Newly appointed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote of a “momentous final mission” to overhaul the Department of Education that will “profoundly impact staff, budgets and agency operations here at the Department.” Around the same time, a crowd of concerned locals congregated at Livermorium Plaza in downtown Livermore to protest how this will affect their community.
American flags as well as pride flags waved on the field as the attendees stood listening to the speakers up front. Signs such as “LITERACY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL” hovered above for passing cars to see.
Christiaan VandenHeuvel, a board member of the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District (LVJUSD), addressed an estimated crowd of 300 people that included parents, educators, children and passersby.
“We are united today because we know what’s at stake,” VandenHeuvel told the protestors at the March 4 demonstration.
“These executive orders and these proposed policies will impact all of us. But especially those who are already the most vulnerable.”
VandenHeuvel was joined by speakers from the group Livermore Advocates for Public Education (LAPE), who organized the rally in conjunction with Livermore Indivisible, a democratic volunteer organization.
As the Trump administration continues its rhetoric about public education, similar protests have sprung up around the country. The proposed and executed changes to the Department of Education — including the reduction of the workforce by some 50% — has galvanized supporters of public education. The threat of significant changes to public education, and who is making them, is prompting push back from a largely liberal demographic.
Although these protests around the nation have been going on for several weeks now, Las Positas College has yet to have a protest of its own. Despite being an educational institution with students saying that they support protests.
“I do believe that [protests] are something really good for the community…fighting for what’s right,” said Cristian Olivares, a first year criminal justice student.
Christian Tuell, a history professor at LPC argues that historically the reasons why protests do not gain momentum is due to a lack of leaders and not enough affected people. However he is still optimistic.
“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t agree that there’s waste and fraud [in the government]… But to go at it with a chainsaw, that’s a problem, right? You’re hurting a lot of people. So if they continue doing that and the protests continue to swell then it can make a difference.”
Tuell brought up DOGE’s threats to social security and Medicare as something that would incite more pushback from a larger population if the threats were followed through.
Shari Spain, a member of Livermore Valley Moms Demand Action and attendant of the protest, said people are unified by their concerns for their students and the threats against their civil liberties.
“We are fighting for the same things,” Spain said, “which are our democratic rights and protections that are being chipped away at by the current administration.”
At the edge of the rally, one student from East Avenue Middle School held up a sign with the words “WE THE PEOPLE MEANS EVERYONE” to passing cars honking in support. She said that being of Mexican descent and identifying as LGBTQIA+, people’s lack of empathy for different groups of people has made her “not happy.”
Sarah Salazar, a teacher from Granada High School, came out with her young daughter to support her students.
“I definitely have different students, diverse students,” Salazar said. “I know some of my students come from different places … Some students have different preferences and I support all of them.”
Following VandenHeuvel’s speech, Kristie Wang, a Livermore City Council member and former LVJUSD board member, spoke to the crowd about the importance of the Department of Education.
“To ensure that all students have equal access to education — that is literally what it does,” Wang said.
The day after the rally, Wall Street Journal acquired the executive order draft calling for the dissolution of the Department of Education. Its explanation for the dissolution is “since its founding in 1979, the Department of Education has spent more than $1 trillion without producing virtually any improvement in student reading and mathematics scores.”
Wang defended the Department of Education by listing the numerous K-12 school programs it funds such as Title 1 funding for low-income families, programs to address student safety and English learning programs and school nutrition programs.
Joanne Morrison spent three weeks organizing for the protest. She is a lead of LAPE and is on the steering committee of Livermore Indivisible, which she joined in 2017 when Trump was first elected.
“I was feeling very frustrated by the awful things that I was hearing in the news every day, and I felt like I had to take some kind of action,” Morrison said. “So I went online and I found Livermore Indivisible.”
Morrison believes in focusing on the local community and urges people to “stay active, keep fighting and don’t give up” despite the current administration.
“Trump and Musk and their cohorts, they want us to feel discouraged,” Morrison said. “They want us to feel despair. Because that’s when they win. Yet if we refuse to feel that, then we win.”
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TOP PHOTO: A group of educators protesting in downtown Livermore, in a fight against cuts on schools, March 4. Those most impacted, teachers and students alike, took part in hopes to create change. (Photo by Ian Kapsalis/The Express)
Éloise Kangwai is a staff writer for The Express. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter @sycamora8.
