by Maura Larkins
You sometimes wonder if the inmates are running the asylum.
Mountain Empire School District is a case in point. It's hard to tell whether it was the school board, its lawyers, or the teachers union that was most responsible in November 2006 for putting on the school board a man who can't keep enough space between himself and schoolgirls in his care.
The superintendent of Mountain Empire SD is Patrick Judd. He seems to be a problem magnet. (He moonlights as a board member in the troubled Chula Vista Elementary School District.)
Mountain Empire employee Fred Kamper was demoted from his position as principal when his lips "accidentally brushed" a girl's arm. Then he "inappropriately" touched a nine-year-old student who was sitting in his lap.
Daniel Shinoff, a lawyer for both Mountain Empire district, denied that Kamper was guilty, but nevertheless paid the girl's family $30,000. Why would he give away tens of thousands of tax dollars if there was no wrongdoing? Why did he get Kamper to agree to resign? It sure smells like wrondoing to me.
Months after the settlement and resignation, Kamper was elected board member with the help of California Teachers Association. Why would CTA endorse such a person? Part of the answer is that Fred Kamper was a former president of the CTA local affiliate, and CTA defends its local affiliate presidents, no matter what. (CTA also supported abusive and lawbreaking CTA leaders in Chula Vista. And none other than Pat Judd joined CTA in helping those Chula Vista leaders get away with wrongdoing.)
It seems that board members and union leaders seldom agree, but when they do, they are defending teachers and administrators from outraged parents.
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