Rep. Andy Biggs said Friday he's "struggling" with a statement from Arizona School Superintendent Kathy Hoffman that schools in the state may have to close again if there is another outbreak after they open.
"I think the data is clear, the CDC has indicated that in a normal flu season, kids are more at risk than even in the COVID situation," the Arizona Republican said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "In Arizona, what they are doing is if parents don't have someplace to put their child, they want the schools open to receive them, but they are just not going to educate them, and that seems to be at odds to me."
In her statement, posted on social media, Hoffman said schools should be able to decide when to reopen based on public health data, and she has asked Gov. Doug Ducey to consider that certain metrics are met, rather than focusing on a target date.
“Like all educators, I want students back in the classroom because that’s the best place for learning and growing,” Hoffman wrote in her statement, which was posted on Twitter, reports radio station KTAR.
Biggs said that if schools are allowed to operate as a "child care facility" then they should be allowed to educate students.
"Maybe what we need to do is just let the parents have the school choice, because they are discounting the harm to students physically and emotionally by denying them access to schools," said Biggs.
Biggs also commented on allowing federal officers to come into cities that are being hit hard by violence, saying it is the right choice for cities to accept the assistance in order to get back to a point of safety.
"The federal civilian agents, not military, but civilian agents, are protecting federal property," Biggs said. "I think it would be helpful in other places…(but) they seem to be okay with the violence in the municipalities."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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