California Education Official, Equity Project Manager Resigns After it is Revealed They Live in Texas, Violating Texas Travel Ban

California Department of Education has been found to be filling positions with people who do not reside in the state. The pair that Politico originally reported to have been found residing outside the state of Califonia have both since resigned from their positions.

The general consensus is if you work for a state you probably live in it. The first to be found out and resign was Daniel Lee, Superintendent of equity. Lee is a psychologist who lives and also owns and works at a psychology firm in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. After Politico reported that Lee appeared to violate California State policy by living outside the state because the job didn’t require it. Lee quickly resigned after this was brought to light.

Thursday, the day before Christmas eve it came out that another CDE employee was found to live out of state and had resigned as well. This time the employee was found to live in Texas having purchased a home there in 2019 and pursuing her doctorate in education at Texas A&M University between 2019-2021. The other employee named Pamela Kadakia was hired as  CDE equity project manager. Currently, Califonia has banned state-funded travel to the state of Texas along with 17 other states because of what Califina views as discrimination laws.

The pair were both paid quite nicely for their roles with CDE. Kadakia’s monthly salary was reported as $10,400. Lee’s salary was reported to be between $161,400 and $179,832 annually.

Politico reported, “CDE confirmed Kadakia’s departure in a statement Thursday. “We sought to ensure that all our personnel were in line with the new guidance,” the department said in a statement. “In doing so, we accepted Ms. Kadakia’s resignation”…

Records show Kadakia, 34, lives in the Dallas area, where she and her husband purchased a home in 2019. She appears to have worked in Texas since 2016, according to LinkedIn, but originally hails from California, graduating from Walnut High School in east Los Angeles County and earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cal State Fullerton…

While Kadakia’s profile says her equity project manager post started in January, CDE said she worked at the agency “for approximately one month” and earned a salary of $10,400. The state Department of Education has used its nonprofit affiliate to hire several top aides in the past before moving them to state employment, as was the case with Lee. It is not clear whether that happened in Kadakia’s case…

CDE told POLITICO that the nonprofit affiliate never posted Lee’s position publicly. Thurmond, who was influential in the hire, has known Lee for nearly three decades since they were social workers in Philadelphia, and they grew close enough that Lee was in Thurmond’s wedding party.

Lee was hired to help address inequity in California schools, which have long seen students of color and those from low-income households suffer from an achievement gap. Some advocacy groups have also sued the state over disproportionate disciplinary impacts on Black and Latino students.”

It appears the state doesn’t want to take the blame for hiring Kadakia who lives in Texas but place it on the non-profit they used to find her. The state also wants to place blame on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond who was instrumental in Lee’s hiring as this position was filled without being posted publicly. Lee it appears may have gone to school with Thurman many years ago at Temple University in Philadelphia but only got to know each other when they became social workers. The pair have known each other for over thirty years.

This news has caused quite a stir in the state Politico reported, “There are a number of people in California very well qualified in our universities and educational institutions who could do this work,” said Carl Pinkston, director of the Black Parallel School Board in Sacramento, which is suing the state over disciplinary practices for students of color. “Irrespective of who it is, to have someone from out of state who is not familiar with California’s dynamics and politics and challenges come in and attempt to do this work only furthers the fundamental problem, which is that the California Department of Education fails to adequately monitor schools for inequities and push for enforcement.”

This may not come as any surprise to the masses as Califonia doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing or doesn’t care if it violates its only policies, rules, or guidelines. Governor Newsome has struggled to follow the rules he implemented on all Californians regarding Covid-19. The phrase, rules for thee not for me comes to mind when you look at how those in high positions within Califonia do things.

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