Tuesday, April 17, 2007

CTA loses a favorite son on the Mountain Empire School Board

It's a sad thing when teachers go to the polls and elect one of their own as a school board member, but the parents of the district just won't have it. The CTA local in Mountain Empire School District east of San Diego is mourning the loss of its favorite son, Fred Kamper. He has resigned from the school board because he didn't want to face parents angered by several incidents of inappropriate behavior by Kamper with female students.

CTA can't understand why these parents take things like this so seriously. Neither can Patrick Judd, the superintendent who authorized tax money to be paid to defend Fred Kamper in a lawsuit regarding child-abuse allegations. After all, what's a little child abuse in the grand scheme of school politics? When the accused is a popular teachers union president, you can't really expect the teachers union to turn against one of its own, can you? Let's try to focus on what's important in education.

Lawyer Daniel Shinoff, who represented Fred Kamper and Patrick Judd in the recent lawsuit, would be a lot poorer if he weren't paid public money to attack child abuse victims. Don't worry, Dan. Your client might not get to serve on the school board, but there will be plenty of abused children for you to demean in the future. What was that you said about the special education student who was sexually assaulted in Sweetwater School District? That she wanted it? Nice work, Mr. Shinoff. Thanks, Superintendent Randy Ward of San Diego County Office of Education JPA (SDCOE-JPA) for maintaining your secret "gentlemen's agreement" with Mr. Shinoff to represent local school districts in lawsuits.