Photo Caption: Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez, PhD, along with WPS Chief Communications Officer Dan O'Brien and Worcester School Committee Member Sue Mailman attended a hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston on April 25, 2025, for the lawsuit to preserve the U.S. Department of Education. Also pictured are officials from the Somerville and Easthampton school districts, Democracy Forward, and the American Federation of Teachers.
WORCESTER — Thursday, May 22, 2025 — Worcester Public Schools Superintendent Rachel H. Monárrez, PhD, and Worcester Mayor Joseph Petty, the Chair of the Worcester School Committee, today applauded the ruling by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun to stop the Trump administration from carrying out plans to shut down the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
Worcester Public Schools was a declarant to the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the shutdown of the DOE, which was granted today by Judge Joun of the federal court in Boston. The suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton public school districts along with the American Federation of Teachers through the organization Democracy Forward.
Judge Joun’s ruling came in two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump’s plan amounted to an illegal closure of the DOE, according to the Associated Press. The second suit was filed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general.
“I am grateful to Judge Joun for recognizing the impact the Department of Education has and will continue to have for the nation’s children,” said Dr. Monárrez. “Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy. The DOE serves to protect children, provide guidance to states, and offers critical resources to school districts.”
“Judge Joun’s ruling is a win for the sanctity of the American education system,” Mayor Joseph M. Petty said. “I hope this move is the first of many stops to the dismantling of American systems we hold dear.”
In March, the federal government laid off or offered buy-outs to about half of the DOE employees. Judge Joun agreed with the plaintiffs that these terminations were so large-scale that they amounted to an illegal shutdown of the department.
The Associated Press reported that in his order, Joun said the plaintiffs painted a “stark picture of the irreparable harm that will result from financial uncertainty and delay, impeded access to vital knowledge on which students and educators rely, and loss of essential services for America’s most vulnerable student populations.”
Layoffs of that scale, he added, “will likely cripple the Department. The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true.”
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