Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday claimed that the precipitous drop in support among parents for in-person schooling during the pandemic is the result of a "coordinated effort" to convince parents not to send their kids back to school.

The results of a Gallup poll released on Aug. 3 showed support for in-person schooling down to 36 percent, a drop of 20 percentage points from the previous month. The same poll showed an increase of 21 percentage points for remote learning.

Donald Trump and his administration have been pushing for schools to reopen despite advice from medical experts against it. Some schools that have opened have had to quickly close back down due to transmission of the virus among students.

From the Aug. 13 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom:

TRACE GALLAGHER, Fox News: It seems to me, and I want to put these Gallup polls up on the screen, it seems to me and to a lot of Americans that this push to get in-person learning is losing a little bit of steam. You see there from May 25 to June 8, 56 percent of the population said they wanted in-person, full-time school, and you move forward to July and now it's down to 36 percent.
So, the whole push seems to be losing steam. What does the administration think about that?
BETSY DeVOS: Well, we know that it's a coordinated effort and a campaign to continue to sow fear. And yet when you look at facts and when you look at the science, we know that the important thing for kids is to be able to get back into school, into their classrooms, back with their peers, back with their teachers, and learning in person.
And for most students this is the case.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.