WASHINGTON, D.C. – Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, Ariz., was among those who defended his decision to keep kids in the education” target=”_blank”>classroom< pandemic despite heavy media criticism at the 2022 National Governors Association (NGA) meeting.
Arizona Central published an opinion piece in January suggesting Ducey had done serious harm to children by keeping school-reopening-plans” target=”_blank”>schools< mandate.
FILE – In this Dec. 2, 2020, file photo, Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey answers a question during a news conference in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, Pool, File)
Asked to respond to the criticism, Ducey provided an issue on which he said the media could have better spent its resources.
“Fifty plus years ago politicians stood in the schoolhouse door and wouldn’t let minorities in. Today unions back politicians stand in the schoolhouse door and won’t let minorities out,” Ducey told Fox News Digital. “They are trapped in failing schools. That’s what the media should be reporting on. But they want to report on masks, and not talk about math scores.”
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, R, agreed the media’s priorities were awry, and suggested what the press should have asked joe-biden” target=”_blank”>President Biden<
Kevin Stitt, governor of Oklahoma, speaks during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and governors in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2020. Photographer: Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(Chris Kleponis/Polaris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Like his Arizonan counterpart, Stitt signed an executive order to encourage schools to stay open.
“I signed an executive order to encourage the business community and also our state employees to volunteer as substitute teachers,” he told Fox News Digital at NGA. “Because there’s some real issues with people being out with omicron and so, we think it’s so important for kids to be in schools. So that was one of the things we were excited to do. To keep all our schools open across Oklahoma.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with the White House COVID-19 Response Team in the Roosevelt Room of the White House December 16, 2021 in Washington, DC.
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, R., recently addressed the issue of how to handle schooling during COVID in her State of the State. In a follow-up for Fox News Digital, she echoed Stitt in sharing her concern for children’s future.
“Nothing replaces in-person learning, plain and simple,” Ivey said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are at a point where we have to learn to live with this virus, and here in Alabama, we are taking that approach and moving on with our lives. The consequences would be too devastating if we don’t, not just today, but in the future. We have the tools at our hands to treat the virus. We have directed necessary resources toward our schools so that they have what they need to have kids and teachers in the building. If those on the left push virtual learning, they are letting special interests and politics interfere with the lives of our students, and there is simply no excuse for that.”
