APS' reputation to be sacrificed to protect Everitt's

In an editorial bull's eye, the journal editorial clearly states the salient points. (link, sub req)

"It's one thing to want to follow federal law. It's another to follow it blindly at the expense of a school district's reputation and an employee's rights. That's apparently what the state hopes to do in the case of Albuquerque Public Schools administrator Elsy Fierro."

Consider open government laws. Any one of them can be interpreted in diametrically opposite ways. One uses the law to require the greatest disclosure of the truth, the other uses the law to justify the greatest secrecy.

While lawyers of the latter have a place on earth perhaps;

they do not have a place in public service.

The public should not be paying for the lawyers of corrupt and incompetent public servants, who are trying to escape accountability for their corruption and incompetence. The public should not be paying the salaries of lawyers litigating against the public interest.

The lawyers who's salaries are paid by the public, should be representing the public interest; and they should be litigating against public corruption, incompetence, and the secrecy that enables them.

There are APS administrators who's reputations would suffer if the whole truth were known. There are administrators in the New Mexico Public Education Department, and the New Mexico Educators Ethics Bureau, who's reputations will suffer if the whole truth were known.

There is no other reason to pay lawyers to litigate exception to open government laws.

"Fierro deserves the chance to publicly clear her name. And everyone connected to APS— from the teachers who give F's to the parents who support their kids to the taxpayers who fund the district— deserves to know its officials are held accountable."

...according to the Journal.