Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127
American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,700 U.S. Department of Education employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman:
“For more than nine months, hundreds of employees at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) have been sidelined from the critical work of protecting our nation’s most vulnerable students and families. Instead of following court orders and federal law, the Trump Administration chose to keep these civil rights professionals on paid administrative leave — a decision that has already wasted more than $40 million in taxpayer funds— rather than letting them do their jobs. The consequences are severe. By blocking OCR staff from doing their jobs, Department leadership allowed a massive backlog of civil rights complaints to grow, and now expects these same employees to clean up a crisis entirely of the Department’s own making. Students, families, and schools have paid the price for this chaos. While we are relieved these public servants are finally being allowed to return to work, Education Secretary Linda McMahon has made clear that she would rather play politics than uphold her responsibility to protect students’ rights. Her actions have undermined the Department’s mission, harmed families, and subjected dedicated federal employees to needless uncertainty, abuse, and harassment. We will continue to fight to hold this Administration accountable and to stand with the hardworking public servants who show up every day to ensure every student in America is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.”
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AFGE Local 252 