VP Mike Pence says it’s ‘absolutely essential’ for schools to reopen this fall

Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday it was “absolutely essential” that schools reopen in the fall so that children can get back in the classroom.

“What we heard yesterday from education officials and what we heard from the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is absolutely essential that we get our kids back in the classroom for in-person learning,” Pence said during a coronavirus task force briefing at the Department of Education, referring to a forum in the East Room Tuesday.

“We cannot let our kids fall behind academically. But it is important that the American people remember that for children that have mental health issues, for special-needs children, for nutrition, for children in communities facing persistent poverty, that school is the place where they receive all of those services,” the veep continued.

“This is not simply about making sure our kids are learning and advancing academically, but for their mental health, for their well-being, or their physical health, have to get our kids back to school.”

He also said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing guidelines for safe school reopenings next week.

His comment came after President Trump trashed the CDC guidelines, but it was unclear if the ones coming next week would differ from those currently available.

But Pence stressed that the CDC guidelines were not mandates and that it was up to the states to ultimately decide how to proceed.

“We’re here to help,” he said.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos echoed Pence’s message that it was up to the states to decide how to safely reopen.

“It’s not a matter of if, it’s simply a matter of how. Schools must fully open and be fully operational and how that happens is best left to education and community leaders,” she said.

CDC chief Robert Redfield defended the existing guidelines as tools to help states reopen their schools — not roadblocks to prevent reopening.

“First and foremost, I want to make it very clear that the guidance the CDC put out is intentional for reopening and keeping our schools open. That is its purpose,” he said.

“We recognize that there is a variety of unique circumstances with different school districts and so we have outlined a number of strategies that those schools and administrators can use to accomplish this goal safely,” he continued.

“But I want to make it very clear that what is not part of the CDC guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed. We are prepared to work with each school, each jurisdiction to help them use the different strategies we have proposed so they come up with the optimal strategy for those schools.”

Asked whether the CDC would change the guidelines following Trump’s criticism, Redfield did not answer directly but said the guidelines were often changed to reflect new data, a point echoed by Pence.

“As the president said today, we just don’t want the guidance to be too tough. That’s why the CDC will be issuing more guidance going forward,” he said.

Dr. Deborah Birx was asked about the vice president’s contention that children rarely contract the virus, which has killed more than 133,000 Americans in roughly four months, she replied that health officials don’t know what the infection rate is among younger children because so few have been tested.

“It really comes to the evidence base of what we have in testing in children. If you look across all the tests we have done, the portion that has been the lowest tested portion is the under 10-years-old,” she said, adding that the percentage of people under age
25 who have died from the virus was extremely low.

The president had also threatened earlier Wednesday to withhold federal funding for schools from states that don’t reopen quickly — and the vice president alluded to what that could look like.

“As we work with Congress on the next round of state support, we’re going to be looking for ways to give states a strong incentive and encouragement to get kids back to school,” he said.

Trump had warned at Tuesday’s forum that he would put pressure on governors who don’t reopen schools, and accused them of playing politics in an effort to hurt his reelection chances.