Stunning footage circulated around the Internet this week of a school in Portland, Oregon forcing young children to eat their lunches outside, in 40-degree weather, on buckets, because school administrators were afraid of a COVID outbreak or something.
At a press conference on Friday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki incredibly defended these bizarre, borderline-abusive school policies:
Q And one more question on schools. Obviously, the White House wants schools to be open, been encouraging schools to open. Many schools are fully open. But inside schools, there are often very strict rules. For example, sometimes students are required to eat outside or eat distanced from each other or not talk to each other while they're eating. Does the White House want to see those rules lifted, as well, to get back to a little more normal school experience?
MS. PSAKI: Well, schools are taking steps — especially since we've only recently approved, through the CDC and FDA, vaccines for 5- to 11-year-olds; they're not approved for kids younger than that — to keep their kids safe and keep students safe.
I will tell you, I have a three-year-old who goes to school, sits outside for snacks and lunch, wears a mask inside, and it's no big deal to him. I'm not saying that's the case for everybody, but these are steps that schools are taking to keep kids safe. And I think the vast majority of parents appreciate that.
Obviously, we want to get to a point where we're turning to a version of normalcy for everybody, right? Where you're not sending your kid's backpack with seven extra masks, right? Where you're not adding two hats so that they're warm outside for a snack. There's no question that's the case. But we also think the most important thing should be safety — the safety of kids; keeping kids in school, which the President is very focused on. And some of these steps — creative steps that schools have taken have enabled that to be possible.
Umm...Miss Psaki, did you really just praise the decision to force children to eat outside in near-freezing weather as "creative?"
