White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Monday that it will be up to local governments to determine the best way to get students back to the classroom this fall after the coronavirus closes.
“We leave localities exactly what guidelines will work because the guidelines in a state like North Dakota should look different than a locality like Miami,” McEnany said on “Fox & Friends.”
CDC IS ‘PREPARED TO WORK WITH EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT’ FOR A SAFE OPENING
“The CDC guidelines are available as the best case scenario: this is what a school should look like … but several of the principles there are neither feasible nor possible, which even the CDC guidelines say,” McEnany explained. , making specific reference to the guide that suggests that students bring their own lunch to school.
“We know that half of the students in the United States depend on school lunch,” he said. “From a poverty level point of view, they need that school lunch.”
McEnany’s comments come after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published guidelines last week for schools to safely reopen as positive cases of COVID-19 in states across the country.
CDC Director Robert Redfield was forced last week to clarify the agency’s guidelines, after President Trump said he disagreed with them, calling them “impractical” and “very tough and expensive “
Redfield explained last week during an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the CDC would offer “different reference documents” for local governments and school districts to review as they begin to determine if they can reopen in a timely manner. safe this fall.
“Our guidelines are our guidelines, but we are going to provide additional reference documents to help communities that are trying to open K-12 schools, parent reference documents, reference documents for schools to manage symptoms, reference documents for facial masks and for how to evaluate and monitor, “said Redfield.
He added: “It is not a revision of the guidelines, but it is providing additional information to help schools.”
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Redfield said the CDC “provides guidelines, not requirements,” and that “the purpose of the guide is to help local jurisdictions open schools.”
The CDC principal said part of the orientation includes keeping students 6 feet away, wearing face shields and “observing changes in schedule.”
He noted that some schools were concerned with social distancing, while others were concerned with facial masks or rotating schedules.
“These decisions are local decisions,” he said. “We are prepared to work with any school on how they can take this guide and do it in a way that is comfortable for them.”
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Redfield added that the guidelines “are intentionally non-prescriptive.”
“Introducing a spectrum of strategies, schools are committed to reopening safely, just like CDC does,” Redfield said.
Meanwhile, Trump, during an event with First Lady Melania Trump last week, said his administration would “put a lot of pressure” on governors to reopen schools in their states in the fall.
The President has also threatened to cut federal funds for districts and local governments that choose to keep students on a remote learning schedule.
