The mass letter exchanged by what it called “complex news”, the US Department of Education has divorced one of its key duties, canceling more than half of the offices that investigate the complaints against the civil rights of students and their families.
Civil rights complaints in schools and colleges were largely investigated through a dozen regional outfits across the country. There will now be five.
The Civil Rights Office in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are closed, propublica reports. Offices will remain in Atlanta, Denver, Kansas -Sity, Seattle and Washington, Colombia county
OCR is one of the largest Federal Government Affairs of the 1964 civil rights law, which is investigating thousands of discrimination allegations every year. This includes discrimination based on disability, race and gender.
“It is devastating for American education and our students. It will deprive students of fair education, put our most vulnerable at risk and return success that will last for many,” said Katie Dallum, deputy director of OCR, who resigned last Friday. “The impact will be felt well in this transition period.”
The Department of Education did not respond to PROPBLICA requests for comment.
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In general, about 1300 education department of about 4,000 employees reported on Tuesday through mass letters that they will be fired and placed on administrative vacation, starting on March 21, on the last day of employment on June 9.
The civil rights department had about 550 employees and was one of the most severely injured on Tuesday, which with other departures would leave the education department in about half of its size.
At least 243 OCR union employees were fired. The Federal Student Assistance Department, which manages the college grants and loans, had 326 trade union representatives who were fired, most of the divisions.
On average, each OCR lawyer, who investigates complaints, is assigned about 60 cases at the same time. The complaints that had been disabled for years have accumulated even more after President Donald Trump took over in January and Monthly freezing at the Agency’s Civil Rights Labor.
Catherine Lhaman, who overseen OCR under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, said, “What you have left is a shell that cannot function.”
Investigators on civil rights that remain, they said it would be “almost impossible” to resolve complaints about discrimination.
“Part of the OCR work is to physically go on the spot. In the framework of the investigation we go to schools, we look at the playground, we see whether it is available,” said the senior prosecutor on OCR, who made anonymity because he was not fired and fears. “We are and look at softball and baseball fields. We measure the bathroom to make sure that it is available. We are interviewing student groups. This requires personal work. This is part of the basis for regional offices. Now there is no regional office in California.”
The acre conducted an investigation into about 12,000 complaints when Trump took office. The largest proportion of the expected complaints – about 6000 – was associated with students with disabilities, who believe that they were harshly or unfairly denied assistance at the school, according to the analysis of the propublica department.
Ever since Trump entered the post, The main attention has changed. The Office opened an unusually large number of “directed investigations” based on Trump’s priorities that it started without complaints. They are concerned with deterrence of anti -Semitism, the end of the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports and the fight against allegedly discrimination against white students.
Traditionally, students and families turn to OCR after they feel that their problems have not been solved in school districts. The process is free, meaning that families who cannot afford a lawyer to harass a lawsuit can still seek help.
When OCR finds evidence of discrimination, it can force the school district or college to change its policy or demand that they provide students with services, such as access to disability services or enhancement at school. Sometimes the office tracks institutions to make sure they match.
“OCR just will no longer investigate the violations. It will not happen. They will not have employees for that,” said another prosecutor of the education department, who also asked him not to call it because he was still working there. “It was extremely time and time consuming.”
In the press release, the department stated that all units in the department were affected. The National Education Statistics Center, which collects the country’s health data, has not been destroyed at all.
Education Minister Linda McMahon called the dismissal “a significant step towards restoration of the greatness of the US education.” In addition to 1300, he released on Tuesday, 600 employees have already accepted voluntary resignations or retired over the last seven weeks, the department reports.
Trump and his conservative allies had long wanted to close the Department, and Trump called him a “great work”. But the president had not tried to do so before, and officially close the department will require approval in Congress.
Instead, Trump significantly weakens the agency. On the same day, Congress confirmed McMuhon as a secretary of education, she sent employees of the e -mail department, which described the “final mission” – to participate in “Our Opportunities to fulfill one last, unforgettable public service”, eliminating what it called “Bream” in the department quickly and responsibly.
Educational staff received an electronic message on Tuesday after lunch, which states that all agencies will close all over the country at 6 pm for “security” and remain closed on Wednesday. This made many workers think that the dismissal is coming.
Then, after the working day ended, the staff who were fired began to receive emails that recognized “complex labor restructuring.”
The email also went to all units: “This letter serves that your organizational unit is canceled with all the positions in the block – including yours.”
