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.
Jim Jarmusch’s ‘Father Mother Sister Brother’ wins top prize at Venice Film Festival
Jim Jarmusch's quietly humorous relationship triptych won the top prize on Saturday. The film about the relationships between siblings, and with their parents, stars Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps and Cate Blanchett.
ICE arrests at a Georgia Hyundai plant create new tension with South Korea
South Korea's foreign minister is considering a trip to the U.S. to meet with the Trump administration after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested in Georgia at an electric vehicle battery plant.
Davey Johnson, who won 2 World Series with Orioles, managed Mets to title, dies at 82
Davey Johnson, an All-Star second baseman who won the World Series twice with the Baltimore Orioles as a player and managed the New York Mets to the title in 1986, died Friday.
Ken Dryden, Hall of Fame goalie for the Montreal Canadiens, dies at age 78
Dryden backstopped the NHL's most successful franchise to championships in six of his eight seasons in the league from 1970-71 to '78-79. He died after a fight with cancer.
‘Twinless’ is a dark comedy that doubles up on the twists
Dylan O'Brien and James Sweeney craft a kind of chemistry that is equal parts funny and heart-wrenching.
Russ & Daughters in NYC celebrates ‘100 years of appetizing’ and family
At Russ & Daughters, it takes three months to learn how to slice salmon. NPR's Scott Simon visits the 100 year-old appetizing store to try his hand at the fine art and talk about their new cookbook.
