February 2, 2026

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 about the partial government shutdown.

“Tens of millions of students, educators, and families depend on the Department’s comprehensive support for schools, from early learning through graduate programs. That work is now on hold because of the partial government shutdown affecting the U.S. Department of Education and a handful of other agencies. In addition, the hardworking public servants at the Department will once again not receive paychecks because they are either furloughed or working without pay. This comes nearly three months after the end of the historic 43-day shutdown, which forced some of our members to borrow money or use public assistance to put food on the table. We need politicians on both sides of the aisle to pass a budget that puts federal employees back to work on behalf of the American people, while also protecting students and families from being targeted by immigration enforcement at schools.”

##

February 2, 2026

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 about a new Government Accountability Office report.

“For more than nine months, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sidelined hundreds of employees at the Office for Civil Rights from the critical work of protecting our nation’s most vulnerable students and families, while costing American taxpayers up to $38 million and mounting a massive backlog of complaints from parents and students, a new Government Accountability Office report shows. Instead of following court orders and federal law, the Trump Administration chose to keep these civil rights professionals on paid administrative leave rather than letting them do their jobs, while students, families, and schools paid the price. To stem the ever-growing list of unanswered reports of civil rights violations, the Trump Administration simply dismissed 90% of the complaints received between March and September rather than actually following the law. Secretary 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.”

Background: 

• This is not why many of these attorneys entered this field of work. They work in civil rights in education because they believe in the protections under the civil rights laws and the vigorous enforcement of those rights by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
• OCR employees who were placed on administrative leave in March 2025 are dedicated civil servants who just wanted to do their jobs. 
• With the elimination of entire offices and teams of OCR attorneys and investigators processing complaints in certain geographical areas, the cases fell to the remaining regional offices to try to manage in addition to their already high case loads. 
• As an example, one OCR investigator was assigned the work of a team of 5+ people from one of the closed offices.
• This resulted in incredibly high caseloads, with some investigators having over 300 active cases compared to an average of 50 cases in years past. 
• In years past, OCR leadership has requested increased funding from Congress to hire more OCR staff when average caseloads were much lower. 
• Meanwhile, thousands of students and families sat waiting for answers on their complaints, many of which are students with disabilities. 
• Many OCR staffers have spent their entire careers developing skills, knowledge, and expertise that allowed them to navigate the complex legal landscapes of federal civil rights laws including Title VI (race/color/national origin), Title IX (sex), Section 504 (disability), the Age Discrimination Act, and Title II of the ADA (public entities, regardless of funding). With the way the Department structured these unlawful firings and administrative leave, it did not matter if the employee was a high performer, a subject-matter expert in a certain area, skilled at mediation, or very efficient at case processing — if they reported to a duty station at a certain location, they were placed on leave and told they would be fired.
• These misguided agency actions, coupled with other employees retiring in the face of the blatant harassment by the Trump Administration, has resulted in incredible loss of institutional knowledge within OCR. This is the furthest you can get from government efficiency.
• The emphasis within OCR is on case closures and dismissals, with 90% of complaints dismissed from March to September 2025. Given the incredible caseloads, complaints are not being evaluated with the same level of care or diligence. 

##

January 24, 2026

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 current and former employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman:

Department of Education Union President, Rachel Gittleman, condemns the murder of Alex Pretti–a Department of Veterans Affairs nurse and a member of AFGE 3669–by agents of the United States government currently engaged in the unlawful occupation of Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

“We share in the grief of our neighbors and our AFGE siblings at this vicious, intentional killing. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Alex’s family and friends, and to his colleagues at the VA. Alex represented the spirit of service, empathy, and selflessness that we all hold dear.

Alex was murdered for doing his part to bring accountability to an unlawful and unjust occupation. 

Like each and every Federal employee, we swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We are reminded–and remind our colleagues–that loyalty to this oath has been the bedrock of Federal employees’ service to the nation, and our ability to advance the interests of the United States and its people. 

To swear this oath falsely is a crime. To violate it, whether once or repeatedly, is an outrage. 

Justice, and our oaths, demand an immediate, thorough, independent investigation of Alex’s murder and accountability for the responsible parties—up and down the chain of command. We will not be silent.”

##

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.”

##

November 18, 2025

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:

“This latest ploy by the Trump Administration to dismantle the Congressionally created U.S. Department of Education is not only unlawful — it’s an insult to the tens of millions of students who rely on the agency to protect their access to a quality education. Students, educators, and families depend on the Department’s comprehensive support for schools, from early learning through graduate programs. That national mission is weakened when its core functions are scattered across other federal or state agencies that are not equipped or positioned to provide the same support and services as ED staff. This move comes as the Administration has attempted to fire large numbers of career public servants in these very offices — and is now trying to shift their critical work to agencies with no educational expertise. Breaking apart the Department of Education and moving its responsibilities elsewhere will only create more confusion for schools and colleges, deepen public distrust, and ultimately harm students and families.”

Education by the numbers:

• 870,000 first-generation and low-income students served under the college accessibility program, TRIO
• 26 million students from low-income backgrounds served under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
• 9.8 million students enrolled in rural schools 
• 7.4 million students with disabilities served by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
• 5 million English learner students served under Title III of ESEA
• 1.1 million students experiencing homelessness served by the McKinney-Vento program
• Nearly 800,000 children living near military bases, Native American reservations, and  other Federal properties served by Impact Aid
• More than 1 million students served in Full-Service Community Schools  
• 200,000 students served by 21st Century Community Learning Centers  
• 87 million students and parents receiving federal student aid
• 6.6 million Pell Grant recipients
• 8.1 million secondary and 3.3 million postsecondary students served in Perkins career technical education
• 1.2 million out-of-school youth and adult learners served under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

##

November 18, 2025

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.

“This most recent ploy to further dismantle the U.S. Department of Education is not only illegal, it’s harmful to the 7.5 million students with special needs in this country. This comes after the Trump Administration tried to fire nearly every public servant in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services during the government shutdown — a move that is on hold under the continuing resolution. This office provides critical resources and support to students and their families, including distributing more than $15 billion in funding annually and making sure states and school districts follow the law. Moving the office to another federal agency will sow chaos, inspire even more distrust, and hurt our most vulnerable students.”

##

November 13, 2025

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

Today, 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 President Rachel Gittleman about public servants returning to work after the historic government shutdown:

“We remain deeply concerned about how the U.S. Department of Education is treating employees as they return to work following the shutdown, particularly the more than 700 workers whose illegal firing has been rescinded by the Continuing Resolution signed by the President. Employees have not received official notice from the Department’s human resources office to return to work, instead being forced to rely on text messages from supervisors or colleagues. Many employees named in the October firings are locked out of their computers and do not have access to Department email. The Department told some of those employees that their accounts have been disabled, even though they remain employed by the agency. 

This disorganization and chaos only further demoralizes the hardworking public servants at the Education Department that have faced threats, harassment, illegal firings — and 44 days without paychecks. We will continue to fight for all of our members, including the 1,100 workers unlawfully fired from the Department in March that were completely left out of the Continuing Resolution. Many of these members are now on Affordable Care Act health plans, which means their premiums will skyrocket unless Congress deals with the lapsed subsidies.”

##