By Mackenzie Mays, Politico, September 28, 2021
Nearly two dozen senior officials have fled California’s top education agency since Tony Thurmond became state schools superintendent in 2019, with several of them accusing him of creating a toxic workplace that burned through staff with decades of experience.
Much of the exodus occurred as California’s K-12 system faced its most tumultuous crisis in generations. The state had some of the nation’s longest pandemic school closures, and districts have been desperate for more guidance from the California Department of Education on how best to reopen and keep campuses safe.
Nine former state education officials said that morale is so low and turnover so high that CDE cannot efficiently operate as Thurmond allegedly humiliated and intimidated staff. The former officials once in Thurmond’s inner circle spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity because they are still working in education and worried about retribution.
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