Fairfax parent Rory Cooper sent the following email to CDC and NEA officials:

Good afternoon:

Based on the most recent FOIA released by the Fairfax Parents Association, it appears the NEA and CDC in your unethical collaborations over scientific guidance would like to discuss my agenda.

Let me be clear: My agenda is that the science overwhelmingly has shown for many, many months that schools are safe for both children and adults and that the efforts of union bosses to keep them closed have resulted in significant and needless harm to little kids.

The CDC guidance that unions helped write despite their complete lack of expertise has led to children having severe emotional health issues, including depression, anxiety and suicide as well as physical health issues including nutrition and exercise. It is also clear that the students who live in districts that ignored both the CDC and teacher’s unions will have children who hold a significant academic advantage over children in large metropolitan areas for years to come. See, that includes nearly half the country and most private schools.

Out of 74 million children, COVID youth deaths in total are measured in the low hundreds. While every child lost is tragic, the harm caused by your guidance is disproportionate. We know vaccines work at preventing transmission and severe sickness almost completely. We know schools being open has had little to no effect on community transmission. Y’all finally admitted what you privately knew that distancing in schools did not make sense. Masks create more problems than solutions for children, especially those with health struggles, both physical and mental. And yet the people and organizations on this email to this day want to ignore the science in order to cause completely needless harm to children. My children STILL are not in school full time while the world completely opens around them.

If you have any questions about my agenda moving forward, please ask me. Because to my friends at the CDC, the NEA is lying to you. I have no leadership role in any parent group or association, nor do I now or have I ever run communications in any way for one. I am extremely proud of them and will remain an active parent and advocate with them because it’s clear that parents need to fight against the political interests on this email aligned against little children. Let me also warn you, writing these parents off as partisans is a mistake.

I have three elementary age children. The people on this email have contributed great harm to them and millions of other kids. Maybe repairing that damage should be your priority rather than monitoring mine or any other parent’s tweets.

All the best,

Rory Cooper

Rory Cooper is a political and corporate reputation strategist. He resides in Fairfax County.