Biden Says Reporting on Schools Only Being Open One Day a Week ‘Was a Mistake in Communication’

During a CNN town hall on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden said that reports about his goal of reopening schools being defined as merely one day a week of in-person instruction was a “mistake in communication.”

After answering a question from a parent asking about getting kids back in school permanently, moderator Anderson Cooper followed up to clarify how Biden was defining that goal, which he pledged to hit by the end of his first 100 days in office. Last week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki had offered multiple versions about the administration’s goal, which began with her pledging to only have students in class “at least one day a week in the majority of schools by day 100.”

“Your administration had set a goal to open the majority of schools in your first 100 days. You’re now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week…” Cooper began.

“No, that’s not true. That’s what was reported. That’s not true. It was a mistake in the communication,” Biden said, without identifying who, exactly, made the mistake. “But what I’m talking about is I said opening the majority of school in K through 8th grade because they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of the impact on children and families having to stay home.”

When Cooper pressed if Biden thought his administration could get elementary and middle schools fully reopened by the end of April, the president was optimistic but notably didn’t promise 100 percent success.

“I think we’ll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days,” he claimed. “We have a significant percentage of them being able to be opened. My guess is they’re going to probably be pushing to open all summer, to continue like it’s a different semester.”

“I think many of them five days a week. The goal will be five days a week,” Biden added. “Now, it’s going to be harder to open up the high schools for the reasons I said, just like if you notice the contagion factor in colleges is much higher than it is in high schools or grade schools.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.