![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_DS_EASTEND_HEALTH.JP_2_1_AR3INE3B_L91269784.JPG\" "\\"The")
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The Capitol Area East End Complex contains the California Department of Education headquarters. CDE leadership confirmed in a July 9 email that the entire building will be treated for bedbugs.<\/p>\n
Dick Schmidt<\/p>\n
Sacramento Bee Staff Photo<\/p>\n
More than a month after bedbugs were discovered in the California Department of Education headquarters, leadership has pledged to treat the entire building to exterminate the insects.<\/p>\n
An employee first spotted two live bedbugs in their cubicle on June 3 and reported the sighting to CDE leadership. That afternoon, an email from CDE chief deputy superintendents Dave Schapira and Ingrid Robertson announced that employees could work remotely through that Friday, June 5.<\/p>\n
The 2 p.m. email directed employees to exit the building, promising that CDE leadership would work with the Department of General Services to \u201censure that assessments and possible treatments are completed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fallon Okwuosa, assistant deputy director of public affairs for DGS, wrote in an email to The Sacramento Bee that \u201cwhen DGS was notified of the possible presence of bedbugs at the building, we acted immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe building was closed to allow for a thorough inspection and implementation of industry standards by subject matter experts that help with the eradication of the bedbugs,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAll areas were inspected, and areas were treated as recommended by the subject matter experts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schapira and Robertson sent a second email on June 4 that said \u201cfollowing a thorough review, no bedbug activity was detected in any of the identified areas within our building.\u201d Staffers returned to the office two days per week starting Monday, June 8.<\/p>\n
In response to a request for more information from Emily Ingram, the vice president of Service Employees International Union Local 1000 District Labor Council 764, CDE leadership provided the inspection report from,DGS<\/a>. The report shows that pest control inspected two or three sites on each of the building\u2019s floors.<\/p>\n According to education programs consultant and DLC 764 steward Gina Garcia-Smith, employees found several dozen bedbugs<\/a> on June 23 in the building\u2019s suite 3407. The DGS pest control team did not inspect the room, though it was also the site of a 2024 bedbug infestation<\/a> in CDE headquarters.<\/p>\n Garcia-Smith said she was in the office when employees reported discovering bedbugs in suite 3407. When an employee moved a table in the room, \u201ctons\u201d of bedbugs scattered from behind it, according to Garcia-Smith.<\/p>\n CDE employees shared three videos with The Bee that show several small insects crawling on a carpeted floor. The insects resemble bedbugs\u2019 characteristic apple-seed shape.<\/p>\n Following the sighting, an email signed by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond instructed CDE staff to work remotely.<\/p>\n \u201cOut of an abundance of caution, and due to additional reports of insects in the building, all staff are directed to work remotely effective immediately and until further notice as we work to have the entire building inspected by DGS and their pest control specialist,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n Reports of bedbugs on multiple floors<\/p>\n According to CDE analyst Nicole Pineda, the infestation was not limited to the building\u2019s third floor. Pineda, who works on the sixth floor, said she noticed bites on her ankles after she left work on June 17. Pineda says that she never visits other floors while at work.<\/p>\n \u201cOn my designated days to be in the office, I specifically wore short dresses and sandals because I did not want any fabric to drag on the floor,\u201d Pineda said. \u201cWhat would have happened if I wore pants? Maybe I would have taken a hitchhiker home.\u201d<\/p>\n Pineda said that three of her colleagues who work on the fourth floor noticed bites between June 8, when CDE employees returned to the office, and June 23. Employees on the second floor also reported bedbug bites during this time, Pineda said.<\/p>\n On June 26, Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Abel Guill\u00e9n sent an email to employees stating that pest control specialists with DGS were \u201cconducting a comprehensive inspection of the entire building due to reports of bedbugs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFindings so far have confirmed bedbugs in a concentrated area on the third floor,\u201d the email read.<\/p>\n Guill\u00e9n\u2019s email stated that by July 6, CDE would require its employees to work in the office four days per week as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s return-to-office order<\/a>.<\/p>\n The executive order, which mandated that state employees return to in-office work starting July 1, was initially waived for CDE employees while pest control inspected the department\u2019s headquarters.<\/p>\n Union filed a grievance<\/p>\n![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bedbug2.jpg\" "\\"bedbug2.jpg\\"")
This photograph shows an adult bedbug ingesting blood from the arm of a voluntary human host. Piotr Naskrecki U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention \/ Harvard University A recurrence in room treated in 2024<\/p>\n