Stakeholders have a right to participate in a decision that affects their interests; in decisions in which they have a stake.

Below please find APS' rationale and defense for their chinese fire drill for principals.

Please note that this quite lengthy and compelling defense; includes no justification for disenfranchising nearly every stakeholder in this decision.

Either the leadership of the APS is a totally incompetent communicator; or they really don't give a rat's ass about communicating; and the pretense that they do, is nothing but a pretense.

Just for the record; if the leadership of the APS wanted to communicate; it would be possible for me to link to this release. And the original on their website would not disappear from the record in a few days.

I refuse to edit the following for the now nonsensical line breaks; they come courtesy of the leadership of the APS.





Albuquerque Public Schools News Release
Subject : APS To Reassign Principals for Upcoming School Year
Author : Jamey L. Rickman
Posted Date : 2007/05/08

Albuquerque Public Schools will be reassigning principals and
assistant principals around the district this month. The
reassignments address the need for continual educational
improvement for all schools, as well as provide leadership at
schools where principals have retired.

“Our focus is on improving student performance at all schools
and making sure we are accountable to the community,” said
APS Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Everitt.

“Some principals have been very successful and have made
progress at their current schools,” said Nelinda Venegas,
associate superintendent for the cluster system. She explained
that these principals can share their expertise with other schools
and move forward on educational improvement at the new sites.

The principal reassignments are on par with national trends in
school districts throughout the country that reassign principals
to schools that are not making adequate yearly progress, or are
recruiting principal leadership from within the teaching ranks.

“Fewer people from the outside are applying for these
positions,” explained Raquel Reedy, principal at Mitchell
Elementary School and Eldorado cluster leader. “We need to look
at who we have on board already.” Reedy explained that some
schools may have a specialty, for example, in technology. The
reassignment process ensures that the principal will be replaced
by an equally proficient person in that specialty.

“And all principals must have the instructional and management
expertise, and there must be a strong balance for each,”
Venegas said.

When APS started assessing schools, about eight needed
principals reassigned because the schools were not moving
forward according to the federal standards set by No Child Left
Behind, Venegas explained. The assessment then included
schools whose principals were retiring or left the position for
other reasons. The reassignments will affect schools in nine to
10 of the 12 clusters.

“Next year, we’ll be looking at four to five more schools,” Vengas
said.

Moving school administrators is a nationally recognized practice
that can aid schools in improving student performance.

“We will be moving forward with a process for principals to
change from one school site to another,” said Andrea Trybus,
executive director of human resources. “A team of
administrators, including the superintendents and cluster
leaders, will determine, based on strengths, which principal is a
good match for another school,” Trybus said.

It not only allows for professional growth for the principals, but
also enables them to share their experience with another school
site, Trybus added.

“As we head toward the summer, these changes will allow us to
provide strong professional development for principals while we
match their strengths to the needs of the students at the
schools,” Venegas said.

“We will assist principals in balancing their leadership and
management skills thereby assuring high achievement and
school and community communication,” Venegas said. “We want
to make sure that principals will use their skills to obtain the
best results for students.”

Although assessment of educational success is an ongoing
process based on federal, state and local standards for
educational achievement and excellence, discussion for the
movement of principals began in December to anticipate
position openings and retirements. The process is also part of
the APS philosophy of continuous school improvement,
especially as the district moves its math curriculum standards
forward and new math instructional materials are adopted for
the 2007-08 school year.