Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Does it make any difference who was in charge when;

Winston Brooks Power Goals were created to address existing problems.

Does it make any difference who was in charge

  • when the existing problems were created,
  • continued to be problems, and
  • were not resolved?

It does, if they are to be held accountable for their failure
to address the problems.

The goals from KRQE link; the problem, and the wonderment.

1. Three-year academic plan
  • There is no existing plan to focus on improving student achievement, narrowing achievement gaps, increasing graduation rates and improving attendance.
  • Who should have but did not create a workable plan to focus on improving student achievement, narrowing achievement gaps, increasing graduation rates and improving attendance?
2. Build confidence in APS
  • The community has little to no confidence in the leadership of the APS; neither at the school board nor at the administrative level.
  • Who should have but did not improve relations between the school district and the community, media, other organizations, business and government?
3. Create a communication plan
  • There is no communication and evaluation plan between the district and the community, media, school board and others.
  • Who should have but did not establish a communication and evaluation plan between the district and the community, media, school board and others?
3. Schedule board training workshops
  • The school board lacks the training in their role and responsibilities as a school board in creating a more student-focused organization.
  • Who should have but did not train the board on their role and responsibilities as a school board in creating a more student-focused organization?

5. Review and enhance facility upgrades
  • There are no adequate plans for facility upgrades to be completed and publicized.
  • Who should have but did not create plans for facility upgrades and then publish them?
6. Improve the district's money management
  • The APS Financial Division lacks a "transparent, sound and effective financial stewardship plan" with well-documented processes in place, with reports due every quarter. A failure that has put billions of tax dollars at risk, and barring an honest to God Miracle, has cost taxpayers millions of dollars in waste and fraud.
  • Who should have but did not create a transparent, sound and effective financial stewardship plan" with well-documented processes in place, with reports due every quarter?
7. Transition APS from site-based management to district-based management
  • The problem is that Winston Brooks fully intends to completely disregard the rights of stakeholders to participate meaningfully in decisions that affect their interests.
  • He, and he alone, is responsible for this egregious disregard for stakeholder rights.

8. Enhance school crisis plans
  • There is no template for crisis management provided to all school and non-school sites, and no requirement for those sites' administrators to create and file a crisis plan based on that template. This template and these safety plans should have been in place long, long, long ago.
  • Who should have but did not create a template for crisis management provided to all school and non-school sites, and a requirement for those sites' administrators to create and file a crisis plan based on that template?
  • Who has placed students and staff in risk of their very lives, through incompetence and/or corruption?
Does it make any difference who was in charge when the
existing problems were created, continued to be problems
and were not resolved?

Only if you believe believe senior public servants should be
held accountable for their conduct and competence as public
servants, within their public service.

Only if you don't want the same thing to happen again, and
again, and again, and again.

Only if you are finished with good ol' boys covering each
others asses, and excepting themselves from
honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct
and competence as senior public servants;

at the expense of the quality education and the safety of
89,000
of our sons and daughters.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Police and Emergency Management are usually split in local governments, but APS also had unarmed police for years, so the incongruity is not hard to imagine.

So there were all these school shootings in the late 1990s and people were like "ey, APS Polce, whatcha gonna DO about it?"

And Gil, being a true idiot, handed the task to me, a true workaholic. A the template that exists now was created in a month of Hellish toil, having to be edited by an idiot that outranked me.

But I wrote that damn thing, and at least it is there as resource material, if they have not un the program I built for them. I have drills, and forms, and concept building and team building and it is all worthless without proper District support.

OK, not worthless, BowMac taught about 35 APS people in 1996 or so to use the Incident Command System and also gave us a SERIOUS headstart on our plan. I used the BMac stuff as the template, wanted to integrate it ALL, but Gil said it was too COMPLICATED, so he gutted what would ave been a really kick ass, living document.

But that is the past, Bill Reed is not Gil Lovato, and if he gets a sharp LT with some guts and some gumption to run Emergency Management, gives him five troops and a budget, APS could be REALLY safe.

They could monitor and insure compliance with Homeland Security Presidential Directives. They could be the EXPERTS that APS needs so badly, people who are not afraid to don PPE and go into the Hell zone.