Responding in our pages to Mike Pompeo’s column calling her “the most dangerous person in America,” American Federation of Teachers chief Randi Weingarten offers some choice . . . alternative facts. 

To start, a real whopper: “Our teachers give their all for their students, showing up every day for their kids, partnering with parents and helping the next generation fulfill their dreams.”

Even pre-COVID, that wasn’t true. Yes, many public-school teachers are wonderful. But year after year of testing evidence shows that the public school system fails the most vulnerable kids again and again. And forget about fulfilling dreams: In New York City alone in 2019, some 43% of high school graduates were deemed college-unready by the state. 

Then came COVID. And with it the pointless, anti-science school closures Weingarten and her union allies demanded. The kids suffered, for two miserable years; the National Assessment of Educational Progress issued earlier this year tells the grim tale. (It also shows that Catholic schools, which prioritized in-person learning, didn’t fail.)

The pandemic years saw the largest drop in reading scores among nine-year-olds since 1990, with an even steeper decrease in math (the first-ever such drop).

Decades of progress were erased. And other analyses show the losses were concentrated most among black and Hispanic students. Which reveals just how deeply Weingarten failed the public by putting her members’ interests far above the kids’. 

“Showing up every day for their kids?” Not a chance. 

The reading figure gives the lie to another claim of Weingarten’s: that she thinks “literacy is crucial.” If that were true, she and her fellow “education leaders” would’ve done everything in their power to ensure that younger kids were learning to read during the pandemic. Spoiler alert: They didn’t, and now around one-third of the youngest schoolchildren are failing to hit reading benchmarks.

Which brings us to her parting shot — that she (and presumably the union she runs) will go on “doing the serious work of helping our nation’s kids, families and communities recover and thrive.” 

We refer you to her callous insistence in the face of questions about lost school time that “kids are resilient.” In other words, she has zero commitment to helping children thrive: Let them fend for themselves, it’ll all be fine!

Indeed, her actions suggest that Weingarten won’t lift a finger for children if it involves any inconvenience to her dues-paying members. 

Though we’ve long faulted Weingarten’s honesty, we thought it only fair to give her a chance for an unedited reply to Pompeo. But, as readers decide for themselves, they should be aware that meant suspending our usual fact-checking standards.