The largest teachers union in the United States influenced federal health officials to include rules for universal masking in school buildings, according to newly published emails obtained by a government watchdog group.

The CDC adopted stricter mask guidance for public schools after a major teachers’ union pressured the agency with a reproving statement.

Email correspondence obtained by Fox News between officials from the National Education Association, the nation’s second largest teachers’ union, and the White House reveal collaboration to push the CDC to release more rigorous mask recommendations.

The National Education Association endorsed Covid-19 vaccine requirements for school workers on Thursday, aligning itself with the Biden administration's push to get more Americans inoculated as the disease sends children to the hospital.

Teachers and other educators should have the option to submit to regular virus testing, NEA president Becky Pringle said, but she added her 3 million members should embrace vaccination, particularly as children return to classrooms for the new school year.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten abandoned her opposition to full school reopening on Thursday, delivering a speech in which she called for schools nation-wide to return to the pre-pandemic education model.

“Schools must be open. In person. Five days a week” this fall, said Weingarten, whose teacher’s union influenced language used in the CDC’s February guidelines on reopening schools to allow more room for teachers to choose to stay home.

New York City families have become unwilling homeschoolers in the last year as the pandemic shutdowns stretch on and on. Credit mayoral candidate Andrew Yang for calling out the teachers unions for depriving children of opportunities to learn in-person.

“I will confess to being a parent that has been frustrated by how slow our schools have been to open, and I do believe that the UFT has been a significant reason why our schools have been slow to open,” Mr. Yang told Politico, referring to New York City’s powerful United Federation of Teachers.

Multiple California public school districts are reportedly using COVID-19 relief funds to pay teachers bonuses.

Reopen California Schools, a parent advocacy group posted a slew of memos and announcements from different school districts across California that show they plan on using the money from the latest coronavirus bailout package to pay “one-time” bonuses to teachers and staff. The money is intended to be spent on reopening schools.

It’s time we realize we are not “in this together.” Yes, we’ve heard that from Hollywood videos and Super Bowl ads, and from politicians and commercials, but unfortunately it just ain’t so.

When President Joe Biden made a rare public appearance for a CNN town hall in February, for example, Justin Belot, a teacher in his mid-30s, asked, “Why is it OK” to make him and his colleague go back to their classrooms and do their jobs?

The head of a northern California teachers union was videotaped dropping his daughter off for in-person learning at a private preschool, after leading an effort to keep the local public school district closed.

Berkeley Federation of Teachers president Matt Meyer was recorded bringing his two-year-old daughter to the preschool by a group of parents calling themselves Guerilla Momz. Meyer has pushed for what he called the “gold standard” of reopening for the Berkeley school district, which includes waiting for all staff to be vaccinated.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said President Biden's goal to open the majority of K-8 schools by April 30 falls way short of what school children need, and the Republican Whip urged Biden to choose science over teacher unions.

Scalise, fresh off a call with concerned parents who want their schools reopened, said Biden's goal should be 100% of schools opened within his first 100 days. Anything short of that is a disservice to the children who are suffering, Scalise told Fox News in an interview Thursday.

Since late fall, 60,000 students and teachers across Greenville County, South Carolina, have been filing into the classroom for school the old-fashioned way: in-person, five days a week.

They've done it, Greenville superintendent Burke Royster said, by enforcing mask wearing, hand washing and social distancing -- mostly by about 3 feet with plexiglass barriers when 6 feet isn't possible -- using high-quality ventilation and launching their own contact-tracing program.