Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had much to say on television a couple of days ago, according to the New York Post’s Lia Eustachewich, regarding the issue of whether schools should re-open in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. She wrote:

“Former Big Apple Mayor Mike Bloomberg urged President Biden to ‘stand up’ to unions and tell teachers to ‘suck it up’ and return to in-person learning, calling virtual learning ‘a disgrace.’

The former Democratic presidential candidate sounded off on teachers’ resistance to the push to reopen schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic, calling on the president to push the prioritization of children’s wellbeing.

‘It’s time for Joe Biden to stand up and to say, the kids are the most important things, important players here,’ Bloomberg said Wednesday on MSNBC. ‘And the teachers just are going to have to suck it up and stand up and provide an education.’

He added, ‘Teachers say, “Well, I don’t want to go back because it’s dangerous.” We have a lot of city and state and federal employees who run risks, that’s part of the job. You run risks to help America, to help your state, to help your city, to help your family and there’s just no reason not to have the schools open.’

Slamming virtual learning as ‘a joke — worse than a joke,’ the billionaire philanthropist said the remote instruction hurts ‘poor people’ the most.

‘Poor people don’t have iPads, they don’t have WiFi, they don’t have somebody at home to sit during the day and force the child to pay attention and without that, the virtual learning just does not exist,’ he said.”

Mr. Bloomberg urged Mr. Biden to fight back against the teachers’ unions.

Battle the teachers’ unions is exactly what the former Mayor did during his twelve years leading New York City. His brave work in making it possible to fire bad traditional school teachers, in creating charter schools, and strengthening the professional training of those in the education field are perfectly documented in Joel Klein’s excellent 2014 book entitled Lessons of Hope: How to Fix Our Schools.

The words above are the Michael Bloomberg I remember. The one that went to work each and every day trying to improve the lives of his citizens. He brought tremendous prosperity to the place my family loves in almost every area in which he could have influence.

His campaign for President was disappointing in that it appears he got tied up in following liberal talking points in order to try and win the Democratic nomination. He also had difficulty expressing his past accomplishments. But now apparently he is back telling it like it is.

In an editorial Mr. Bloomberg wrote at the end of January he observed:

“Early research suggests sharply reduced learning gains; widening racial disparities in achievement; and an eruption of anxiety, loneliness, depression and other mental-health afflictions among students isolated from their peers and stuck at home. Some districts have seen a rash of suicides. Education analysts warn that the long-term consequences — for disadvantaged kids, for racial equity, even for America’s global competitiveness — could be disastrous.

In short, getting kids back into classrooms should be a national priority. More local leaders are recognizing that, but in some cases, districts have tried to reopen, only to be stymied by unions. In Chicago — which has one of the country’s largest school systems, and where more than 75% of students are economically disadvantaged — the union has simply defied the city’s reopening plans. In Montclair, New Jersey, the local union is blocking even two-day-a-week instruction. In Fairfax County, Virginia, the union got teachers moved to the front of the line for vaccines — and then decided that in-class instruction shouldn’t resume until vaccinations were ready for students. No vaccines are currently authorized for those under age 16.”

As teachers receive the vaccine in the nation’s capital we have reached a point where both charters and regular schools need to figure out how to safely open to our children.