you in support of reopening schools which ones? what grade level would reopen?

>> follow the signs. the cdc put out a report in one of the president called for is working with the cdc in helping the services and department of guidelines.rt even with the cdc guidelines, what they are saying is they need transmission rates within schools or no flyers and transition grades within the communities. that means if there are communities, areas that are on a really high, that says people need to make sure that they are not coming together in large groups. they are masking, washing hands and for school, they have to make sure they have ventilation

systems, the resources to socially distance. all of those things we been hearing for ten months are still in place in the president's plan calls for $130 billion, specifically targeting schools to make sure they have the resources. >> is it realistic that all of put inguessities can be place this school year? >> they have to be. that's the only way schools will reopen safely. i need to ask, because the president talked about this as well, is why he included in his package additional funding because he knows this virus has inequitably impacted students of color, black and brown communities, indigenous communities, we know the crises

on the economic crises and the healthcare crises has disproportionately impacted these communities. what we are concerned about is the vaccine rollout, we have to make sure we educate the communities, they have a lot of history that leads them the vaccines. there's a lot of work to do in educating communities and making sure we distribute them equitably. when we talk about resources, we're not just talking about applying resources, not thinking about dealing with the longso standing inequities in funding and resources for our students who have forever been marginalized. >> we want to open up the unlined to take questions and comments about education during tthis pandemic. educators and all others, if you're a parent.

educators (202)748-8001 and all others, 2027488002. we've seen recent headlines about teachers in chicago and california and new jersey resisting reopening. what's going on there? >> teachers and bus drivers and school nurses, all of them, educators all across the country are remanding this country finally get the resources to "safely and equitably they are demanding and that's what president biden plans talk about doing and we need to give congress time to r act across te country. >> what have you been told about

vaccinating teachers and making them a priority. >> now that president biden, he understands that he needs to have a well organized, well communicated equitable plan to distribute the vaccines and provide guidance which right now, it's all over the board, some states the right guidelines and prioritizing the high-risk ablation and those in those states, educators. not just the teachers, allwi educators working with our students. they prioritize and have started the vaccination process getting the vaccine but many states have not done that. people don't know where to get the vaccine, no plan in place

but the organized that every state has a plan in place. >> take questions and comments about education america's pandemic. john is apparent. hi, john. good morning. >> good morning. my question is here in texas, i've seen what the cdc says, is okay to "safely. my daughter has been in school since last year. this is just schools trying to get all the bunny cash they can to federal taxpayer. i've seen teachers go to the public, grocery shopping and everything else, it's just an excuse to get more money out of the taxpayer defund stuff that we don't need.

get these kids back into the classroom teachers back in the. they don't want to go back, fire them and find somebody else. that's my comment. >> your reaction. >> there are cases all over the country, many, many of them. they want nothing more than to be back into the classrooms. we know funding is all over the board state to state. district to district. we know what we need to be safe, that's with the cdc has said. that's what doctor fauci said in the president has said. we need to provide resources to keep our students safe. that's what we are fighting for and continue to fight for. >> the cdc has said the available evidence has been reassuring, there's little

evidence schools have contributed to transition in the committee. it's not enough, is that what you are saying? >> let me talk about the cdc, they based on aas study done in wisconsin. what they found is what you said. however, those schools that reopened they have a sizable donation from a private foundation to provide additional resources, educators have masks, class sizes of ten or 11 so they can socially distance. they've had testing available, people doing tracing and working with educators to think about how they can bring the students back safely. the cdc said and everyone else,

scientists and healthcare professionals, we have to have all majors in place. also, not one, not just mass, it's ventilation systems, social distancing, washing hands, clean services, making sure to have this available to quickly identify those infected covid and isolate them. >> sheila in oklahoma. >> i am in high school and i retired last year but i substitute to consider myself an educator but we are in oklahoma and we are open. most schools and, palmer are open. they have masks, and they come into the it teachers, it's optional for the they wear a mask or not. most students have masks but the

safest place for students to be will probably be school because they are the least susceptible to get the virus, they do not have -- i've heard people talking about this, not having the buyers. they don't have follow-up from it. there's hardly any problem. wash hands, have masks, play sports what they are doing fine. i feel when you say that school or whatever that have a person, is probably one school, they probably were not doing it for the whole state. i just think, open disposed. so glad i live in oklahoma where we are open. i don't want to be in a state where they have the fear and can't be in school, i think is a holiday. i don't know. >> let's hear your response. >> you are right that they focus

