#betsy devos

imagine a moron

raised by two dip shits

Alayna Treene, Rene Marsh and Veronica Stracqualursi at CNN:

Dozens of employees at the Education Department were placed on paid administrative leave Friday as part of the Trump administration’s larger effort to rid the federal workforce of employees associated with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility efforts, two sources familiar with the move told CNN. The department sent letters to employees informing them that their email accounts were being suspended but that they would continue to receive paychecks for an indefinite period, the sources said. The department cited guidance from the White House’s Office of Personnel and Management, issued on January 21, that directed government agencies to notify “all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”

The agency is the latest to face upheaval amid the White House’s efforts to weed out DEI programs within the government and reshape the federal workforce in President Donald Trump’s image. At least 55 Education Department employees, including senior-level career workers who have served at the agency for decades, were notified Friday night that they’d been placed on paid leave, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing the agency’s career officials. “Effective January 31, 2025, you will be placed on administrative leave with full pay and benefits pursuant to the President’s executive order on DEIA and further guidance from OPM,” the letter says, according to a copy obtained by CNN. “This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose.” According to the union, these employees do not hold job titles nor official duties related to DEIA, but they included staffers such as civil rights attorneys who handle student discrimination and antisemitism complaints; an employee working in a grant office; and a member of the artificial intelligence team helping the department understand AI in education.

But Sheria Smith, union president for Department of Education career employees, told CNN the employees placed on paid leave had attended a two-day diversity training seminar in 2019 during the first Trump administration “that was required for senior-level employees and strongly encouraged for others,” as well as similar training under the Biden administration. Others affected had either participated in a one-day lunch training on DEI or had volunteered with an agency group or committee that plans programs such as Black History Month celebrations.

The diversity training for Education Department employees was encouraged during the first Trump administration under then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose goal was for 400 employees to attend the sessions, according to the union. Because of the large participation in the 2019 training seminar, the union is worried that hundreds more Department of Education staffers could be affected.

The Guardian:

Linda McMahon, co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team, has been named as the president-elect’s pick for education secretary in his upcoming administration. In a statement, Trump extolled the “incredible” job McMahon, the billionaire co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), has been doing as transition team co-chair and said: “As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families. … We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”

McMahon was made transition team chair in August, after having donated $814,600 to Trump’s 2024 campaign as of July. She served in Trump’s cabinet in his first administration as the administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019. McMahon chaired America First Action, a super PAC that backed Trump’s reelection campaign, where she raised $83m in 2020. She provided $6 million to help Trump’s candidacy after he secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, according to the Associated Press. McMahon is the former chief executive of WWE, which she co-founded with her husband, Vince McMahon. In October, McMahon was named in a new lawsuit involving WWE. The suit alleges that she and other leaders of the company allowed the sexual abuse of young boys at the hands of a ringside announcer, former WWE ring crew chief Melvin Phillips Jr. The complaint specifically alleges that the McMahons knew about the abuse and failed to stop it.

An attorney for the McMahons told USA Today Sports that the allegations are “false claims” stemming from reporting that the couple deems “absurd, defamatory and utterly meritless”.

Former WWE executive Linda McMahon will be back in the Trump Administration for her 2nd tour of duty, this time as the Secretary for the US Department of Education. Donald Trump has reportedly pushed to abolish the DoE.

In Trump’s first term, she served as the Small Business Administration Administrator.

The WWE during McMahon’s time featured sex scandals.

See Also:

Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

Excerpt:

“One of President-elect Trump’s campaign pledges was to eliminate the Department of Education. He claimed that the department pushes “woke” ideology on America’s schoolchildren and that its employees “hate our children.” He promised to “return” education to the states.

First, know this – YOUR ethics and integrity values are your foundational bedrock of who you are and what makes you a very, very valuable person on this planet. No one and nothing should cause you to weaken or reduce your ethics and integrity. These principles are gold, sorry – platinum and if you are one of those who mean well with high ethics and integrity, you are a person that others would…