U.S. Education Department switches to remote work amid talk of layoffs
Employees of the U.S. Department of Education received an email on Tuesday, advising them to vacate all department offices by 6:00 pm. Staff were instructed by the department’s Office of Security, Facilities and Logistics to plan to work from home on Wednesday.
The email included little explanation, saying department offices would be closed “for security reasons” and would reopen Thursday.
Employees of the department shared the email with NPR. We are not naming them because the employees feared retribution. Neither the White House nor the Education Department responded to a request for comment.
The email further unsettled department employees who have spent the past several weeks anticipating sweeping staff cuts by the Trump administration.
This Thursday, agency heads are expected to turn in their “reorganization” plans to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
A guidance memo from OMB and OPM sent in late February instructed agency heads to achieve “large-scale reductions in force (RIFs)” through attrition and “by eliminating positions that are not required.”
Already, at least 75 department staff have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to a tally by AFGE Local 252, a union that represents Education Department employees. This count does not include managers and supervisors. Many of those workers on paid leave attended a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion workshop the department has offered for many years, including during the first Trump administration.
The union also says at least 75 probationary department staff, who were hired more recently and are legally easier to lay off, have also had their jobs terminated.
The Education Department did not respond to a request for an official tally of staff currently on leave or who have been laid off since the beginning of the Trump administration.
At the Supreme Court, the case of the candidate who sued, even though he won
At issue was a suit by Rep. Michael Bost, R-Ill., challenging an Illinois regulation that allows ballots mailed in by Election Day to be counted for up to 14 days after polls close.
Israel and Hamas agree on the ‘first phase’ of Gaza ceasefire deal
The deal raises the possibility that the war may now be over, ending the bloodiest fighting ever between Israelis and Palestinians.
After Spain’s blackout, critics blamed renewable energy. It’s part of a bigger attack
When millions lost power in Spain and Portugal this spring, some were quick to blame too much solar and wind power. That wasn't the cause, but the misinformation had an impact.
‘Fairyland’ recalls a girl’s life with her poet father in pre-AIDS San Francisco
Alysia Abbott's memoir about growing up in 1970s San Francisco with her gay, single father, has been adapted into a film directed by Andrew Durham and produced by Sofia Coppola.
Los Angeles: Spaghetti Cumbia, a band born from cultural fusion
Photographers and storytellers Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky document cumbia music in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and the United States.
What are your holiday shopping plans? NPR wants to hear from you
Is this the season of cutbacks or splurges? As we prepare to cover holiday shopping and deals, NPR wants to hear from you, whatever your plans may be.
