Education Secretary Miguel Cardona believes students should return to the classroom as soon as possible.
CNN’s Brianna Keilar asked Cardona on Wednesday if it is too late for schools to act on his call for students to return to the classroom by spring.
“Not at all. The call has been there since we know students can come to school safely and that’s where they deserve to be. Every day that passes is a wasted opportunity… our data is showing that there are disproportionate access to school which is further widening gaps in opportunity and achievement for our students,” Cardona said.
He continued, “So we have to act with urgency.”
When asked for his response to schools who refuse to open, Cordona explained, “It’s really important for us to be seen as a support, to see how we can support them problem solving. The resources are there, the science is there, we have great examples of across the country where it can be done.”
Watch Cardona’s comments below:
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on calling for schools to reopen as soon as possible: "Our data is showing that there [is] disproportionate access to school, which is further widening gaps in opportunity … We have to act with urgency."https://t.co/JLHwjHHrU4 pic.twitter.com/wZpVMNViIo
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt (@CNNThisMorning) May 12, 2021
Keilar pointed out there are stakeholders within Cardona’s party as well as teachers’ unions that are pushing back on reopening schools.
She asked the education secretary, “At what point can you kind of go tough love on people who support your administration and say, ‘This is what has to happen.'”
Noting he cannot mandate schools to reopen, Cardona explained, “We’re working with states. I’m talking to governors. I’m talking to chiefs. I’m talking to superintendents, teachers, principals, and I haven’t met an educator that doesn’t want to go back to school safely.”
Acknowledging the pandemic is ongoing, Cardona told Keilar, “We have to follow CDC guidance of the mitigation strategies that have proven to work to get our kids and our staff back to school safely.”
He continued, “To remove those now I think would be premature.”