HILLSBOROUGH: Suspended teacher submits retirement notice

   Hillsborough High School social studies teacher Jeffrey Kampf, suspended for a week in early March, has submitted his retirement notice from the Hillsborough school district, effective June 30.
   The school board unanimously accepted his resignation, 8-0, last night, Thursday.
   The vote to accept his retirement immediately followed an 8-0 vote to accept a separation agreement from an unnamed staff member.
      That motion was a last-minute agenda substitute for a resolution “withholding the employment and adjustment increments of a staff member whose name is on file in the superintendent’s office.”
   Superintendent Jorden Schiff said he would not comment on personnel matters. The board’s attorney was in the audience, but did not speak, nor was he called upon.
   At the March 4 meeting Assistant Superintendent Guy Whitlock said the board could not discuss — or even confirm the identity — of the suspended teacher because it was a personnel action covered under privacy concerns for the employee.
   Neither the board nor administration has commented on the reason for the suspension.
   Mr. Kampf has been in the district for more than nine years.
      At the March 4 meeting, a dozen students and at least five parents praised Mr. Kampf as an enthusiastic teacher who animated students to share opinions and join the discussion in his genocide/Holocaust class. In addition, they praised his personal interest in students, which boosted their self-esteem, they said.
   Parents spoke on Mr. Kampf’s behalf, too. Some who had been chaperones on school trips said they had seen Mr. Kampf engage and connect with students while touring monuments in the nation’s capital. Mr. Kampf led trips to the Genocide/Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C., as part of his course.
   After most students and parents had left the March 4 meeting, the board discussed an agenda item confirming the superintendent’s action to suspend. Five of the nine members abstained, but the motion carried, 3-1. Mr. Kampf was reinstated by the superintendent at the end of the week.