we have to calm the waters.

But those who fault Weingarten for closed schools misunderstand the role she’s played over the past 20 months. Rather than championing shutdowns, she’s spent much of her energy, both in public and behind the scenes, trying to get schools open. And she’s been trying, sometimes uncomfortably, to act as a mediator between desperate parents grieving their kids’ interrupted educations and beleaguered teachers who feel they’re being blamed for a calamity they didn’t create.

“It’s such a weird place for me, because I’m normally a fighter. I care passionately about these things, but I fight for things or fight against things,” she said. But now, “we have to calm the waters. We have to meet people where they are. People are tense, and people are stressed out, and we’re not going to actually help kids succeed unless we make an environment safe and welcoming, and you’re not going to make an environment safe and welcoming when you’re screaming at each other.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/opinion/randi-weingarten-schools.html