San Diego Unified investigates Superintendent Lamont Jackson

The San Diego Unified School District is investigating its superintendent, Lamont Jackson, for unknown reasons, officials confirmed this week.

To that end, the school board last month hired the law firm Sanchez & Amador, which specializes in labor litigation and workplace investigations, to conduct “sensitive internal investigations,” as Voice of San Diego first reported. The firm’s work for the district is expected to cost about $100,000, according to the school board’s agenda documents.

The investigation is being led by Lupe Valencia, an attorney who, according to her LinkedIn profile, specializes in internal investigations of employees in cases such as harassment, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, code of conduct violations and alleged fraudulent business practices.

A district spokesman declined to answer questions about the purpose of the investigation or whether Jackson would be placed on leave pending the results.

“The district is prohibited from commenting on personnel matters,” district spokeswoman Maureen Magee said in an email.

Jackson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Jackson has led the district since being named interim superintendent in 2021 to succeed previous superintendent Cindy Marten, who left the district to become U.S. deputy secretary of education.

The school board officially hired him as superintendent in March 2022, citing his decades of experience in the district, including as a girls basketball coach, teacher, principal, human resources manager and district superintendent.

In 2022, Jackson received just under $400,000, including salary and other benefits, according to Transparent California. His annual salary is currently $375,000.

His contract was last extended by the board in September last year and will now expire on June 30, 2027.

Jackson was last publicly evaluated in writing by the board in September of last year. In its evaluation report, the board listed a number of accomplishments — including expanding mental health services, increasing the number of substitute teachers in schools and expanding transitional kindergarten and ethnic studies — and areas for improvement, including math and reading scores, declining enrollment numbers and campus climate.

Nevertheless, the board wrote that Jackson “remains the most qualified leader to lead San Diego Unified on a day-to-day basis” and said he is “universally respected” by staff for his leadership skills.

Jackson is named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in December by 11 San Diego Unified Police Department officers accusing several of the department’s superiors, including Police Chief Alfonso Contreras, who was appointed by Jackson in 2022, of harassment and discrimination.

The lawsuit alleges that Jackson retaliated against one of the 11 plaintiffs by intimidating the plaintiff’s girlfriend, a teacher in the district. The lawsuit alleges that Jackson walked into her classroom, watched her teach, and then gave her an unwanted hug, even though they had never met before.

It is unclear whether the allegations in the lawsuit are related to the ongoing investigation into Jackson. The district previously commissioned an investigation into the allegations against police, which is ongoing.