Regarding open schools, she advocated for the same policies recommended by the WHO and in Europe and Asia (not to mention most of the US outside of big cities, and private schools everywhere). Big city schools, specifically here in NYC, were absolutely closed for too long and even Dems, including Hochul, have stated it was a mistake. She also was more measured and far less obnoxious than the majority of open schools crowd. She’s not anti-vax.

I cited her as a source as a literary advocate, and she is only one source off the top of my head. The move away from Balanced Literacy (originally implemented under GWB, if I recall correctly) is a National and non-partisan effort. So even if she had “expert syndrome” on COVID dangers in school, she is not wrong on her actual expertise and there are plenty of corroborating studies and other advocates and organizations that support the return to phonics based early reading instruction.