Marty Chavez; Character Counts

There is an aphorism that I cannot get out of my head;

The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.

Jean Giraudoux French diplomat

In 1994 I had the privilege of being among the first group of teachers trained in Character Counts.

We were trained by Michael Josephson, the founder of Character Counts.


It was a pivotal point in my life. Never before, not since, have I seen a possibility to actually stop the decline in the personal character of students. Individual character is the fundamental solution to every preventable obstacle to education.


There is a huge downside to teaching Character Counts; you have to teach by your personal example. Otherwise, every thing to teach is just more bullshit. You cannot expect a student to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard of conduct than you will hold yourself.

Every generation expects the next generation to be the first generation to hold itself honestly accountable to some meaningful standard of conduct.

Ever since George Washington accepted personal responsibility for chopping down a cherry tree; adults have been telling children that that is the standard of conduct that we expect them to embrace. Ever since, they have seen us fail to lead by our personal example.

It is not about being perfect; it is about accepting accountability for our imperfection.

It is about drawing a line in the sand; and giving not another inch, not even to our selves.

It is human nature to avoid accountability. When the speeding bus of accountability is inches from our face; everyone is looking for a way out. Many take it.

It is unrealistic to expect people to hold themselves accountable for their conduct and competence as public servants; in particular when there is a billion dollars a year lying on the table.

Sure there are public servants who have both character and competence. But they are not running the system. They are not in a position to change the system.

The system does not provide accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct.

There is no evidence of honest accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct.

The leadership of the APS holds students accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts; a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethics.

As role models; the leadership of the APS has a responsibility to model accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts. Yet, they have renounced their accountability to the student standard of conduct. They have abdicated as role models of accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct.


Which brings us back to Marty Chavez; and Senator Pete Domenici, and even Michael Josephson.

Each of them claims an allegiance to Character Counts. Pete Domenici actually is a founding father;
he sat at a table with 50 other people and wrote it.

Each of them has been told of the hypocrisy of the leadership of the APS.

Each of them has chosen not to step up and defend Character Counts. Each of them has chosen not to use their influence to draw public attention to the betrayal of the core values of Character Counts.

The people of Albuquerque don't know that the leadership of the APS has abdicated as role models of the Pillars of Character Counts. They don't know that public servants in the leadership of the APS, the stewards of a billion tax dollars a year, and the senior role models of 90,000 of our sons and daughters refuse to hold themselves honestly accountable to any standard of conduct at all; even the law.

The citizens of Albuquerque don't know the truth because the people who run the schools, run with the people who run the papers. You have no idea what the Journal and Trib are hiding from voters.

Sam Bregman and Gil Lovato were telling the truth when they said that when the truth gets out, there won't be a single senior administrator in the APS left standing.



So am I a conspiracy nut? Is it completely impossible to believe that someone at the Journal and the Trib made a deliberate decision not to tell the truth about the leadership of the APS?

The school board recently passed a completely meaningless standard of conduct for themselves. You can verify this yourself easily simply by reading it, and then asking your board member if it is in fact, completely unenforceable.

Should the community know about this situation? If they should, then the Journal and Trib should have a pretty good excuse for not reporting it. If they don't have an excuse, and they don't, then perhaps I am not a nut; and perhaps they really are conspiring to hide the truth from voters.


Mayor Marty Chavez could break the impasse; he could force news coverage of the truth. He will not.

United States Senator Pete Domenici will not.

Governor Bill Richardson will not.

Michael Josephson will not.

City councilors will not.

Terri Cole and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce will not.

The Character Counts Leadership Council will not.

No member of the APS board of education will.

No member of the administration of the APS will.

No one in a position to draw public attention to this issue, will.


So it is up to the rest of us.

I appreciate attention to this blog. I received a particularly encouraging comment just this morning.

But it isn't enough.

As I see it, the only way the leadership of the APS will find itself honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct, under a transparent system over which they have no control; and even against their will;

is for an adequately large crowd of people to show up at a board meeting and demand immediate transparent accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct.

Perhaps if several hundred people demand an end to the stonewalling around the ethics and accountability issues, it can be ended.



We used to give a tee shirt to kids who "graduated" character counts training. On its front and back it read;

Stand up for what you believe in;
even if you are standing alone.

Children shouldn't have to stand alone. There should be an adult behind them offering encouragement, an adult beside them sharing the burdens, and an adult in front of them leading by their personal example.

The hardest part of standing alone is the wondering ...why?

It is enough to make one want to give up.


Obviously, I cannot do this alone. And not for very much longer.


On the table; an audit of the leadership of the APS.
The audit will either expose incompetence and corruption;
or it will not.

If enough people show up at the next board meeting, sign up for the public forum, and then demand and immediate and impartial full scale (forensic) audit of the leadership of the APS; perhaps the future of the APS will actually change direction.

On the other hand, if I am the only person standing up on this issue; the future of the APS remains the same; trying to educate children in a system riddled with incompetence, corruption, and the deliberate evasion of accountability for either.

You have to get to the board meeting.
You have to bring people with you.
You have to stand up for what you believe in.
You have to speak up.

There is no equivalent gesture.

If we really want our children to grow to embrace honor and courage and character; someone has to show them what it looks like.