SAN DIEGOSAN DIEGO — San Diego Unified School District is investigating its Superintendent Lamont Jackson for undisclosed reasons, officials confirmed this week.
For this purpose the school board last month hired the firm Sanchez & Amador, which specializes in employment litigation and workplace investigations, to conduct “sensitive internal investigations,” which was first reported by Voice of San Diego. The firm’s work for the district is expected to cost about $100,000, according to board agenda documents.
The probe will be led by Lupe Valencia, an attorney who has specialized in employee internal investigations including harassment, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, code of conduct violations and alleged fraudulent business practices, according to her LinkedIn profile.
A district spokesperson declined to answer questions about the reason for the investigation or whether Jackson would be placed on leave pending the results.
“The district is precluded from commenting on personnel matters,” district spokesperson Maureen Magee said in an email.
Jackson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Jackson has led the district since he was appointed interim superintendent in 2021 to take over for previous leader Cindy Marten, who left to become U.S. deputy education secretary.
The school board officially hired him as superintendent in March 2022, citing his decades of experience in the district that included working as a girls’ basketball coach, teacher, principal, human resources officer and area superintendent.
In 2022 Jackson was paid just under $400,000 including salary and other kinds of pay, according to Transparent California. His annual salary is currently $375,000.
The board last extended his contract in September of last year; it is now set to expire on June 30, 2027.
Jackson was last given a public written evaluation by the board in September of last year. In his evaluation report, the board listed a mix of accomplishments — including expanding mental health services, increasing substitute teachers for schools and expanding transitional kindergarten and ethnic studies — and areas for improvement, including math and reading scores, declining enrollment and campus climate.
Still the board wrote that Jackson “remains the leader most qualified to lead San Diego Unified on a daily basis” and said he is “widely revered” by staff for his leadership.
Jackson is named as a defendant in a lawsuit that was filed in December by 11 San Diego Unified police officers alleging harassment and discrimination from multiple police department supervisors, including Chief Alfonso Contreras, whom Jackson appointed in 2022.
The lawsuit alleges Jackson retaliated against one of the 11 plaintiffs by intimidating his girlfriend, a teacher in the district. The lawsuit alleged Jackson came to her classroom, watched her teach and then gave her an unwanted hug, even though they had not previously met.
It’s unclear whether the lawsuit’s allegation and the ongoing investigation of Jackson are related. The district previously commissioned an investigation into the police allegations that is still ongoing.