money on onene school but they d the money to do it and i will say all over the place, it depends on the school district and whether they were able to find the funding in the budget to support the students and educators having access to masks, whether the schools and ventilation systems were already functioning at a high level whether or not they already had the funding for lower class sizes socially distance, it's all over the place. but the president is saying is that every school should have the resources they need to keep all the students safe and that's what he has proposed and we are demanding that congress. >> mark, how old are your kids? >> fifteen, 14 and ten. >> okay. go ahead. >> i would just like to say i

certainly understand those who don't have the resources and support, i get it. i think public schools, at some time, we are going to have to throw politics aside. we'll have to make it the state only run environment for the government will have to go in and put all of our schools on the basics the road path to ensure optimum safety health.uc our educational system is going to ever be competitive worldwide if we continue to go down the

path trying to dole out money in pieces because you will never have a quality and folk resources so we will just have to figure that out. we keep going down the path we are, we are never going to get better from a health standpoint, a physical instructional standpoint. hopefully this is the time to figureon out how to get each individual student blindfolds on and make sure the dollars are applied to each individual student. >> any thoughts? >> i completely agree for taking politics out, absolutely. taking the opportunity of the inequities felt our education system the education system my

great we ourselves heard the president plan because he understands, who have the urgency right now get our students and educators back in person learning as soon as it is safe and the ability to do that but we have to start doing that will change things long term. he knew before the pandemic, over 60 organizations who try to address the homelesshe divide. we pulled the organization together because we already knew there were students all over the country who didn't have access to the internet and they were going home and being asked to do homework at home they were able to. ironically, we have these conversations already in on a dime, we were all virtual by the end of march, beginning of april

weid already knew 35% of our students around the country didn't have access. they ducked into access for students and families state by state. i encourage our listeners to go online to take a look at where the state is. dig into it a little bit more and look at race, economic status, whether parents own a home or not, all of those things contribute to whether or not they have access so we are concerned about these students when i agree for some students, virtual learning has worked out well. my grandson lives with me right now and he is in third grade in my basement doing virtual learning and doing a very good job. we know we want the students together, we got to ensure we

can do that but we still have work to do long term to close the digital divide and provide all resources to all students. >> hello? >> you are on the air. devious your prospective. >> i have a highschooler but i also worked for as well. she's in ninth grade. i'm constantly getting calls that there is a covid case in the school. i also work at a head start program for the school system and i am in fear for the school every day. i also fear teachers who are in fear of going to school because of elderly parents in the home. we come inpa contact with the public on a daily basis but they are not transparent when they

say who in the school play havoc. the only time i know thatthe pn is when they are out for two weeks. i want toto know why we don't kw more what's going on. i'd like for my highschooler to go back but but i don't want her to feel unsafe like i do. what can we do to promote more safety for the children? the adults are scared, the kids are scared. >> that is true. the parents and teachers association to do a survey, one caller said exactly how parents felt, primarily all over the country. if the students don't feel safe or adult don't feel safe, the students don't feel safe. they want the resources in the school so they don't have the chaos he just described.

all over this country, the parents and teachers are getting called saying we had a covid outbreak, you're going to shut down and that's chaos for our students. .t is absolutely disruptive so concerned about the trauma students are goingde through rel loss in the black and brown and indigenous communities suffering lossss to greater degrees also e are concerned about the loss i've had have opportunity for present graduations% of college will be with their friends. we know the chaos in the huge impact the sooner we provide resources for our schools, the more likely will have post pandemic, a being post pandemic

and the disruptions an opportunity for our students an opportunity to continue growth, social emotional growth so we completely agree those resources must be available for all schools. >> earlier this week in the "washington journal" monday, we had a conversation about the rise in suicide due to some parents saying isolation they feel of not getting to go to school, some schools like las vegas are reopening because of the impact of these kids being asked home on their mental health. what resources are available to help those kids? >> we also heard, i will tell you we did a study on that just last month. the students talk about wanting to be safe but they do miss

