By admin 
Murmurs have circulated among California state workers about bedbugs returning to the Department of Education’s headquarters, where an infestation this summer resulted in employees temporarily working from home.
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The department’s deputy superintendent of operations, Abel Guillén, sent an email to staff last Friday that one live bedbug and five dead ones were found in room 3506. In the email obtained by The Sacramento Bee, Guillén said staff has not been allowed in the room since mid-August.
To rectify the new bedbug discovery, room 3506 was “immediately re-treated and vacuumed,” according to leadership’s email to staff. The room is closed off, equipped with monitoring traps and subject to follow-up inspections.
While one bedbug was found alive, Guillén wrote to staff that the dead ones are “consistent with the intended effects of the previous … treatment.” The deceased bedbugs were found on a chair. Guillén’s email did not say where in the room the alive one was found.
The discovery is the latest instance of CDE leadership telling employees bedbugs are not in the building, only for more to be discovered at a later date and igniting doubt among CDE’s workforce on whether treatment is effective.
“(The bedbugs) were never gone,” said Roque Amorim Neto a CDE education programs consultant. “I think they have not done the job properly.”
The Department of General Services manages and is responsible for maintaining the building, 1340 N St. in Sacramento.
An emerging pattern
While this month’s bedbug sighting was relatively small, it gives workers flashbacks to a sighting in early June, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting, when two alive bedbugs were reportedly spotted at a cubicle. An email was sent out the next day saying, “following a thorough review, no bedbug activity was detected in any of the identified areas within our building.”
The early June sighting was a precursor of what’s to come.
Twenty days later, several dozen bedbugs were found in room 3407, which is the same room as a 2024 infestation. The pests were found when an employee moved a table in the room and “tons” of bedbugs scattered from behind it. The building was since treated and employees returned to the office.
The pattern isn’t sitting well with staff. About 50 employees signed off on an email to leadership expressing concerns and providing suggestions, such as evaluating clutter and removing items like pillows that are hotspots for the insects.
Pillows were kept — and since removed — from room 3506 where the pests were most-recently found.
“Hello, you don’t do that,” said Amorim Neto of keeping pillows in an area known to have bedbugs, an insect that feeds on the blood of mammals.
Staffers also expressed concerns about fiscal implications if bedbugs would come home with workers and require them to pay for their homes to be treated.
Report gives glimpse into treatment process
A “project completion report” obtained by The Sacramento Bee shows exactly how DGS worked to remedy the bedbug situation earlier this summer.
Inspections started June 24 — the day after the late-June discovery — on the building’s third floor. The next day inspectors targeted areas of concern, but no bedbug activity was found. By June 27, inspectors made it through the first, third, fifth and sixth floors as eyes went to the forth floor. At this time, the report states “no activity or evidence of bedbugs was found in the inspected areas.”
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It wasn’t until June 30 when inspectors found bedbugs. One live bedbug and an undisclosed number of dead ones were found in room 3407 as inspectors revisited the third floor, where bedbug activity wasn’t found four days prior. The live one was found in the back-right corner when inspectors vacuumed it up. As inspections continued, bedbugs were not found on the second floor.
Treatment occurred from July 11 to July 20. Crews went floor to floor, hitting individual cubicles, offices and even coordinating with a restaurant also housed in the building. During this process “a couple” of dead bedbugs were found in room 3407 — again in the back-right corner.
Post-treatment inspections started Aug. 12, according to the report, and five more dead bedbugs were found in room 3407. These inspections were completed by EagleShield Pest Control based in Clovis.
“Post-treatment inspections found no new evidence of bed bug activity in the inspected areas — with the exception of room 3407,” the report states.
Room 3506 — where bedbugs were found last week — was not individually named in the “project completion report” outlining treatment efforts.
In a separate email sent Friday afternoon to CDE staff, Guillén said secondary inspections will be done by All Day West Pest Control with their trained canine. Workers were also told to work remotely unless their responsibilities require an on-site presence.
“Out of an abundance of caution, and to support the completion of inspection activities, employees should work remotely for the time being,” Guillén wrote Friday. “Additional updates regarding the remote work arrangement will be provided following competition of the inspection for the entire building.”
Doubts in facilities management
Now, CDE employees say their concerns extend beyond bedbugs to how their headquarters are maintained overall. Amorim Neto said the DGS-managed building has a track record of problems putting workers’ health at risk.
“We have a history with this building where issues have been, like Legionnaire’s,” Amorim Neto said.
An April 2025 legionella report obtained by The Sacramento Bee shows the bacteria was found in at least 17 samples, including those taken from the men’s locker room, a women’s bathroom and several janitor closets. It also had HVAC problems in early August when employees reported to office as thermometers read 83.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
While bedbugs are not known to spread or transmit disease, the Environmental Protection Agency classifies them as parasitic insects that can cause other public health issues such as allergic reactions, secondary infections and mental health implications on those near affected areas.
Similarly, other DGS-managed buildings have pest-related incidents. The May Lee State Office Complex — home to a handful of state departments including the California Department of Housing and Community Development — is battling ant and roach issues, according to facility maintenance reports obtained by The Sacramento Bee.
“There are two glue traps on both sides of this door that are filled with roaches and insects,” an employee at the May Lee State Office Complex wrote this summer in a facilities request. “There are also trails of ants leading to both of the traps. Please have these traps serviced as soon as possible.”
EagleShield Pest Control, DGS and CDE did not respond to The Bee’s inquiry in time for publication.
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