Unfit To Serve: Critics Question Controversial Teacher's Union Chief Appointed To Homeland Security Council

The council will provide recommendations to the Secretary on campus safety and security, research priorities, and improved coordination, among other matters. According to DHS, the HSAPC will offer strategic and actionable recommendations to the Secretary on campus safety and security, improved coordination, research priorities, hiring, and more. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has expressed his appreciation to the twenty council members, including Weingarten, for their willingness to serve, guidance, and recommendations.

Weingarten and the council will provide advice and recommendations on improving coordination and sharing of actionable threat and security-related information, safety and security, and methods to develop career opportunities to support a 21st-century DHS workforce, among other tasks.

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June 23, 2023

Weingarten has been appointed to the council for a two-year term, and the council will be chaired by Teach for America CEO Elisa Villanueva Beard, with American Association of Community Colleges President and CEO Dr. Walter Bumphus serving as vice-chair.

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Weingarten has faced criticism, including an attack by Libs of TikTok in December for wanting to keep pornographic books such as "Gender Queer" in schools. Weingarten dismissed the attack as "baseless claims not worth repeating" and stated that "being attacked by the notorious homophobic operator is a badge of honor." She also faced backlash over visiting Ukraine in October, with people questioning why the head of an American teachers union would be heading to the frontlines in Ukraine as children back home continued to face learning deficits following pandemic-era remote learning, a learning style that Weingarten supported and pushed for even as cases waned.

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June 23, 2023

In September, Weingarten claimed that the founding fathers did not question slavery, stating, "No one had questioned it before we decided as Americans that our creator endows us with unalienable rights." However, Twitter users noted that founding father Thomas Jefferson, an author of the 1776 Declaration of Independence, actually sparked a widespread debate on slavery over a decade before the Constitution was put into practice. The section he wrote opposing slavery was struck from the Declaration.

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Weingarten also declared that teachers are "social justice warriors" in a September town hall event with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. She claimed that teachers were burnt out because they could not answer the "questions of children" and that they had to be the "mask police."

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Weingarten's appointment to the HSAPC has been met with mixed reactions, with some praising her experience and expertise. In contrast, others have expressed concerns over her controversial statements and actions in the past. Nonetheless, Weingarten and the council will be crucial in providing recommendations to the Secretary on campus safety and security, research priorities, and improved coordination.