“What we have seen in public education is that technology can’t replace teachers. Remote education didn’t work, in part because you have to have relationships. You have to build trust,” she wrote in a tweet on Friday.

The American Federation for Children’s Corey DeAngelis reacted to Weingarten’s tweet on Saturday and said “you fought to keep schools closed.” Several others called out Weingarten for “forcing” remote education during the pandemic. …

Weingarten recently called out critics who blamed her for school closings in a letter to the editor published in the Wall Street Journal. She was responding to a piece written by the Journal’s editorial board headlined, “Randi Weingarten Flunks the Pandemic.”

“No teacher I know enjoyed remote and hybrid learning—which, pre-pandemic, was championed by Betsy DeVos,” Weingarten wrote, blaming the Trump administration. “Not one teacher relished teaching art class via Zoom to 40 pupils, 20 of them in a classroom and 20 at home.”