#Trump says he will ‘pressure’ governors to reopen schools in the fall

President Trump on Tuesday said that his administration would be “putting a lot of pressure” on US governors to reopen public schools in the fall.

“We’re very much going to put pressure on governors and everybody else to open the schools, to get them open. It’s very important,” Trump said at a White House event featuring health experts, educators and politicians on school reopenings.

“So we are going to be putting a lot of pressure on [governors] to open your schools in the fall,” he continued.

“Everybody wants it. The moms want it. The dads want it. The kids want it. It’s time to do it.”

The president also touted his administrations’ efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic — and pointed to Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, who announced earlier in the day that schools would reopen there in the fall despite a big recent spike in cases.

“[Vice President] Mike [Pence] was telling me Governor DeSantis did a terrific [job], just announced schools will be open in the fall and we hope that most schools are going to be open,” Trump said.

First Lady Melania Trump focused on children and their educational and emotional needs in her brief remarks.

“The administration has worked around the clock to protect Americans from the coronavirus, but many challenges for children and families can be just as invisible as the virus, and just as dangerous when children are out of school,” she said.

“They are missing more than just time in the classroom, they are missing the laughter of the friends, learning from those teachers and the joy of recess and play,” the first lady continued before stressing the importance of safe reopenings.

“For children with disabilities, without access to technology or homes that are not a safe place, the situation can be even worse. As the start of the school year gets closer, I encourage parents, teachers and schools to teach children about the importance of CDC guidelines and to implement them when appropriate,” she said.

“Children’s mental health and social development must be as much of a priority as physical health.”

While Trump and Pence talked about the harm school closings have on children, business and conservative groups have urged safe school reopenings as important for getting their parents back to work and reviving the US economy.

“Schools connect stu­dents with peers and mentors, channel youthful energy into productive pursuits, teach essential academic skills and knowledge, and give overwhelmed parents room to breathe and work,” the American Enterprise Institute said here in urging preparations for fall school reopenings.

Pence at the event promised that the federal government would work with governors and other local leaders that reopenings were conducted safely and that children’s health would be a priority.

And the commander in chief said that once the schools and states reopen there would be no going back — even as some governors are pausing their plans to reopen their economies.

“Now we’re open and we want to stay open and we will stay open. We’re not closing. We’ll put out the fires as they come out. I call them embers and fires and whatever you want to call them,” he said.

And he again asserted that his administration had saved millions of lives based on projections that tw million Americans could have died with zero mitigation, and that the only reason the US led the world in confirmed cases was because of what he called widespread testing.

“If we did half the testing we’d have far fewer cases,” Trump said.

Colleges and universities are also weighing plans to resume this autumn, including calendar changes and online classes.

The Trump administration on Monday said foreign students must leave the country if their schools move to fully online classes, which could choke off revenue for those schools.

With Reuters