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NEW BEDFORD — Most of the walls inside Campbell Elementary were hidden behind construction paper artwork, book project presentations, and classroom photos when Superintendent Andrew O’Leary came to visit last week. Kids in the gymnasium vibrated with excitement as they waited their turn to pet a therapy dog — and the curly-haired poodle mix seemed even more excited to meet them.
This didn’t look like a school governed by fear.
In the previous month, President Donald Trump had very publicly reclassified schools as an acceptable location for immigration enforcement, rolling back a Joe Biden-era order that designated schools as “protected areas.” News outlets around the country had warned that public schools ought to prepare for standoffs with federal officials. And it seemed that elected officials and school leaders around Massachusetts had already dug their heels in opposition.
These kids at Campbell Elementary were supposedly at the center of the brewing storm. New Bedford has more than double the English learners (as a percentage) compared to the state and national averages. And the kindergarten through fifth graders in the gymnasium were celebrating the conclusion of their annual English proficiency exams.
The real threat to New Bedford’s students and schools is not a raid by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to district and school officials, but the dismantling of federal support for education that underlies the success of the students in Campbell’s gymnasium. Everything from special education teachers to parental rights to literacy programs could lose funding.
Cindy Surprenant, a longtime paraeducator, watched the Campbell kids bounce around after meeting the dog. She said she’s been attentive in case any students have been fearful at home, but she was not worried about anything happening to them at school. This was the safest place they could be. Other teachers around the room said the same.
Later, O’Leary commented that Surprenant’s job — as well as the jobs of other special education professionals, reading specialists, and many learning materials in the building — were made possible because of federal funding.
“It’s not as simple as saying that when the federal funding goes away, these people go away,” O’Leary said. But in an organization as large as New Bedford Public Schools, O’Leary said, where the over $200 million budget is composed of up to 10% federal funding, removing a major funding stream would have consequences.
In contrast, there has not been a single immigration raid at a public school anywhere in the country. Federal privacy laws for students are among the most rigorous protections available, and prevent even the sharing of data between federal agencies (including with ICE). State laws in Massachusetts similarly protect students, and the school buildings themselves are perhaps the safest physical environment where students could find themselves — with all building access in New Bedford limited to monitored vestibules with two sets of locking doors.
What’s more, students themselves are not a good fit for the immigration profile that President Trump himself has outlined: many children of immigrants are U.S. citizens, and very few — if any — elementary, middle, or high schoolers are violent criminals.
All the U.S. citizen students in Campbell’s gym who were celebrating their progress learning English — and the teachers who taught them — will feel the consequences of rolling back the federal government’s commitment to supporting education, O’Leary explained. That is the issue concerning this superintendent far more than immigration raids, which he says are “unlikely.”
Public schools “belong to you,” superintendent says
Working as a school administrator wasn’t supposed to be a risky job, but Andrew O’Leary was recently made aware of the new stakes for Trump’s second term. Shortly after the inauguration, O’Leary sent a letter to his more than 2,000 staff members on the hot-button topic of immigration. He stated plainly that the schools would follow the law: “State and federal policy is very clear that student and family access to schools shall not be disrupted,” he wrote.
When the letter was shared by a local Facebook page, more than one thousand comments overwhelmingly derided O’Leary and called for his arrest. “Great aiding and abetting he can be put in cuffs to [sic] for obstruction,” one commenter wrote. “Arrest anyone who gets in your way,” jeered another.
O’Leary said the current administration seems intent upon “generating a sense of fear and crisis around schools.” He said that a sense of crisis “is what’s allowing the current rollbacks to happen.”
Those rollbacks, like the proposed dismantling of the federal Department of Education, O’Leary said, would work directly against Trump’s stated goals of parents’ rights and budgetary efficiency. O’Leary’s knowledge comes from more than 20 years working up through the district’s finance department, where he found the federal government’s commitments to education made local schools more accountable, more efficient, and more responsive to parents.
A fabricated sense of crisis about public education — including fearmongering on immigration — serves only to drive a wedge between the free public schools and the average Americans who benefit from them, according to O’Leary.
“The first step in supporting public schools is realizing they belong to you and you should hold on to them,” O’Leary said. “They are your asset.”
For example, the federal Department of Education is among the best tools to uphold parents’ rights, O’Leary said. One of the department’s primary functions for K-12 education is to run the Office of Civil Rights, an investigatory arm that responds to parent complaints and holds schools accountable. But since Trump took office, more than 10,000 investigations have been halted and employees have been “muzzled,” according to reporting from ProPublica.
“Student and family petition complaints are no longer being investigated, it seems,” O’Leary said. That means parents no longer have any mechanism to complain when special education plans or other accommodations are not met. Neither can families ask for an investigation into how the funds providing those services are being spent.