being with their classmates in the routine of school. they suffer from the chaos we just talked about. what we arere doing is working with educators. kids going to trauma as well, we are working with. them to, and training, we had a partnership with yale university, so they could learn how to first, take care of themselves and then take care of the students. yell partners with us and they are offering it for free for teachers all over the country. we are partnering with healthcare professionals to provide additional services, mental health services for our students. it's onene reason why we are so concerned that we have t had so many educators laid off and more will be laid off if our state and local governments don't get

the funding they need and including that 1.9 billion dollars package the president sent to congress. we need more of the health professionals and counselors because we have more students falling in those gaps and need the additional assistance. what we have been doing is partnering with healthcare professionals in the community and one more thing, in those areas where they have communities where they have the help of the community and partnerships built in the community, they are faring better in every way, they already have the partnership with the mental health care professionals, boys and girls club, they are surrounding -- and families. with what they need so they are nourished in getting the mental health services that they deserve and need.,

>> let's go to lisa in louisiana. what you teach? >> i am retired. >> what did you teach? >> biology. anyway, what i would like to tell this lady is that this is nothing more than a political stunt. this is also not -- were hogan's or democrats, it's a social agenda. look up bill gates. this is a bunch of crab. what you are doing is lying to the american people it's going to come out keep on pushing your crab -- >> what is the life? >> the line number one, you're trying to suppress, control and put fear into people and you should be ashamed of yourself. >> overwatch?

>> he is a fraud, a power grab -- >> elizabeth in kentucky. >> good morning. i am a middle school teacher and we just open our schools backup. i'm scheduled to get the vaccine, first dose today i am excited. i have a couple of questions in terms of a vaccine, i just wondered if you maybe see a future where students will have to get the vaccine in order to attend public school. ...

>> guest: first of all, congratulations. i'm so glad to hear that you are getting vaccinated. and some are already getting their second shots so that's thd next point. greta has said this to you and i'm going to say it died more times we know that right now we don't have enough information on vaccinating our students so we are certainly not calling for mandating vaccinations. we need to listen to the scientist and when we have enough evidence to say that it's safe and it stops not only the transmission of the virus that hit make sure those students are not infected with the virus. as educators we have always believed that students and

educators -- because that's a large gathering of people so we hope there will be a time when we have enough science that students can safely get vaccinated as well. we want to make sure that all of our educators are involved in and i'd didn't mention it before but the other callers said this to transparency and communication is lacking right now unfortunately. we have a lot of people who don't know what the plan is for vaccinations. it's not being communicated well. so that's the other thing that the president is calling for and he's asking the department. >> host: ned in florida, good morning to you. >> caller: good morning. i have one thing i would like to say that she keeps talking about the science and everything.

why don't you look in florida? florida has been open all year long. the schools, our whole state is open for business, restaurants everything and if you look at the other states it's almost like it's all been political the whole time. as far as dr. fauci i don't believe anything he says anymore because he's been all over the map and on the climate change stuff -- is going going to leave it there ned. becky pringle you can respond to the education question. >> guest: florida's the hotspot for those very reasons. grad i have wanted too say this, over 429,000 in power way higher americans have died to codes of this virus. families have lost loved ones and unfortunately in horrible conditions where they can't u en say goodbye. this is real. this is real. millions and millions of people have been in fact did and we

know thousands and thousands will die if we do not gain control of this virus and that's exactly what president biden said he would do before he took office and we can see by everything he has done since for a week is focusing on getting control of the virus. that is what we are asking for and that's exactly what he is working to do. let's. >> host: theresa and dander -- and dandridge tennessee. >> caller: please i don't hang up on me if you don't like my question. first of all i want to ask most of the teachers in democratic states have been out of school for almost a year not opening the schools up. has any one of those teachers not received their paycheck? every one of those teachers have received their full pay. they haven't lost anything.

i watched you through the whole segment in every that comes out of your mouth is about funding, funding, funding. that's all you've talked about this whole segment. so it's very clear what you are doing. you are using these children as a black male toy against a very weak president that is afraid to stand up to the teachers union. it's all about money. you can clearly see that's what it is. you want to extort the president and you're going to use these children to doto it. and republican states like georgia, tennessee, that in tennessee, children have gone back to school with no issues. yes you have a few cases pop up like going to work in any industry but that's going to happen. you cannot make a fool proof 1% safe school system which is what you are demanding. but it's all about the money. it's very clear. why don't you just come out and say it?

