APS culture

Culture;
The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns.

The word culture is a powerful word. The Council of Great City Schools has used the word at least twice in connection with their reviews of the leadership of the APS.

The first was in their review of the leadership of the APS commissioned after the M&O kickback scandal. They wrote that the

"...fear of retribution and retaliation is part of the culture..." of the administration of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

More recently they wrote

"...there is a prevailing culture of under-reporting ...(crime in schools statistics)...in order to improve the image of the district and the individual schools."

Cultural change requires a paradigm shift. It will not follow the replacing of a superintendent. It would not follow replacing a school board. It is not created by hiring spin doctors to spout platitudes about learning from mistakes and building on successes.

The school board will discuss a paradigm shift Thursday evening. They will discuss accountability to a higher standard of conduct, for the leadership of the APS. They will discuss honest accountability to a code of ethical conduct.

Since the early 1990's, students in the APS have been accountable to a higher standard of conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts.

The pillars are a code of ethical conduct. There are other codes, but all codes of ethics are fundamentally the same. It probably doesn't make a great deal of difference which code of ethics is mentioned by name.

Currently, the leadership of the APS is not accountable to a higher standard of conduct.

That lack of accountability is the paradigm that allows the existence of a culture of retribution and retaliation against those who expose incompetency and misconduct. It is the paradigm that allows the existence of a culture of deliberately misleading and deceiving stakeholders.

Inescapeable accountability to an unequivocal standard of conduct and competence, will change the culture in the leadership of the APS. A change in the culture of the leadership will compel a change of culture in the followership; right down to students.

If we really expect our children to embrace personal accountability to a higher standard of conduct; we must model before them, honest accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct.

The board will decide on Thursday night; whether or not the culture in the leadership of the APS will change; or remain the same.

Woe is us (actually woe are we, apparently), and woe are 95,000 of our sons and daughters, and 12,000 APS employees, if the board decides not to hold themselves honestly accountable to a code of ethical conduct.

The attention that is paid to their decision,
will likely affect their decision.