“The fact that that office is being diminished or frozen or shut down means that family, parent, and student rights are being taken away,” O’Leary said.
A second function of the education department is research, but the research arm has already seen $900 million of its contracts canceled. O’Leary says “that’s very harmful” and would make inefficiency more common in schools. “We really would be diminishing the quality of how we talk about our schools … What schools are doing the best work? What is the data telling us comparatively?”
“It’s not as simple as saying, ‘Well, here’s an allocation and it seems to be inefficient, therefore we’ll stop it,’” O’Leary said. “That’s not a substantive understanding of the Department of Education or how it works.”
There are other ways that students’ rights and education progress are under threat, but don’t necessarily belong to the U.S. Department of Education, O’Leary said. For example, New Bedford has benefitted enormously from U.S. Department of Agriculture funding to build new school kitchens and a new district-wide central kitchen (which is now slated to open this March). And USDA partnerships have also helped states, including Massachusetts, to offer free universal lunch to students — a benefit to farmers and students alike.
“There’s been some great success,” O’Leary said, “And there’s a general sense now that this is something that the United States gets right and leads the world in.” But the USDA is one of many federal departments that has been subject to large-scale layoffs. O’Leary is concerned that any rollback of USDA funds would hurt students and schools in New Bedford.
Dollars can outlast the department
The unpredictable political environment has ramifications all the way down to school subcommittee meetings in New Bedford.
This month, local school committee members began their finance meeting devising a strategy to ensure the coming year’s budget could weather potential price increases owing to tariffs. Barry Rabinovitch, New Bedford Public Schools’ acting finance manager, said that the district has already started to pre-buy materials like school furniture to defend against the fallout of a potential trade war.
Classroom furniture, like student chairs and desks, can depend on the global supply chain for steel — something administrators recently learned during pandemic disruptions.
This subcommittee also recently created a new “stabilization account,” which allows the district to save money for a rainy day. At a recent school committee meeting, O’Leary said the explicit purpose of this account was to prepare for any disruptions to federal special education funds. Another district official, Jen Ferland, said the district has been ensuring that a minimal number of salaried positions depend on federal grants.
Still, more than 60 special education jobs in New Bedford depend on Title I funding from the federal government, according to estimates from district officials. These jobs support the more than 3,000 special education students now receiving services in New Bedford Public Schools.
In an interview, O’Leary said the federal awards to Massachusetts and New Bedford are already set for the next year. “We can already forecast with some measure of confidence the awards for next year. That’s how the federal budget process works,” he said.
He added that some “disruption and chaos” in Washington has made the district and its partner organizations worried about the flow of already-approved federal money. But in terms of finances, the real threat is the federal government’s signal that it no longer sees public education as a worthwhile investment in the long term.
Federal spending on education is congressionally approved, and support for low-income students, women, and racial minorities originated in the Civil Rights era of the 1960s and ’70s. O’Leary, a self-described history nerd, said it was “exciting to see the echoes of the Great Society still going on today.”
This federal spending — whether Title I supports for low income students or IDEA supports for special education students — would persist even if the federal government dissolved its Department of Education. It would take congressional action to fully undo these funding mechanisms. But it is possible; education advocates have long noted that there is no universal right to education in the Constitution or Bill of Rights — instead, federal policy only stipulates that where education is provided, it must be done so equally.
O’Leary said that the benefit of having the Department of Education is that all spending is coherently managed by one cabinet-level secretary. Through iterations and improvements from one administration to the next, that funding today is highly efficient, O’Leary says.
“It’s funding that prompts additional support for students from state and localities. So if you’re not meeting needs from your own local or state budget, then you’re somewhat ineligible for federal funding,” O’Leary explained. In short, “You have to show that local commitment to get the federal funding.”
“So, amidst all these purported calls for … smart targeted funding, all of that is already there,” O’Leary said.
In O’Leary’s opinion, the new administration’s stance on education means taking money away from an asset that belongs to and benefits the public. “This is your city. These are your students. This is your public school system. It belongs to the public,” he said.
Email Colin Hogan at chogan@newbedfordlight.org
Time to bump the non civil service people out. Oh wait. The civil servants aren’t safe either. Bye, bye…..ain’t no time like the present.
funding doesnt stop, accountability starts. really not biggie. if you do the right thing and put the money where it needs to, taxpayer money. put the effort on math science and language, hold parents accountable for childs bahavior instead of running an elementary grade daycare. thats why threre is school choice. money doesnt fall from the sky.
Who gets to decide where the money gets to go?
“hold parents accountable for childs bahavior”
Put them in jail, many already are.
Expel the kids, make the parents daycare them?.
Who is responsible for your low level of writing skill?
Your teachers?
Your parents?
Certainly not you!!
School Choice exists to segregate children with parents who care from those who do not, the unwashed.
