FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Diego – Citing reckless mismanagement of the district's budget and putting student and teacher safety at risk, Mountain Empire Teachers Association President Fred Kamper presented the Mountain Empire Unified School District Board with a resolution of no confidence in Superintendent Patrick Judd. The resolution of no confidence, which is supported by 93% of all the educators in the district, was presented to the board at its February 16 meeting.
School safety was a major factor in the no confidence resolution. According to META president Kamper, "There have been more violent acts at the Junior-Senior High School in the first half of this year than in the previous eight years I've worked here." Kamper told the board that there had been another fight on campus that day. At its January meeting, the board heard parent, student and teacher concerns about safety, following a January 14 melee on the Mountain Empire Junior-Senior High School campus. Kamper pointed out that Judd took no corrective actions to insure school safety.
The resolution also charged that Judd had mismanaged the district's budget. "Judd is continually shifting the district's budget priorities" Kamper said. Currently Mountain Empire Unified School District ranks 40th out of 40 districts in the county in teacher salaries. During Judd's tenure teachers have gone without a raise for three years, while during the same period the superintendent has received automatic salary increases.
The no confidence resolution called on the board to "no longer abrogate management responsibilities to Superintendent Judd in order to settle the labor dispute and make educational excellence a priority."