Workers inside the US Department of Education have described a “horrible, intimidating and unnerving” atmosphere among the rank-and-file as Donald Trump vows to shut it down.
Widespread panic and confusion over the department’s future led to an “incomplete and chaotic” staff meeting on Wednesday, according to sources, as managers tried to explain new policies.
The US president’s efforts to gut and dismantle the US Department of Education has left federal employees in fear of losing their jobs, with much of their work already halted.
“We’re called parasites in the press. There’s a lot of fearmongering about what we do. What we do is ensure states are protecting children with disabilities,” one employee at the department, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told the Guardian. “This used to be a bipartisan issue. I don’t understand why it still isn’t a bipartisan issue.
“I’m struggling. I don’t know what to do because there are imminent threats we face every day. We can’t talk anymore during meetings freely, and I was told [Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency”] Doge is listening in on our Teams meetings. How do you have a free flow of ideas? It’s a really unsustainable way to work.”
About 3,100 employees at the department work in the Washington DC area, with more than 1,100 additional employees working out of 10 regional offices around the US. The department supports and funds 7.5 million students across the US with disabilities with special education services; supports Title I schools, representing 26 million children living in poverty; and oversees federal student loans and grants for higher education.
“We have been kept in the dark completely about our co-workers who have been on administrative leave for attending a diversity training, about rumored reduction in forces, the future of our work and their return to work plan assuming we aren’t reduced in force,” said the employee.
Staff were invited to a meeting on Wednesday on plans to summon all staff back to the office. A lack of space at regional offices in New York, Boston and San Francisco means staff there will be exempted, it was explained, and remote work for “reasonable accommodations” will still be honored – but arrangements must be re-certified, and approved by the assistant secretary of education.
Many attendees were not reassured. “This was an extremely poorly planned meeting that seems to have caused even more confusion,” the employee said. “The process has been so inefficient and time-consuming. The entire department is working on rushing into the office in the middle of several regional offices downsizing real estate.”
Another said many employees were not able to hear the audio from the meeting, the Q&A had been disabled for it and no one addressed the audio issues. “Folks are fairly anxious and panicked,” they said. “The meeting technology has been malfunctioning and they didn’t schedule enough time for questions.”
Remote participants expressed their frustration in that chat, according to screenshots seen by the Guardian. The meeting was “more confusing than helpful”, one commenter said. “You confused us more,” added another.
The department and the White House did not immediately respond to invitations for comment.
During Trump’s first term in office, his proposed cuts to the Department of Education were rejected by Congress. Sources in the current Trump administration claim the president plans to issue an executive order abolishing the department.
Trump has cited a desire to return education to the states, but funding and decision-making for public education already resides at state and local levels. Elon Musk, whose businesses have received over $20bn in federal contracts, has posted on social media claiming the department “no longer exists”.
Another longtime employee at the education department explained that this presidential transition has carried with it an open hostility to civil servants in the form of bullying, harassment and intimidation.
“We get regular emails, to the point where it’s excessive, about the ‘fork in the road’ resignation offer. We get petty emails about signature blocks,” they said. “I was here for the last Trump administration. I carried [on with] work through that, but I’m not super optimistic about this work continuing under this administration.”
The targeting of diversity, equity and inclusion-related positions and work is concerning, the source said, given the department of education’s mission and its tie to equity. The department was created by Congress in 1979 “to strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual”.
Under Trump’s first term, his appointed secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, encouraged diversity training. Under Trump’s second term, employees who participated in those trainings have been placed on administrative leave.
“All of our programs are centered on equity and underserved populations, helping to bridge the gap. Federal education funding is a small fraction of education funding overall, but it’s designed to level the field, so it’s primarily targeted toward urban, rural, Title I schools, and special education,” the employee explained. “There’s a lot of fear.
“Everybody is abusing melatonin right now to get some sleep. Everybody is distraught, worried about the state of our country. Whenever there is a crisis of some type, our country really relies on civil service for so many functions.”
The administration is trying to “create the conditions for people to want to depart”, they claimed. “I believe they intentionally leaked info on the push to abolish the Department of Education to push people toward taking the ‘fork in the road’ deal. It would be catastrophic for our country, especially the impacts to Title I schools and special education.”
Another departmental employee said employees working remotely were expected to be back in offices by 24 February.
“It’s very obviously being done in order to make people miserable,” they said. “People should know that they have no idea how much what the federal government does actually touches their lives every day, but they’ll notice it when it’s gone.”
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