President Joe Biden is clarifying his administration’s goal for reopening schools amid criticism following reports that he was aiming to have schools reopen for just one day per week.
During a town hall event hosted by CNN on Tuesday, Anderson Cooper noted that Biden has said he wants to reopen “the majority of schools” in his first 100-days.
“You’re now saying that means those schools may only be open for at least one day a week,” Cooper said.
Biden interjected, “No, that’s not true. That’s what was reported. That’s not true. It was a mistake in the communication.”
He went on the say that he wants to reopen the “majority of schools in [kindergarten] through eighth grade” because “they’re the easiest to open, the most needed to be open in terms of impact on children and families.”
When pressed on when he believes schools in those grades would be open five days a week, Biden said, “I think we’ll be close to that at the end of the first 100 days.”
Watch the video below:
Joe Biden is asked about his administration originally setting a goal of schools being open five days a week, which changed to a goal of schools being opened at least one day a week:
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 17, 2021
"It was a mistake in the communication." pic.twitter.com/M6mffuzsXf
He reiterated that his goal is for the majority of the schools in those grades to be open at least five days a week.
On Feb. 10, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was pressed on her comments where she appeared to say that Biden aimed to have schools open just one day a week by the end of his first 100-days.
She said, “The president set a goal of reopening the majority of schools within 100 days, and when you asked what that meant, I answered the question… That is not the ceiling. That is the bar we’re trying to leap over and exceed.”
“Certainly, we are not planning to celebrate at a hundred days if we reach that goal. That is our own effort to set our own markings… set a bold and ambitious agenda for how we’re going to measure ourselves and progress,” she added
The next day, Psaki sought to clarify that Biden’s goal was to have schools reopen five days a week, as she said, “The President will not rest until every school is open five days a week. That is our goal.”
