Board to evaluate Supt. Everitt

Beth Everitt's contract as the Superintendent of the APS expires in 2008. The board is required to let Everitt know by this coming November 1st, if they intend to renew her contract.

The board really has only two main functions; writing school board policy, and hiring a superintendent to administer those policies and the public resources in the public schools.

By the board's own admission, historically, the review process has not been rigorous. Board member Mary Lee Martin is quoted in an article in the Trib as saying; the process used previously was not thorough, and was not a good process.

According to the Trib, board member Marty Esquivel has offered Board President Maes a highly recommended evaluation tool for the board to use in the review, which by Maes' own admission; she hasn't " ...done anything with ...yet."

Board President, and Everitt supporter, Paula Maes is dragging her feet on beginning any part of the evaluation. By her own admission, "I haven't done anything with this yet." The longer she waits to begin the process, the less rigorous the process will be.

Marty Esquivel has also called for an administrative audit by the Council of Great City Schools, as part of the evaluation process. To date, neither Everitt, nor any of her friends on the school board has supported the audit. According to the article, Mr. Esquivel cannot get the board to even to vote on an audit.

It is a certainty, that the results of such an audit, and or a rigorous evaluation process will find many administrative failures, and as many failures in oversight by the board.

Everitt apologist and suck-up, board member Robert Lucero, has concluded that many problems in the administration of the APS "were not under her control." He also admits, according to the Trib, that he hasn't given the upcoming evaluation much thought.

The truth is that the many administrative problems in the APS were absolutely under her control; it is why she is being paid $750 a day to sit behind the desk where the buck stops.

Board members Robert Lucero and Paula Maes will continue to drag their feet for as long as they can. The longer they wait to begin the process, especially the audit by the Council of Great City Schools, the less likely it is that there will be an audit, and that the results of the audit will be included in the board's evaluation of the superintendent;

an outcome diametrically opposite to
the public interests in the public schools.