Friday, April 13, 2007

APS audit results

given: if you audit any organization you will find some amount of misconduct and incompetence. It is the natural result of human nature; human beings, all of them, have the capacity for incompetence and corruption. Therefore, evidence of incompetence and corruption isn't a surprising result; nor is it the most important result of an audit.

The most useful information that an audit will provide is; how did the incompetence and corruption remain undiscovered except by the audit? Why didn't the system prevent the problem; why didn't the system correct the problem; why didn't the system expose the problem?

That is why the leadership of the APS has not, and will not release audit results. It isn't so much that they are afraid that incompetence and corruption will be exposed; only the incompetent and the corrupt themselves really fear that exposure. It is because they fear the exposure of the fact that the system, their system, enables corruption and incompetence by failing to provide for systemic and institutional transparent accountability.

That is why they hide audit results. It is also why, when theyare compelled to commission an audit, the objective of the audit is never to expose enabling practices.

"A team from Council of Great City Schools will review safety and security operations in Albuquerque Public Schools at the end of May."(after the vast majority of stakeholders have left for the summer. Left to participate in the review; will be only administrators who have a vested interest in the results.)

The issue in the administration of the APS Police Department, the same issue in the APS leadership at large, has almost nothing to do with student safety and operations. Who really believes that "...an estimated 10 officers (are available districtwide) to respond to call for services" have a meaningful impact on student safety and security?

The real issue in the administration of the APS, including their police department, is misconduct, incompetence, and their enabling practices. By Beth Everitt's own admission, the reviewers will not be looking for corrupt and incompetent personnel, "...the Council of Great City Schools doesn't conduct those kinds of investigations." It is precisely why Everitt chose them to do the review. There are auditors who do look for corruption, incompetence, and the practices that enable them. It was Everitt's choice not to employ one of them.

The results of the "audit" have been manipulated before the audit has even begun.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Mr. M;

I thought your readers might like a link to the CGCS home page, plus here is their mission statement, exerpted from a pdf. on the cited website:

The Council of the Great City Schools is the only national organization exclusively representing the needs of urban public schools. Composed of 66 large city school districts, its mission is to promote the cause of urban schools and to advocate for inner-city students through legislation, research, technical assistance and media relations.
The organization also provides a network for school districts sharing common problems to exchange information, and to collectively
address new challenges as they emerge in order to deliver the best possible education for urban youth.

http://www.cgcs.org/

I commend you on your Blog, you have been linking to relevant news casts and web sites with GREAT specificity to your cause; your focus is razor sharp and everyone who reads your blog and knows what average school district employees go through day to day, year to year, can appreciate your fervor for positive change.

Thank you!

J.H.Lopez,
former school employee