because all audits lead to Rome.
It is difficult to conduct an audit and keep the results secret.
Look at the effort Beth Everitt is expending to keep the results of the investigation into public corruption in the leadership of the APS PD.
Or the influence required to keep an the gradegate investigation by the NM PED from asking her even one question.
Never has Beth Everitt had to answer questions on the record, much less under oath.
..and it is only by her privilege that she does so.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Beth Everitt must resist any audit of any department in the APS
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FYI Looks like this scandal is still pending. Remember Beth wrote an op ed piece as her answer? Which was as clear as mud in the principal shuffle. From the Journal....
Thursday, May 31, 2007
State Looks at APS Principal
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Copyright © 2007 Albuquerque Journal; Journal Staff Writer
The state Public Education Department is investigating the appointment of a first-year principal to a failing school in the South Valley— violating a department mandate requiring that a principal with experience be selected to lead failing schools.
This month, Linda Corona, an assistant principal at Washington Middle School, was named principal of Atrisco Elementary to replace Rose White during a shuffling of dozens of principals in APS. White was moved to Barcelona Elementary.
Atrisco met Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, under the state's 2006-2007 School Accountability Report but continues to be listed as a "Restructuring 1" school, which is five years of missing AYP. Such a designation mandates that "no first-year principals" may be employed at such schools unless a district can justify "outstanding leadership skills," according to the department's 2006-2007 School Improvement Framework.
"You can't put a first-year principal (there) unless you have extenuating circumstances, unless you have amazing circumstances," state Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia said Wednesday after being contacted by the Albuquerque Journal. "We will follow up on this."
When APS officials announced the changes, they said the moves were needed to reassign academically struggling schools or replace retiring principals. Seventeen of the 26 schools that got new principals were under some level of failing to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, according to information from Nelinda Venegas, APS associate superintendent. Nearly two-thirds of APS schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress in 2005-2006.
Venegas said Wednesday that APS had asked the state about whether an assistant principal could be considered for the head position at Harrison Middle School, which is on Restructuring 2, which is six years of not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress.
"They said there's nothing in state statute that says an assistant principal can't do that with experience," Venegas said.
She said that, although she did not have a resume to refer to, Corona is bilingual and certified to work in kindergarten through eighth-grade schools. Corona's administrative experience includes being an administrative intern in Las Cruces and her current position as assistant principal at Washington for about a year.
Corona's appointment to the position has been questioned by some as a political appointment. The Journal received several queries about the move.
According to a New Mexico State University alumni newsletter, Corona received her master's degree in educational administration in May 2005. She was noted in the article for graduating with her husband, Steve Tognoni, who is the assistant for Rio Grande cluster leader Elsy Fierro.
Venegas said she recruited Corona, Tognoni and Fierro out of Las Cruces two years ago because it was difficult to find University of New Mexico graduates willing to work in high-poverty South Valley schools.
Atrisco reported proficiency levels of 40.24 percent in mathematics and 56.71 percent in reading in the 2005-2006 school year, which met the state's requirements for Adequate Yearly Progress. In the 2004-2005 school year, the levels were at 18.54 percent proficiency in mathematics and 43.05 percent in reading, with Hispanic students not meeting goals for math and students with disabilities not meeting goals for either subject.
APS spokesman Rigo Chavez said assistant principals were hired at two other schools— Harrison Middle School, which was also a failing school, and Van Buren Middle School, which was not.
The new acting principal at Harrison is its longtime assistant, who is applying for the permanent job.
Garcia said the state spoke to APS about only one school, and she knew it was not Atrisco.
She added that there is a difference between a long-term assistant principal working at that level and a new assistant principal going to a different level.
Exceptions often need to be made in rural districts, she said, where it can be difficult to recruit an experienced administrator, Garcia said.
"You recruit; you've tried; sometimes you might find a first-year principal that's a dynamo," Garcia said. "They do get better with experience. It's not an absolute mandate."
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