before her administration of the APS is examined in any detail.
When she resigned in July, she promised a half an audit of her administration.
A month later she has done squat.
She is still hiding the results of an impartial investigation of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police dept).
She still hasn't provided an honest accounting of the money she allowed to be spent fixing up her Uptown Administrative Complex; including the half million dollar renovation of an unnecessary new board room.
She still has not held and APS administrator personally accountable for the screw ups in the APS PD, or in the Gradegate scandal at Rio Grande High School. And she never will.
What ever happened to the evaluation of Everitt that the board was supposed to have done?
She will just keep stonewalling all of the accountability issues until her contract expires. And then Robert Lucero, her full time apologist and ass kisser on the board; and her best friend Paula Maes will say, hey she's gone, why don't we just forget about it?
and then they will.
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Beth Everitt Will Be Long Gone
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2 comments:
I've given it a lot of thought before making the statement, but now, I must say whole-heartedly...Why should APS involve themselves with the APD and oversee them at all? If crimes are committed in the schools by adults or students, then the regular legal process should be followed that all citizens are under. The only reason I can think of having the APD and school APD under seperate leadership is to cover up crimes in schools and make sure the schools keep "lookin good and safe". Can't we please let APD run the school police division... please????
Saturday, August 11, 2007
APS Has to Focus on Leadership
By Moises Venegas
Albuquerque Partnership
Before making a decision on leadership for the Albuquerque Public Schools for the 2008-2009 school year, we must assess our list of "lessons learned."
That includes reviewing responsibilities and developing job descriptions for people other than the superintendent. Who is in charge? The superintendent, the board of education, the mayor, the Public Education Department Secretary, the Greater Chamber of Commerce or the teacher union? And where are the parents and the taxpayers who are responsible for the $1 billion budget?
The state Public School Code, amended in 2003, answers some of the questions. It says the superintendent rather than the school board has the authority to "employ, fix the salaries of, assign, terminate or discharge all employees of the school district."
Matters left to the board: employ a superintendent, set the salary and provide policy direction.
Is that what we see here? The board's time and effort seems to have been focused on three issues— a student grade change, principal assignments and the APS police chief.
While the student's grade may have been important and newsworthy, there are 89,000 other students and approximately 33,820 are failing or not proficient in reading and math. The police issue seems to be as much a personal as professional question. The principal assignment decisions were made by Superintendent Elizabeth Everitt and shared with board members who had schools in their district where principals were being reassigned.
Where was the board? During this time frame there appeared to be four board leaders each speaking publicly for the district. Is this board different than other APS boards in the last 20 years? No. There isn't space to recount 20 years of behavior but let's look at the highlights of the last seven.
The board hired a superintendent with a substance problem and then had to pay over $1 million of our dollars for his contract and personnel misdeeds. Next, thinking that one isn't good enough, they promoted four superintendents. And with variety. Two of the four didn't have an education background. The lead superintendent died in a tragic accident, under less than ideal public relations circumstances. Now, we are back to one.
The current superintendent has been on the job for four years. Has Everitt "solved" the achievement gap? No, but nobody else has done so in this country. Not even the No Child Left Behind legislation.
We do, however, see some schools in the minority and high poverty areas meeting AYP. So what does the current board do for Everitt? Dismissal by pressure to leave. Well, perhaps not the whole board maybe just two or three.
Where do we go from the current unfriendly environment? First the board should act as one to provide leadership in the search for another superintendent with a specific plan for improvement. Locally, there appear to be many people interested in the job. As we see the list, those of us who work with parents, community and schools would say, "por favor", let's look nationally.
Many on the list are good educators but are they bold and daring to provide the leadership necessary to improve the district? Perhaps the mayor would like to double his salary and run the schools?
Here are some recommendations we want to share with the board:
Continue the program for raising student achievement and closing the achievement gap. It must be data driven.
Contracts for teachers and principals should be based on student performance to include the Public Education Department's identified student assessments.
For schools in need of improvement, provide incentive pay for teachers and principals and allow for administrative transfers of incompetent teachers.
Define and maintain local control for operating our schools. Yes, the Public Education Department approves budgets and plans but it doesn't appoint principals or act as patrones for the Rio Grande Cluster.
No public institution has a greater impact on future opportunity than the schools. Inequity in our educational system is related to our failure to educate the children of the poor and minorities in this country.
Light the candles, start the search and prepare for a new beginning in 2008-2009.
The Albuquerque Partnership is a coalition of community organizations, youth groups, law enforcement and Albuquerque Public Schools. Its focus is economic and community development, public safety and improving education.
Nelinda Venegas' husband. nice zingers sir.
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