Fired Education Dept. Attorney: I Am ‘Angry,’ We Are Protecting the American Public

CABRERA: “New cuts hitting the Department of Education. The latest victim of the Trump Administration slash and burn efforts. Half of its staff will be slashed, about 1,300 career employees. This is in addition to the roughly 600 people who accepted voluntary resignations or early retirement. Education Secretary Linda McMahon says these layoffs represent the department’s quote, ‘commitment to efficiency and accountability,’ the first step on the road to shutting down the department. Joining us now is Brittany Coleman, a civil rights attorney at the Education Department, who just got notice yesterday that she was being laid off. She’s also national shop steward in the AFGE union. Brittany, thank you for coming on with us. How did you learn you were losing your job and what was your reaction?”
COLEMAN: “Thank you for having me. And you see how I learned I was losing my job was I got an email earlier yesterday saying that our offices would be suddenly closed, which was highly unusual. And it was already adding to the heightened chaos and confusion that people are experiencing because of the DOGE emails that we were getting every week and you know, resignation emails. So last night when I got home, I started getting text messages saying that other people got their brief notices from the agency. And then I just happened to check my email and that’s where I saw that I got one, too. It was just a simple email. We were all blind copy stating that we were let go in the name of pushing the Trump executive order for efficiency.”
CABRERA: “Are you angry? Are you worried? How is this sitting with you?”
COLEMAN: “I am definitely angry because I don’t understand why I and my colleagues have been targeted for just doing our jobs. Our jobs are protecting the American public and the students. So it’s very frustrating to not only have to endure the demeaning emails and ridicule that we’re getting in the media, but to also have to lose your job when all you were doing was just following the law and enforcing that or providing statistics to help teachers do their jobs.”