Supporters ‘clap out’ former U.S. Education Department employees

The first “clap out” took place Friday at the department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Atlanta joined other cities this week including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle in honoring the former employees.

The Education Department handles federal student loans, civil rights complaints, issues Title I funds for low-income schools and supplies school districts with money to support students with disabilities.

In a press release, the department said the cuts were part of the Trump administration’s “commitment to efficiency, accountability and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”

Credit: Olivia Bowdoin

Credit: Olivia Bowdoin

Former employee Tristine Okonye disagrees. Okonye was a management program analyst for the agency’s Student Financial Aid division in Atlanta. About a month after returning to work from maternity leave, she received an email saying her position would be eliminated.

“We only had about a week to transfer our duties to someone else or inform our teams of exactly what we were doing, so that they could try to pick up the slack,” Okonye said, while her baby slept in her stroller. “That did not happen immediately (because) we lost access to all email and communications.”

Okonye is not sure what she’ll do next, but got emotional talking about the layoffs.

“I really enjoyed my work,” she said. “I worked hard. My whole team worked hard and to have this happen … it really just makes you feel like you’re not important, what you’re doing doesn’t matter. Even though you’re doing your best to help the community, you’re doing your best to help borrowers get the answers that they need about their student loans … it just seems like none of that matters anymore.”

Meg McGinness’ position with the department was also cut. Her office oversaw grants and loans to colleges and universities in the southeast.

“We were actually responsible for clawing back funds that were misused and misutilized,” she said.

McGinness said she was surprised her division was affected since it’s a statutory program established as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965. The Education Department originally said statutory programs would remain intact. She estimates her division went from 195 people to 29 after the cuts.

“I just hope that my colleagues at schools will be serviced and be able to get the help that they need and the students will be able to get the help that they need,” she said.

Shana Pennywell came to “clap out” employees like Okonye and McGinness. She has three children who all have dyslexia, a learning disability that makes reading difficult.

“I’m wildly concerned about their ability to get free and appropriate education,” Pennywell said.

Pennywell said she’s pleased with the services her children receive in Atlanta Public Schools, but worries things could change as the Trump administration redistributes the department’s responsibilities. Still, she said she’s optimistic.

“I am confident that this is just a momentary blip in the span of the direction history is going in, but I wanted to make sure (the employees) knew they were appreciated,” she said.