The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is gearing up to revise its guidance on school reopening following Donald Trump's tweet noting that he did not agree with the agency's guidelines for opening schools. The president has insisted on reopening schools, despite a spike in coronavirus cases across several states.
Vice President Mike Pence made the revelation at a news conference at the U.S. Department of Education, noting that Trump doesn't want the guidance to be too tough. Citing the president's disagreement, the CDC will be coming up with a new set of tools, five different documents that will simplify the guidance, Pence explained.
Trump took to his Twitter handle on July 8 to express his disagreement with the CDC, accusing the agency of suggesting very tough and expensive guidelines for reopening schools amid the ongoing pandemic. He said the CDC is expecting schools to do impractical things, adding that he will be meeting with them.
On top of that, the president threatened to withhold funding to schools if they do not reopen this fall. Referring to that threat, Pence explained that the administration plans to offer incentives for states to go forward in the upcoming federal stimulus package.
The head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Pence went on to explain that the administration will be working along with Congress on the next round of state support, adding that it wants to give strong incentive and encourage states to bring children back to school. While education funding usually comes from the state and local levels, the federal government offers a large amount of money to low-income schools in the form of grants, which are also made available for special education programs.
On July 7, Trump and first lady Melania Trump hosted a White House event to encourage local school districts to reopen in the fall. The event offered a forum, allowing students, parents, teachers, administrators to consider best practices for reopening schools around the United States without jeopardizing the safety of the children, teachers, and other school staff, USA Today reported.
The first lady asked teachers, parents, and schools to inform children about the guidelines on coronavirus and even implement these guidelines when appropriate. At the recently concluded news conference at the Education Department, CDC Director Robert Redfield insisted that the guidelines were meant to help schools reopen and are not to be used reasons to avoid reopening schools.