Education
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California education official resigns for violating state policy by living in Texas: report
A Californian education official resigned from her post because she lives in Texas, which is against state policy. Pamela Kadakia of the California Department of Education (CDE) resigned due to a state policy that state employees must reside in California unless their job requires them to live elsewhere. Kadakia served as an equity project manager. She also lives in Texas, which is on a list of prohibited state-funded travel for California employees due to discriminatory laws, Politico reported. PARENTS OUTRAGED AFTER TEACHER MOCKS ‘BIGOTS,’ ‘EVANGELICALS’ IN DR. SEUSS-SYTLE POEM AT SCHOOL BOARD MEETING “We sought to ensure that all our personnel were in line with the new guidance,” the department…
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California education official resigns after working from Texas
An empty Hollywood High hallway on Sept. 8, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. | Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images By SUSANNAH LUTHI 12/23/2021 02:48 PM EST Updated 12/23/2021 06:02 PM EST 2021-12-23T06:02-0500 A second high-ranking California Department of Education official has resigned because she lives out of state. Pamela Kadakia served as a CDE equity project manager but resides in Texas, based on public records and her LinkedIn profile. Her exit follows the departure of Daniel Lee, a Philadelphia-based psychologist, life coach and long-time acquaintance of California schools chief Tony Thurmond, who was involved in Lee’s hiring. Lee was the state’s first superintendent of equity and earned more than $161,000 annually. Lee,…
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Gov. Abbott announces more than $123 million in education funding
Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that Texas will provide $123.3 million in federal COVID-19 relief money for education. The final round of money from the relief fund came through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, a bill that includes nearly $82 billion in aid for education. Congress initially established the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act in March 2020 to provide local educational agencies and higher education institutions with emergency assistance in response to the pandemic. Through the relief fund, Texas has invested more than $362 million for higher education and $67.5 million for K-12 public education since the beginning…
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Former Puerto Rico Education Secretary Is Sentenced to Prison
Two years ago, federal agents arrested Puerto Rico’s former education secretary, Julia Keleher, as part of a sprawling corruption investigation whose accusations helped uncork public dissatisfaction with the island’s leaders and contributed to the furious ouster of a young and ambitious governor. The accusations against Ms. Keleher and another top official set off the very first protests in the summer of 2019 against former Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló, prompting him to rush home from a family vacation in France to what would turn out to be his final frenzied weeks in office. On Friday, a federal judge in Puerto Rico sentenced Ms. Keleher to serve six months in prison and…
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California education official resigns amid criticism over East Coast residency, hiring process
Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco, Calif. is pictured. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images SACRAMENTO — A highly-paid California education administrator who led the state’s equity program from his Philadelphia home has resigned amid criticism over his long-distance status and how he was hired. The departure comes after POLITICO reported Daniel Lee was named California’s first superintendent of equity last year despite living on the East Coast and running his own business there. California’s human resources department told POLITICO that state workers can live elsewhere only under rare circumstances where out-of-state residency is required for the job, such as staff lobbying Congress in Washington, D.C. California Department of Education spokesperson…
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As feared, virtual education put a damper on public school performance | Education
As key test scores later showed, the sudden lurch to virtual education in public schools because of the pandemic was a jolt to students and teachers as well as parents. “We were just so caught off guard,” said Livingston Parish educator Kim Albin. The reliance on distance learning for major parts of the 2020-21 school year is also getting much of the blame for the plunge in Louisiana’s annual school performance scores. Nearly three our of four public schools and school districts showed drops, according to results released Dec. 5 by the state Department of Education. The longer students spent learning from home the bigger the drop. Scores fell nearly…
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Why child’s play is serious business in early education
Credit: Liv Ames for EdSource Today Esmeralda Acosta enjoys the play equipment at the day care center for the children of migrant workers in Watsonville. Credit: Liv Ames for EdSource Today Esmeralda Acosta enjoys the play equipment at the day care center for the children of migrant workers in Watsonville. When it comes to early childhood education, child’s play may well be serious business. Fun and games bring more than just joy. They may be the key to helping children thrive in tough times, experts say. Since young children don’t often have an opportunity to exercise choice and control, free play can be a liberating experience, nurturing independence and relieving…