Albert, your opinion changes like the tide.
Or are you being sarcastic, because finally you’re talking sense.
My opinion is not influenced by the moon, or popular opinion.
I believe in good education, at least minimal housing and justice.
And wind.
Oil is ugly.
Excellent, bravo…..wonderfully said. But, funding does stop federally run programs are at risk. A lot of babysitting programs, like during vacations for those not well behaved or after school o.t. programs will go bye, bye…bye bye o.t. for teachers.
How many teachers will leave without o,t.?
Will they be replaced with better?
What should be done with the poorly behaved?
Deportation?
If the federal grant money is not received the local budget cannot support them all.
Thank you for a thorough explanation that highlights the importance of the Dept. of Education….the nation benefits from EDUCATION!
Musk/Trump is eliminating all Departments of Education.
That’s exactly what’s finally happening! About time. All the programs to literally have the problem kids go to school and have had ping pong table, video games to play. Why not be bad! While the good kids have to tolerate the bad who get rewarded.
What should be done with the problem kids?
Jail?
Discipline! Not put the in a room to pay video games and be given milk and cookies. True fact! Why should they be good? No penalties.
Albert, you have to go read the article School department paying BCBS premiums for dead employees….I want to see what you think.
The city does not benefit from the current administration. Absolutely does not!
Education is absolutely needed, yes! Not the current admin.
Superintendent O’Leary is entitled to his opinion, but the fact is, the public school system in New Bedford, and in every city and town across America belongs to the federal and state tax payers who are overtaxed at every level in every local, state, and federal agency across the nation, and to say that we’re tired of paying for everyone else’s needs in addition to our own is an understatement, and the line has to be drawn. If parents want to have children, they should expect to pay for all the needs of those children, for everything from food, housing, energy costs, transportation, clothing, education, medical, dental, and vision care and so much more. Responsible people should consider all costs associated with raising children from birth through the education level they want and expect, it’s not the tax payers responsibility to fund the needs of their own families, and fund the needs of everyone else’s too. I’m not opposed helping someone in need in a temporary crisis, illness, or a drastic change occasionally, but paying for two and three generations who decide it’s easier to let others pay while little to no effort is made to end that dependence has to end, and it certainly should never be an option for people who cross our borders illegally and take advantage of everything, and turn a safety net into a sole means of income is unsustainable even for the wealthiest nation.
I’m looking forward to spending cuts and tax cuts as well, both are long overdue, and are not optional, but necessary, and mandatory.
Well said, you are 💯 percent right, I too, agree the taxpayer’s have reach their limit. And the education programs in this country need a major overhaul. It’s a know fact that we pay the most per student, but our children are the dumbest in the world, something is drastically wrong with education in this country. We need to turn back the clocks and go back to a education only schools, no daycare, no breakfast, (a good lunch only), no dei, & no sex education. No new schools unless really necessary, repair what you have. No special programs for illegal immigrants.
You spoke like you are in my brain, well said!
Are voters are the dumbest in the world?
Democracy is a failure?
Albert, you picked on someone for mis-spelling. Perhaps you need to work on your own comments, “Our” not are.
All pre K – 12 education should b funded by local taxes?
What should be done with the kids of parents who just don’t care?
Kids who have cancer?
Who have been abused?
Just let them die?
Albert, this is really off topic. No child should suffer whether medically of physically. There are many good children in this world. There are still children that have the respect of the older days. Thank GOD. The bad kids should take a trip to jail, perhaps to be scared straight. Otherwise kids take advantage of no discipline making it impossible for the good kids to learn and feel safe. The bad kids today threaten they’ll call dss and report teachers with falsified statements and teachers are wrongfully let go. There is so much involved.
Funding is not going away. It is being reallocated to other departments. These democratic school leaders are fear mongering parents and others. Do better and read what is actually happening instead of going into panic mode. Also, we will not be losing immigrants, we will be losing people who illegally crossed the border and do not belong here!
Funding is going away. If trump stops federal funding for schools them a multitude of programs will be cut. There are no funds available in the regular budget to cover them. Period. The end.
Educated educator, you really have no idea as to how programs are run. Many years they don’t know until last minute as to if a program is actual going to be because of waiting to find out if it’s funded. You obviously have never been effected by the threat of federal funds not being received, many of us clerks have. So before you toot your horn. Make sure you know your facts. Example 21st century programs. They simply don’t have money in the budget to cover multiple federal cuts. Bye, bye to teacher o.t. for grant programs. Maybe Mrs. Ferland can take over another department such as HCS director, she definitely has the personality. Things would run more accurate and employee moral would I prove.
Educated educator. He’s dismantling DOE now.
