New York Times changes headline twice on column gushing over Randi Weingarten
Times went from 'Can this woman save American public education' to 'We desperately need schools to get back to normal'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The New York Times changed a headline twice on a panned column that declared teachers union leader Randi Weingarten a champion of school openings on Friday.
Michelle Goldberg's piece was initially headlined "Can This Woman Save American Public Education?" It was changed to "What Will It Take to Get Schools Back to Normal?" before The Times finally settled on "We Desperately Need Schools to Get Back to Normal."
It wasn't changed in time for the front page of the Sunday Review of the Times, which kept the heroic framework and included the subhead, "The pandemic has left teachers, parents, and students in a crisis. Randi Weingarten may have a way out."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, speaks alongside Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, during a news conference on Oct. 4, 2021, in Manhattan. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
NEW YORK TIMES COLUMN BLASTED FOR PORTRAYING RANDI WEINGARTEN AS CHAMPION OF KEEPING SCHOOLS OPEN
Goldberg portrayed Weingarten, who leads the American Federation of Teachers, as someone who had worked tirelessly to keep schools open over the last two years.
"But those who fault Weingarten for closed schools misunderstand the role she’s played over the last 20 months. Rather than championing shutdowns, she’s spent much of her energy, both in public and behind the scenes, trying to get schools open," Goldberg wrote. "And she’s been trying, sometimes uncomfortably, to act as a mediator between desperate parents grieving their kids’ interrupted educations, and beleaguered teachers who feel like they’re being blamed for a calamity they didn’t create."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Goldberg's framing came in for a thrashing on social media, as Weingarten and teachers unions threatened strikes last year over reopening measures, were noncommittal on five-day-a-week, in-person schooling as recently as this summer, and pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make school reopening guidelines stricter.
A woman walks by the closed Roberto Clemente Public School 15 in New York City on Aug. 7, 2020. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton)
"I truly cannot believe this is real," Insider columnist Anthony Fisher tweeted, after ripping "gaslighting" efforts by unions to claim they had pushed to open schools.
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School closings in 2020 and 2021 have been among the most controversial policies implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, with critics pointing to the comparative safety for children from the virus, and the damage of virtual learning on students' mental health and its harsher impact on poorer and minority children.