The ding of an email notification now brings a sense of dread to federal workers. It could be another ultimatum from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) or a termination letter. The suspense is felt not only by employees, but also by the families that rely on them. This is the new reality for many WJ parents and families.
It’s hard to know the exact number of parents of WJ students that work for the government, but it is likely very high. According to the 2024 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, the single largest employer in Montgomery County is the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The agencies run by the Department of Health and Human Services located near Bethesda, such as the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration, make Montgomery County and WJ’s territory prime real estate for federal personnel looking to settle down.
Many families have been bracing themselves since November. President Donald Trump’s many campaign promises, like ending birthright citizenship and the Ukrainian War, included a guarantee to amend bureaucracy in the federal government and a vow to, “drain the swamp in Washington, D.C.” One of his first acts as president was to create DOGE, an advisory body instructed to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” Since then, the advisory body, led by the world’s wealthiest man Elon Musk, has been very active.
On Jan. 28, all federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offering them two choices: resign now and receive their regular salary until September, or return to physical offices (with the continued risk of termination in the future). The email was aptly titled, “A Fork in the Road,” and many WJ families had to discuss their next steps.
“My mom’s work is a mess,” senior Marianne Carr said. “She works at Walter Reed as a pediatrician. When that email came out, tons of people from her work just resigned. They already had an issue staffing wise, they’re already understaffed all the time, so that was unfortunate.”
To further shrink the size of the government, all hiring was frozen on Jan. 20. This included intern hiring and summer programs that had previously been available for high school and college students. None of the vacancies caused by the deferred resignation program have been filled, so employees have taken on a larger workload to perform the functions that are expected of them.
“My mom definitely has less time to interact with me. She’s been working a bit later. I have to help her around the house and that takes time away from the time I need to do for homework,” junior Lorena Trevino said.
OPM mandates have dictated that federal employees must return to in-person work. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changing the workforce and accommodations, many departments lack the space to provide adequate parking and office space.
In a recent survey of 56 WJ students whose parents work for the government, 71.4% answered that their parents had been impacted by President Trump’s executive orders. Entire agencies like USAID, which administers international humanitarian aid on behalf of the government, have been shut down, but the number of people who have been fired is unknown to the public.
“My mom has been so insanely stressed because she works in the Department of Health and she’s had to fire people that don’t deserve to be fired because of these orders,” an anonymous source told The Pitch.
The threat of termination hangs heavily over many families. In an email sent last week, the OPM instructed every federal employee to respond and describe five things they had accomplished the previous week. Musk tweeted later that a failure to send the email would be “taken as resignation.”
“It’s more tense. Both of my parents do government related stuff,” senior Gideon Gotiangco said.
Despite this warning, several agencies including the State Department and the Pentagon instructed their workers not to respond. It is unknown how many employees have responded thus far. This unclear communication creates confusion over how to proceed.
“It’s fully undeserved, and disgusting and stressing everyone out. It’s not efficient and no one’s getting work done because they can’t. She has no funding for her branch right now,” the same anonymous source said.
Workers are challenging the actions of DOGE, and there are countless active lawsuits working their way through the courts. However, the cuts don’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. As federal employees and WJ parents prepare to go back to their physical offices in March, the future remains uncertain.
This story was originally published on The Pitch on March 7, 2025.