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Widespread cuts initiated by the Trump administration across the federal government on October 10 have had a dramatic impact on several departments of the U.S. Department of Education, including the Office of Special Education Programs. Court filings show 466 Department of Education employees received RIF notices, including most OSEP employees, several special education association leaders said.
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Matthew Lane, a 19-year-old from Massachusetts, was sentenced to 2024 years in prison after pleading guilty to hacking and extortion from education technology giant Power Schools. Lane must also pay $14.1 million in restitution. Massive data breaches have led many school districts to reconsider their practices around things like data retention and vendor policies, recognizing that you can’t put the genie back in the bottle after an incident like this.
On the federal front
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt mass layoffs of federal employees during the current government shutdown due to a deadlock in Congress over fiscal year 2026 funding. According to the ruling by Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the Trump administration cannot issue additional RIF notices or enforce notices already issued. According to the American Federation of Public Employees, which represents more than 2,700 Department of Education employees, the RIF affected 465 employees in Department of Education offices that oversee civil rights, special education, student academic support, budgeting services, school safety and postsecondary education. The situation follows months of cuts at the agency, which started this year with about 4,133 employees and was estimated to have about 2,000 employees after the end of the last RIF. We’ve explained everything you need to know in detail. Democratic Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (California) and Bobby Scott (Virginia) are calling on the Republican leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee to hold a hearing on gun violence in schools. “The frequency of these tragedies often makes students feel unsafe at school, which can negatively impact their activity levels and mental health,” the lawmakers wrote in an Oct. 14 letter to Committee Chairman Tim Wahlberg (R-Mich.). The letter cites data from Everytown for Gun Safety showing that in 2025, there will be 118 school shootings, resulting in 36 deaths and 108 injuries.
Featured curriculum
An analysis of MAP Growth Assessment data released Tuesday by NWEA, an evaluation and research organization, found that although elementary and middle school students have made a modest recovery in math, reading proficiency has stagnated compared to pre-pandemic performance. The recovery in mathematics is seen in grades 3 through 8 and among historically underserved students. When it comes to reading, a lack of progress was seen across race, ethnicity, and school poverty levels. Students with disabilities at Metro Schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, are working on life skills for their eventual transition to the workplace at a newly opened cafe for staff and visitors. The Metro School Café is a hands-on learning environment where student staff prepares and sells baked goods and coffee, serves customers, and manages operations. The initiative is part of Metro School’s community-based instruction and community-based training program, a public school that serves approximately 250 students with cognitive disabilities between the ages of 3 and 22. Whether you’re in the classroom or in a meeting, being on the receiving end of a cold call can be anxiety-provoking. How can schools ensure that cold calls to students are constructive, fair, and occur in a safe environment? Victor Pereira, co-chair of the Education and Teacher Leadership Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, said one answer is for educators to foster a warm classroom culture where it is clear that students are not forced into the moment and do not need to have ready answers to questions posed.
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