CNN
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All Department of Education offices will be closed Tuesday evening and Wednesday for “security reasons,” according to a memo sent to all employees and obtained by CNN.
Employees are instructed to take their laptops with them and vacate the building starting at 6 p.m. ET. The offices are set to reopen on Thursday, according to the memo sent by James Hairfield from the department’s office of security, facilities and logistics.
Hairfield did not specify the security reasons in the memo, and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The memo comes as the department is weighing large-scale cuts, along with agencies across the federal government, and as President Donald Trump has threatened to shutter the Department of Education entirely.
Several Department of Education employees told CNN that the latest news hit them hard, and they are nervous about impending mass layoffs and the looming executive order from Trump.
In the memo, Hairfield said the shutdown of offices applied to the Department of Education’s headquarters in Washington, DC and regional offices. The directive allows employees to work from home on Wednesday and instructs them to take their laptops when they leave work Tuesday.
Longtime department staffers told CNN they can’t remember a time that all offices were closed, even when significant VIPs have been on site.
