Department of Education staff told offices will be closed Wednesday

Washington — Staff at the Department of Education received a notice Tuesday instructing them to leave the building by 6 p.m. local time and informing them that all department offices in Washington, D.C., as well as regional offices, will be closed Wednesday, according to an email obtained by CBS News.

The email, from James Hairfield of the Office of Security, Facilities and Logistics, said that the offices will be closed “for security reasons.” 

Staff with approved telework agreements were told they can work from home Wednesday. The email instructed employees to bring their laptops home with them when leaving the office Tuesday.

“Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday, March 12th, for any reason,” the email said, referencing the Education Department. 

Offices will reopen on Thursday, “at which time in-person presence will resume,” according to the message.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News on Tuesday night that the directive was “standard corporate practice.”

“We just locked the doors and said, for those that are coming back, will know that they’ll be coming back Thursday morning,” she said.

The directive from Hairfield came hours before the department announced it would be cutting its workforce nearly in half, from 4,133 workers to about 2,183. Employees who were being laid off would be placed on leave beginning March 21, the department said.

“The president’s mandate, as directed to me clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we’ll have to work with Congress to get that accomplished,” McMahon said on Fox. “What we did today was to take the first step of eliminating what I think is bureaucratic bloat.”

She said that those who are losing their jobs will be able to return to the Department of Education to collect their personel belongings and say goodbye to colleagues.

“We wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people to make sure that the outward facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that comes from Congress, all of that are being met,” she said.

The Department of Education faces continued uncertainty amid possible plans from President Trump to unwind the agency. The president is expected to issue an executive order directing McMahon to begin the process of dissolving the department. The timing of the move, however, remains unclear.

Mr. Trump has said that he wants to “bring the schools back to the states,” and dismantling the agency has been a priority for Republicans for decades.

After McMahon assumed her post at the helm of the Education Department earlier this month, she sent a letter to staff with the subject line “Our Department’s Final Mission.”

“The reality of our education system is stark, and the American people have elected President Trump to make significant changes in Washington,” she wrote. “Our job is to respect the will of the American people and the President they elected, who has tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education — a momentous final mission — quickly and responsibly.”

She said the department has the opportunity to “perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students. I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete; we will be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.”

Getting rid of the Department of Education would require congressional approval and faces a steep hurdle in the Senate, where 60 votes would be needed for such a plan to advance.

contributed to this report.