Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, was caught on video dropping his daughter off for in-person private preschool — though he has led union opposition to the opening of public schools in the area.
The video was captured on Feb. 18, and posted on Saturday, by a group calling itself “Guerilla Momz.”
Bay Area public radio station KQED reported:
Parent groups are crying “hypocrisy” after a video surfaced showing the president of the Berkeley teachers union dropping off his two-year-old daughter at an in-person preschool.
Matt Meyer, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, has fought for what he called the “gold standard” for the teachers he represents — saying Berkeley schools should only reopen to in-person learning when educators are vaccinated, among other criteria.
…
Meyer, for his part, said the incident was an intrusion on his child’s privacy. While the group who filmed his family, who call themselves “Guerilla Momz” did blur out his daughter in their video, they managed to spook her, he said.
“I have my two-year-old in preschool. Unfortunately, there are not public schools for kids her age. We are excited that we will be reopening soon with a plan that our members and the district supports,” Meyer said in a text message to KQED Sunday morning.
The issue of school reopening has divided the liberal town, according to community newspaper Berkeleyside: “There are parents who want schools to open immediately, those who are resigned to waiting until COVID-19 conditions improve and those who believe the district is being cavalier with the lives of its teachers by opening too fast.”
KQED notes that the Berkeley Unified School District and the teachers’ union reached an agreement to reopen schools for lower grades at the end of March, and to allow older children to begin returning in April. However, that is not soon enough for some parents.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.