CLEVELAND, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 29: Eric Trump and Senior Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump arrive for the first presidential debate between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at the Health Education Campus of Case Western Reserve University on September 29, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. This is the first of three planned debates between the two candidates in the lead up to the election on November 3. (Photo by Pool/Getty Images)
Three weeks after a COVID-19 outbreak infected Donald Trump and others in the White House, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner suddenly pulled their children out of their Jewish day school in Washington, D.C., reportedly because other parents were concerned that the couple participated in events at which the president and others flouted pandemic safety guidelines.
US President Donald Trump walks with grandchildren Arabella Kushner (L) and Joseph Kushner to board Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House on February 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. / AFP / Mandel Ngan (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
The couple’s three children, Arabella, 9, Joseph, 7, and Theodore, 4, had attended the Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School since moving to Washington D.C. in 2017, after Ivanka Trump’s father became president, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported. Then suddenly last month, the children started at a different school, the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in suburban Maryland, on Oct. 19.
A spokesperson for Milton Gottesman confirmed the withdrawal Wednesday in a statement to the JTA, an international news agency for Jewish community newspapers.
It’s possible the couple switched their children’s school ahead to fulfill a vow Kushner made ahead of the election, according to the news agency.
Over the summer, Trump aggressively pushed for K-12 public schools to reopen and even threatened to withhold federal aid if they did not. Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and White House senior adviser, backed the president by declaring that he would have no problem sending his children to a school with in-person classes if he could.
“We will absolutely be sending our kids back to school and I have no fear in doing so,” Kushner said.
A source close to the Kushner family said that Berman offered more in-person classes than Gottesman. Berman, which serves pre-school through 12th grade students, opened to mostly in-person classes in October, according to its website. Gottesman, meanwhile, has offered a mix of remote and in-school learning and isn’t expected to switch to fully indoor, in-person classes until next week, the JTA reported.
Three parents at Gottesman told the JTA that the Kushners left the school after parents voiced concerns at seeing the couple at certain White House and Trump campaign events, where attendees did not comply with the coronavirus protocols that Gottesman demanded of its parents.
The school’s protocols, obtained by the JTA, are based on Centers for Disease Control guidelines. They ask families to avoid hosting or attending large gatherings off campus where social distancing is not practiced or masks are not used.
One parent of a Gottesman student told the JTA that concerns grew after the White House hosted a Sept. 26 ceremony to nominate Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. Photos and reports of the ceremony show that attendees mostly didn’t wear masks and didn’t practice social distancing.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump were not reported to be at the event, but the president and first lady were subsequently diagnosed with the coronavirus. At least 11 guests from the so-called Rose Garden cluster subsequently tested positive for the coronavirus.
After the ceremony, the president and his entourage attended several events unmasked, including the first presidential debate against Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio on Sept. 29. Ivanka Trump also traveled to Cleveland for the debate, and she and Trump family members disregarded orders set by the Cleveland Clinic to wear masks throughout the debate. Photos showed Ivanka Trump maskless and sitting in the front row of the audience.
“There was concern for the safety of children because it was very clear the Kushner parents were violating public health recommendations,” one mother told the JTA. The mother spoke on condition of anonymity because her employer bans interactions with the media.
After the president announced his diagnosis and was hospitalized at Walter Reed military hospital on Oct. 2, the mother said the school wouldn’t tell parents whether the Kushners had informed the school of the last day of contact between the president and his grandchildren. Of special concern, another mother said, is that the Kushners’ youngest child was in pre-kindergarten, where classes were held indoors.
“And there are the Secret Service, who are with the children,” the mother said. “That was also a concern.”
That parent and a third told the JTA that the school tried to work out a compromise with the Kushners. The school was willing to make allowances, considering the couple was working as senior government officials and senior advisers to Trump’s reelection campaign, but the school and the Kushners couldn’t come to an agreement.
Avi Berkowitz, a close aide to Jared Kushner who is also the administration’s top Middle East peace negotiator, disputed the idea that the Kushners left Gottesman because of its coronavirus protocols. He told the JTZ that such an idea was inaccurate.
“The Kushners protect the privacy of their children and won’t engage in idle gossip,” he said.
The Kushners are expected to encounter similar COVID-19 protocols at the Berman Academy, where families are asked to limit nonessential travel, wear masks and avoid virus hot spots, the JTA reported.
It’s also questionable how long the Kushner children will be attending any Washington D.C.-area school. Their grandfather lost his re-election bid, which means his daughter and son-in-law will be out of their White House jobs after Jan. 20. The JTA and other reports said it’s not known whether Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will remain in Washington D.C. after Jan. 20 or return to New York City.