we are going to use her children to extort money from this week president that will give us whatever real. >> host: thank you for your point. becky pringle. >> guest: first let me say that teachers and other educators all over this country are working harder now than they ever have. not only are they teaching students in front of them virtually, it's it still teaching and i have been clear about in person learning. learning is happening in zoom boxes all over this country and not only our teachers and other kid -- other educators are paraprofessionals and nurses and counselors are meeting the students but we also know that because of this virtual environment we have to do even more.nt teachers are having office hours not only was students that teachers are having office hours with parents. they they are teaching them common core math late at night.

they are meeting with community members so they can figure out how they can support their families better. they are working afterschool so students can eat. they are working harder than they ever have before. so i want to be very clear, we are teaching, we are nurturing students, we are preparing them for their next journey, the next educational journey every single day. and let me just say this about money because i hear this a lot. we are talking about investing in our students and the future of this country. that takes money. for far too long this country has had the wealth but the question is do they have the will to make sure that when we say every student, we mean every student will have what they need, when they need it and yes that does take money to ensure

they have what they need. >> host: sheila and chris view florida. sheila how old are your kids? >> hi. my kids are 11 and 12. >> host: what has your experience been like? >> caller: we actually pulled the kids out in early march right at the beginning of the pandemic because my father was visiting from europe and i was concerned about ringing the virus home. he was in the northwest region so as you can see from the other callers there a lot of people in florida but don't believe that the virus is real and so we have just kind of struggled with this stigma of keeping the kids at home one and also my son did pass from the virus in december. i want to thank u. grad and ms. pringle for doing what you've been doing and d i wanted to ask ms. pringle what can we

do as a community to try to convince these people or even encourage them toce do research, because this pandemic is something that hasn't happened in 100 years. it is very much like y a behavioral thing that we have to fix within the community especially for the people that are not -- that's one of the reasonst why i didn't want my d to go back to school. i know there are adults who do teach you don't believe in science and who don't back it and bought encouraged children to follow these guidelines and i just think that's an issue. i just wanted your thoughts on that and how we can encourage thenc communities that don't thk this is a real thing that's happening to understand that this is real. >> host: before we get a response are you homeschooling? >> caller: i've been homeschooling both of the kids and thankfully my children replaced in higher learning like advanced learning classes so we've been able to take this

whole year because of everything as far as them having really just the uncertainty of everything. we have had the slowdown period for us and i really impacted a lot of time as far as being hey this is not normal. this thing is that is happening is not normal. in the early 19th century when this was happening they weren't even going to school. they were staying home to so i wanted to take this as a learninghi opportunity and thankfullyly my kids understand. they are even adamant about wearing a mask out and they have extra ones in their bags. so it's good but it's difficult. also for the teachers out there who are doing the double thing, i can't applaud you and thank you guys enough for what you do. >> guest: first of all i'm so sorry for the loss to -- the

loss ofss your father and i appreciate that you are stranded by people that do not believe we are pandemic and i appreciate that you have the courage andndc the bravery to stand up and say this is real and people have died including some of their close family and i'm going to do everything i can to take care of my family and by doing that and this is what they've been doing in educating people. a lot of people talk about it's their right to not wear a mask. that's not okay because it's everyone else's right to live and to live in a healthy way and greta we can talk a lot about this. we are counting the numbers and like i said we are at four to 30,000 but we are not keeping track of the people who have had the virus and are now suffering long-term illnesses. we know the impact and the

fallout of this pandemic will go on for many many years and the more people pretend that it doesn't exist and not do what they need to do to keep everyone else safe to longer that will persist so education, i've been in education for over 30 years and i always feel that education is the answer. as we continue to do and we know it was not coming from the federal government in the critical months of this pandemic but be due now and we understand that part of it is educating people and being transparent and communicating with people and in a calm and informed way. that's exactly what the president has been doing and that's what people in this country have been doing and the front-line workers have been doing who put their lives on the line to take care of us and to takef care of our families so e need to continue to do that.

