Teacher who was fired for refusing COVID vaccine torches Randi Weingarten for 'culture war' remark

A former New York City school teacher said Friday that teachers' union leader Randi Weingarten is "not really taking on the leadership that she needs to" and is failing to prioritize teachers.

This comes after the American Federation of Teachers president blamed the "culture wars" for the teacher shortage in the U.S. 

Rachelle Garcia, a former elementary school teacher, joined "Fox & Friends First" to respond.

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Weingarten came under fire on Twitter Tuesday after a post pinning blame for America's teacher shortages on "culture wars."

"The truth about America's teacher shortage -it worsened during the pandemic-because of burnout & "the culture wars that put teachers and staff under constant scrutiny over any conversations involving history, racism and sexuality," Weingarten wrote.

The caption included a link to a Washington Post article from last month arguing that the teacher shortage emerged in a consequence of low pay failing to attract potential educators to the field.

Garcia hit back saying that schools were already facing a teacher shortage that became worse after the pandemic. 

Garcia, who was fired for refusing the COVID vaccine said, "on top of that, you have the vaccine mandates or just mandates in general, forcing it upon teachers, which in the beginning she had a different stance. She said she wasn't going to force it upon teachers, and all of a sudden she changed it." 

Garcia said Weingarten has a political agenda she wants to push and wants to have "a scapegoat" when faced with criticism. 

Garcia emphasized that Weingarten is not standing up for teachers.  

"How are you allowing so many teachers to get fired? How are you understaffing your schools? "There is so much stuff that's just gotten worse over the years, and you're a union leader like you're supposed to be fighting for us. You're supposed to be putting your foot down and saying, No, not my teachers. The students need teachers," she told Todd Piro.

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Garcia said the key to getting more teachers back is to rehire teachers like herself.

"Hire the teachers who are qualified. We went to school for this. We've furthered our lives on this. I've been a teacher for 14-15 years now and at this point put the teachers back in the classroom. You're going overseas for what? You're assessing other countries, but your own backyard is basically drowning over here." 

Garcia concluded by stating that she is holding a rally in support of teachers and her cause in Albany, N.Y. on January 10th. 

Fox News' Taylor Penley contributed to this article