Biden’s Education Secretary Won’t Commit to School Openings in the Fall: ‘It’s Premature to Tell’

It’s “premature” to say whether schools will be permitted to fully reopen in the fall, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in an interview.

“We don’t know the trajectory of the vaccines,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes noted in a Wednesday interview with Cardona. “It seems to me that getting all kids in class makes sense. Do you have a position? Does the department have a position on that?”

“You know, it’s premature to tell,” Cardona replied. “One thing I know as a former commissioner of education, Covid-19 numbers will dictate how we move to reopen schools. So it’s not just about what’s happening in the schools. It’s about what’s happening in the community.”

Figures released by the Department of Education this month indicated the 43 percent of elementary students and 48 percent of middle school students were still attending school remotely. As part of the effort to encourage reopening, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this month revised guidance related to Covid-19 measures, stating that students could be separated by just three feet rather than six.

However, the fall reopening target stands in stark contrast to a pledge President Joe Biden made before he took office to have students back within 100 days of entering the White House. He clarified after his inauguration that the plan applied only to students in grades K-8, and later said he hoped to be “close” by April 30.

Cardona said that from his perspective, reopening may not happen for quite some time. “If, as members of our community, we can follow those mitigation strategies to make sure that our schools are safe places for our students and for our staff, we should have students in school next year,” he said.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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