Lowell Billings on board of Accelerated Charter School that hired Patrick Judd as consultant

Patrick Judd and Lowell Billings: old friendships never die?

For many months school districts all over southern California have been doing Google searches for mysteriously retired superintendent Pat Judd of Mountain Empire School District. They all decided against him--except for a small charter school in Los Angeles.

It seems there's always a charter school with interesting board members who will give a job to a guy who has left his job under suspicious circumstances.

Judd is now a consultant at Accelerated Charter School in Los Angeles.

I looked at the school's web page and was taken aback to see that one of the trustees is none other than Lowell Billings, who is superintendent of Chula Vista Elementary School District in San Diego county, where Patrick Judd sits on the board.

What is Lowell Billings doing on the board of a charter school in Los Angeles, you may ask? It turns out that the world of education is a small one, which helps explain a lot of things, including the lack of new ideas.

I was chagrined, but not surprised, to also find that Charles Oppenheim, of the law firm Foley & Lardner, is on the board. Education attorney firms are given huge amounts of money to protect the status quo in education.

Judd is being paid as a consultant, and he's acting the only way he knows how to act: lots of hostility, little insight. Judd once memorably stated that we've known for a hundred years how to educate kids. This is a man firmly planted in the early 1900's. Apparently he hasn't noticed that kids have changed.


Reports have already started coming out of Accelerated Charter School about Patrick Judd's shenanigans.

Patrick Judd causing problems at Accelerated Charter School in Los Angeles

Thank you to Jill who answered my question about Pat Judd:

"Patrick Judd has moved on to The Accelerated Charter School in Los Angeles. Quite obviously they were not one of the many who did a google search on him.

"In the first week so far he has made a horrible environment for everyone, using a strong arm approach and blaming teachers for all previous problems. He has made it clear that things will be very negative this year, and that teachers are the main cause of any problems at a pretty good school. Everything he does sets a tone for an angry staff, and I do foresee new lawsuits to arise from his inappropriate behavior.

"They must have been nuts to let this guy into another school. He is pulling a consulting fee so that he still gets his retirement package. He has no business around any school, at any time."

I was wondering how Judd got this job, and I quickly found the answer.