SEATTLE — Rachel Gittleman returned her ID badge, laptop and credit card to the U.S. Department of Education’s regional office Wednesday morning. That’s when the tears hit her unexpectedly.
“There are so many layers of grief,” she said, standing in the lobby of the 37-story federal building in downtown Seattle.
Gittleman and co-worker Stephanie Sampedro lingered there for hours, hoping to meet others who had lost their jobs in the Trump administration’s sweeping effort to cut the agency’s workforce in half.
Across the country, federal workers and their supporters have staged “clap-outs,” an emotional show of support for Department of Education employees who were laid off or took buyouts or early retirements, entering their offices one last time to return their work-issued equipment. Wednesday’s show of support in Seattle was quieter than others around the country.
The widespread cuts have shuttered some regional offices, including Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco. Seattle’s office will remain open, along with those in Atlanta; Denver; Kansas City, Mo.; and the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The Department of Education did not respond to requests for a head count at the Seattle office, but it is one of the agency’s smaller outposts.
Within the federal building, the department has two offices spaced 30 stories apart — for federal student aid and the office of civil rights. Other federal workers and members of the public cycle in and out constantly, making it hard to determine who might be making their last march into the building.
Gittleman and Sampedro’s roles focused on resolving borrower complaints across the life cycle of federal student loans. At the time of her termination, Gittleman said she was juggling nearly 300 open cases. She also worked with state regulators and attorneys general, including Washington’s.
“Our office was the backstop of the federal student loan system,” said Gittleman. “We helped people get into repayment, fix credit reporting errors, and access public service loan forgiveness.”
She described the job cuts as devastating not just to staff but also to the borrowers left behind, who now face uncertainty and potential delays in their cases. Her email access was cut off abruptly on March 11, the day the layoffs were announced. She couldn’t tie up loose ends or redirect cases.
Sampedro, also a case worker in the federal student aid office, came to work for the agency on the promise that her work would affect policy and help borrowers.
The two good friends are grieving the close-knit community they found in the approximately 20 other case workers at the Seattle regional offices, most of whom no longer have jobs. Each time one of them helped a borrower resolve a problem, they would share and celebrate it in their group chat.
“Being a caseworker, you talk to people at their worst,” Gittleman said.
“And you hear their whole life story,” Sampedro added. “I’ve had people send me photos from their weddings. You really develop a relationship (with the borrowers).”
Outside the federal building, standing in the wind and mist, the pair were greeted by three National Labor Relations Board employees. They shook their hands and nodded their heads, thanking them for their service.
“The work that federal employees do touches everyday Americans all the time,” said Carolyn McConnell, an attorney at the NLRB. “If you like clean air, if you like education, if you like clean water, if you like being protected on the job … that work doesn’t get done unless there are federal workers to do it.”