Is it legal, probably not are you in fear for your job maybe not. First thing to go ot. All those free money ot gigs. Then they’ll take away programs and probably take away art and music. After all, that’s been reduced before. While this is going on certain admin with collect their high pay and others will no longer be employee and the students will lose out plenty. Educated, employee with common sense and very aware of reduction in force. I do hope you get a taste of what it’s like to have your position eliminated due to federal cuts. Even if your position is not federally funded or impact. The taxpayers of New Bedford will make sure every penny is used properly.
Just to be clear there’s only one US department of education which was founded not to long ago in 1979 and it only has 17 offices and that’s the department this administration is trying to eliminate. The fact is education itself wouldn’t stop and each state would just now be fully accountable for and have to properly manage and run it’s own education which for the most part it already does and it did before 1979. The less federal government and waste the better the way I see it. We need to keep things such as education local so that people can be better be held accountable and we can better decide for ourselves where the money goes and on our children’s education period.
Paulo, you obviously never worked in behind the scenes. Monies are not just issued for all school programs. Grants have to be applied for for these funds. Mr. Dan Germano ( A blind employee & his seeing eye dog Craig) was one of the most challenged with programs in the old days. Then led by Dr. Mary Louise Francis, then led by the current Superintendent O’Leary, who was assisted by Mrs. Jen Ferland. Grants had deadlines. They hAd to be physically drove up to Boston. Missing the deadlines, should mean no funds and sometimes they were rewarded. I know, I copied the information on a very confidential timeline. The office had others under them just as there was a person in the fiscal office for the purchasing. So just to be clear, yes if the funds are cut it will be reflected in the programs in the schools. Many summers employees didn’t know if they’d have a job until the found out if the grant was awarded. We are not talking 1 or 2 we are talking a multiple. Hope you learned a little lesson today. The loss of federal funds will not just affect the people on the bottom of the chain but many in the middle and the top. Each cut will be devastating. It will be bad, really bad.
Grants should come from charity organizations, not federal, state, and local tax payers, and there should be zero dollars spent educating the children of illegal immigrants, just like Medicaid, Mass Health, and the additional taxes paid to fund people without healthcare. If Governor Healy, and the rest of the MA Democrats look to add additional taxes, like her proposed sales tax on candy, a SurTax or fee on Excise Taxes, and a 6% tax on prescriptions, shouldn’t be allowed because they don’t apply all MA Tax Payers, and that’s unfair, specially when those proposed taxes are to cover Medicaid & Masshealth programs. If the governor and Democrats in the MA legislature want to add new taxes to cover the shortage of finds that were used to provide free healthcare to illegal immigrants, then every individual in the state should be taxed at the same rate, for example, a monthly $20.00 Tax per person added to every electricity bills in MA where a family of five pays a $100 tax per month, and a single man or woman is taxed an additional $20.00 per month, that way everyone pays the same tax regardless of income, race, gender, etc. with every person paying the same tax, that’s fair.
Governor Healy, and the rest of the MA Democrats are following the will of we the people who elected them, by a landslide.
Not 49.7%
Shoulda, woulda, coulda
We need to keep things such as education local?
100% locally funded?
By each schools service area?
Teachers will be without o.t. with these programs being cut. Oh, well!
Teachers without O. T. will quit.
There are better opportunities elsewhere.
See our teacher turnover rate.
Exactly, but it’s not the job. It’s the administration.
Exactly!
Funding is going away. Federal grants run a lot of school programs. Trump is looking to cut them. If the budget can’t take on the burden, the programs will be cut.
Yes, the illegals should be deported. Is it going to go as far as people not born in US even if they became citizens, it probably won’t go that far. After all Melania is one of those people. She’s been through enough!
After the illegal wrong doers are deported, what next the not born in US, let’s go back for the last 40 yrs anyone before that, that came to make themselves better, getting a green card then becoming a citizen have earned a right to stay. They are not a part of the problem. If we have to work for social security 30 qualifying years to be fully vested and we were born here, then a 40 yr rule to be here up to now, otherwise bye, bye. Bye, chief
Funny how tight lipped the School department is on this. It may include administration, if it were clerks, custodians, Paras, maintenance or teachers it would be spreading like wildfire. They should be afraid, very afraid.
NBHS is national ranked 13,400 out of 17000. NATIONAL, that needs to change. Time for a clean sweep of administration. That is disgusting. Don’t blame the teachers, Paras, clerks, custodian, maintenance and food service. Their hands are tied. Time to clean sweep. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the source of the problem.
MARCH 20, 2024. DOE is to be dismantled by the current president. Bye, bye…….
We shouldn’t be using our tax dollars to teach English. It should be a condition of becoming a citizen. The school department says they do not discriminate, they do against Americans that don’t speak other languages. If you are an employee, American citizen born and raised, you get passed over for jobs and multilingual employees get added benefits. That has to STOP, cut those programs not special needs.