"He didn't want us to be protesting anymore," Cecelia Wilson, the president of an SEIU Local 1000 district labor council that represents CDE employees, said of Thurmond's pivot on telework.
The office of state superintendent of public instruction is increasingly seen as unnecessary, given its limited responsibilities and unclear authority amidst evolving educational governance in California.
Tony Thurmond has regularly taken side jobs running Bay Area nonprofits since he became California's elected schools chief, earning tens of thousands to supplement his income.