>> host: rebecca and orange ebcity, florida. rebecca are you there? >> caller: yeah i'm here, i'm sorry. so i have a son who is in first grade and a 4-year-old daughter who isn't in school yet so they send everyone home last march when this first started and, august they gave my county three different options, to do something called -- to beef up the curriculum in schools so if you want to put them back in at any time you can send them back and then they have regular homeschooling. so i chose the first and it was going pretty good but a lot of the parents were able to keep up and help w their kids so we are all helping each other.

my family and i ended up getting covid. my husband works in -- so he brought it home unfortunately so it's probably a good thing we them home. as time is going by more and more kids started going back to brick-and-mortar so the teachers had to go back to teaching in person. it was kind of like it was being put on the back earner which i can understand. they had the bear there for the kids so we ended up sending my son back to school and a week later he was exposed to someone with covid in this class and they had to come back home and quarantined for 10 days and that was kind of a mess. i just wanted to say that. we are all trying our best to your especially the teachers. i really applaud the teachers

because they are having to do triple the work and we are all trying to figure this out together. it's just hard times so we need to go easy on the teachers. >> host: becky pringle. >> guest: rebecca, thank you, thank you. i really appreciate what you said early on and that was that we are working together and that's exactly what has toat happen. this is real and you know it. you have experienced it first-hand and you understand the tremendous stress and overwhelming that our teachers are feeling right now but with parents and community members like you who are stressing that they understand that and we just have to figure this out, you know greta oftentimes i say to people we are in a pandemic. we don't know what that is. we never been in one like the other caller said.

this is the first time we have gone throughth it. this is when we need to give each other a break and this is when we need to come together and work together to do what's best for her students and their families. thisbe is when we should all be working and saying to our government at the federal level, the state level andt the local level that it is time that they do what they must to make sure that every one of those students has what they need. this is the time to do that to come together and figured out together, to stay together and not start laming each other. we have got to do this together and it does start with leadership. that's exactly what we are seeing right now at the white house. i had an opportunity to be with doctored jill biden and she's continuing to teach in the day. i was with her. she had already todt two classes virtually so she understands

what kids all over this country are going through and how much pressure there is and is rebecca was p describing these are teachers who are doing triplehe time,g bearing doing virtually and in person and doing hybrid which is difficult and chaotic for them and for their families. we have to continue this fight to get the unit additional support. we can make our schools safe and we can have health care professionals there to help us deal with the social needs of our students and the trauma that they've been suffering so we can build back better. >> host: we are going to a studentto cameron and nevada. cameron how old are you? >> caller: i am 26. >> host: a student in college than? >> caller: i am a student but i took up this semester.

>> host: go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: i would just like to point out their almond trees schools here and i was walking past them and they were kids out playing around and children were not wearing aem mask. i thought to myself you know, there should be a law in place for mask wearing first children in school that should beor mandatory or something. why this is i don't know but back to what this lady here said about playing together, the only way that we are going to be able do that is if our country realizes that we need to unify each other and come together peacefully and peacefully protest from some clarity and i'm not saying that people in this country are too quick to

follow the ones that are going crazy and they are all the shootings and writing of the government. we need to come together peacefully. we need to look to god because god is the only one that -- humans cannot save ourselves from this. >> host: okay cameron. becky pringle final thoughts? >> guest: coming together and community, those are words that president biden used in his inaugural address and what struck me about that because we certainly are divided country, there's no question about it but something about the words that he said is that they reflect who he has been his entire life and he understands it's not going to be easy and as we talk to callers today they are all over the map.

it's not going to be easy, there's no question about that week do know it's the only n way through. that's the only way to a better place and that is always true not just during this pandemic. so i encouraged by continuing to deliver that same message building the message and that we are not lame each other by working together to do what's right for her students, to invest in our schools, to make sure this country lives up to itsis promise. those 31st words of our constitution, we the people. greta it isns we, all of us. all of us have that right to pursue happiness and it takes week, all of us to make that happen. >> host: reviewers can learn more if they go to nea.org. becky pringle is the president

of the national education association and we thank you for the conversation. >> guest: thank you greta. >> do you solemnly swear that all things pertaining to the trial of the impeachment of donald john trump former president of the united states now pending you will do impartial justice according to the constitutional laws, so help you god? >> i do.

>> good morning everyone. i want to thank you for joining us. i am mayor nan whaley and present the u.s. conference of mayors but i want to thank her for an sent the national league of cities in the national association of counties for their sheer dedication to