Supporters across the D.C. area and the country held walk-ins for teachers and students Wednesday morning amid looming sweeping cuts at the Department of Education. One rally was held in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Dozens of parents, teachers and students walked to the entrance at Takoma Park Middle School just after 7:30 a.m. waving signs reading “Protect our Public Schools” and chanting “Feed our students, not the rich.”
Teri Kanu, a special-education teacher at nearby Takoma Park Elementary School, told WTOP, “I want to make sure that everyone knows that public schools matter, our students matter, and the work that we are doing as educators in our schools and our communities is a value. A strong education system builds a strong community.”
Before the walk-in, Montgomery County Council member Will Jawando hyped the crowd, speaking specifically about the department’s Office of Civil Rights.
“It was formed to make sure all kids across the country had access to equitable education,” said Jawando, a former Department of Education employee.
He told a story from a decade ago, when he filed a federal civil rights complaint against Montgomery County Public Schools before he was elected. The complaint surrounded how admission in magnet programs was not equitably distributed across the county. He said the Department of Education investigated and MCPS eventually changed that policy.
“That’s why we need the U.S. Department of Education,” Jawando said.
Newman Fair, a retired teacher, also showed up supporting the federal funding from the Education Department for special needs children.
“I had a little kid on the autism spectrum that I showed up and taught. The people I was working with, right then, probably wouldn’t have had any education without it,” Fair said.
Bonita Williams was also there. She was concerned about cuts in special education.
“With all of the proposals, executive orders, the legislation that is coming out of the administration, out of Congress right now, I want to come out to push back against that, to fight against that, because our students deserve well-funded schools,” she said.
Her seventh grade son has autism and is in a special program at the school.
“It’s provided him with an Individualized Education Plan. There’s explicit instructions on how to teach him, setting goals, providing him support in the class,” Williams said.
President Donald Trump’s administration has cut roughly half the Education Department’s employees. These layoffs are part of a downsizing of the department to shrink the size of the federal government.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said she wants to be able to send more money from the federal government to local education authorities instead.
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