PROVO, Utah — Sen. Mike Lee, (R) Utah, made fun of a Utah school's efforts to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in classrooms.
In a now-deleted Wednesday tweet, the senator, posted a photo of "power shields" installed around desks at Provo's Edgemont Elementary and asked, "Does this look like a fun way to learn?"
On his personal Facebook page, Sen. Lee likened "power shields" to "cages."
Some who saw the senator's social media posts supported him.
No. This is insanity. Look at this photo: you have masks on every child. Then you have them six feet apart. AND inside a cube. I’ll tell you what this is going to teach children- to fear human touch, to fear close proximity- they will all be germaphobes from this. 🤦♀️
— Patty Sprunt (@PattySprunt) August 20, 2020
Others took him to task for mocking the best efforts of teachers and educational leaders.
Mocking the best efforts of teachers and educational administrators who are trying to manage their way out of this country’s failed response to a global pandemic is not leadership.
— Christian Faulconer (@cfaulconer) August 20, 2020
You are a United States Senator. Do something!
Senator Lee apologized in a Facebook post Thursday. It said in part:
Last night I posted a photograph of a classroom in Provo showing a masked teacher and young students who were both masked and sitting behind plexiglass shields.
It was a mistake on my part to post it, along with my flippant commentary.
I recognize that these are difficult times, that reasonable minds can disagree as to the best solution in any given set of circumstances, and that it’s certainly not my place to make decisions rearming what’s best for a particular classroom. My comments ignored that fact, and—while this was not my intent—showed disrespect for the teacher in that classroom, along with parents and other school personnel who might have been involved. I have deleted the post, and apologize to the teacher and to any students, parents, and school personnel I might have offended.