Shooting the messenger.

"Shooting the messenger" wikilink

The message;

The leadership of the APS has an inescapable obligation as role models of the student standard of conduct.

The messenger;

Ched MacQuigg, retired teacher and Character Counts!
trainer and advocate.

I have brought the message to more public forums than I can count. And now, I have apparently pushed APS School Board President Marty Esquivel too far.

I have demanded that Esquivel stand up as a role model of the Student Standard of Conduct, in the only real manner in which that can be done; honest accountability to the Student Standards of Conduct.

I have suggested in no uncertain terms that there are only two reasons that he might refuse to step up as a role model; he lacks the character, and/or he lacks the courage.

I have asked him over and over again, to suggest a third reason for his refusal, not only to stand up as a role model of the student standard of conduct, but for his refusal to even place the subject of administrative and executive role modeling on the table for open and honest discussion. He is yet to suggest what the third reason might be.

And now, an implied threat has been delivered.
He seeks to coerce my future silence, by threatening to
publicly humiliate me by bringing up old and thoroughly
debunked false allegations.

When I asked Esquivel for permission to quote freely from our lengthy exchange of emails regarding the subject, he said that would only happen if I were willing to revisit publicly, false allegations that were made against me during the process by which I was fired, rehired, and retired.

"If you want to quote from today’s email conversation, then all I ask is that you disclose 1) the allegations made against you leading up to your termination with APS, and 2) the amount of your settlement with APS and the terms of what you agreed to, and 3) that you were represented by counsel when you entered into that agreement. In fact, I suggested you post it on your blog and allow people to draw their own conclusions regarding your potential bias and motives. The settlement agreement, after all, is a public record.

Esquivel would rather focus on "the motive of the messenger" than on the message. He would have attention draw to my supposed lack of character, than have attention focused on his;

he can summon neither the courage nor the character
to step up as a role model of standards of conduct
which require courage and character.

Fine Esquivel, here you are;

1. the amounts of the settlements;

a. as a result of my first litigation with the APS, the settlement included;

• reinstatement with back pay, and payment for the costs of arbitration, including my lawyers fees, and
• a stipulation that I would not take incontrovertible evidence of felony perjury by an APS administrator, Richard Cangiolosi, to any agency of law enforcement, and
• that I would not take evidence of litigation against the public interests and the negotiation of an "illegal" contract by APS administrator, Michael Vigil, to any agency of law enforcement, and,
• that I would not take any other evidence of criminal activity by APS administrators or board members, to any agency of law enforcement.

b. as a result of my second litigation with the APS, the settlement included;

• administrative leave until my retirement date, and a few tens of thousands of dollars (I don't remember the exact number, but as Esquivel has pointed out, it is a public record.

2. I was represented by counsel in both litigations.

3. And finally; the dirt. Esquivel is counting on the fact that I will stop demanding that he step up as a role model, rather than publicly revisit false allegations that had been made against me during my termination.

At the time of my termination, I had already established a lengthy history of standing up to corrupt and incompetent site, and later district, administrators and board members. I was terminated for creating a hostile work environment for my principal and assistant principal.

I was also alleged to have made a false complaint against my principal. The complaint that I made centered around some photographs of students, that I had taken.

At the time, district and school policies specifically and explicitly prohibited "sagging" link.

I took pictures of students who were sagging in plain site of the administration, and I took a picture of the assistant principal standing in a hallway with his arms crossed, permitting prohibited behavior.

Rather than deal with photographic proof of incompetent and corrupt administration, I was charged with sexual harassment of students by taking pictures of students "butts". Sworn testimony by a board member, indicated that he had been led to believe that I had taken pictures that showed students naked "butts", even though the district had access to the photographs which proved conclusively that, that was a blatant lie.

I argued that if my photographs of fully clothed students from the back, constituted pictures of naked "butts", then the principal's "Student of the Month" photographs taken from the front, by the same logic that was being used against me, constituted pictures of "penises, breasts, and vulva".

The logic prevailed, and the sexual harassment charges against me, stemming from my photographs were dropped. Even though my charges against the principal were essentially identical to the charges he brought against me, his false allegations were ignored, and my counterargument, that if my pictures were pictures of "butts", then their pictures were pictures of "penises, breasts, and vulva, was used as a pretext to fire me. None of this crap played any part in any adjudication conducted outside of the APS.

No charges that were made against me were ever proven in any hearing that wasn't run by one of the good ol' boys in the APS.

No evidence or credible testimony was ever presented, that even suggested that I had done anything to be ashamed of, much less fired for.

I took and passed a polygraph test, that refuted all of the charges made against me, and corroborated all of the allegations that I had made. Then school board president Leonard DeLayo refused to allow the polygraph evidence to be weighed during my termination hearing before the board.

I am willing to be polygraphed again, over any allegation that I have ever made, or will ever make; without reservation (except that I will not pay for the test, $600-700).

I am absolutely unashamed of anything that I have done in my efforts to hold corrupt and incompetent administrators accountable for their corruption and incompetence. There is nothing that I have done during this entire proceeding which I would not do again, and proudly, as a role model for any of the thousands of students that I have taught about Character Counts!

Esquivel, on the other hand, has reason to be ashamed,
very ashamed. Aside from trying to challenge my motives
and assassinate my character, he has nothing.

He can summon neither the character nor the courage to
address the message, which is, he has an unmet obligation
to step up as a role model.

He is blocking the effort to get the subject of administrative and executive role modeling of the Student Standard of Conduct, on the table for a candid, forthright, and honest discussion.link

He would rather focus upon my "motivation" for making the demand that he hold himself honestly accountable as a role model, than to address the fact that he won't.

This a typical APS Modrall defense against any complaint;
begin and end the defense with character assassination
of the complainant, and to hell with actually addressing
the merits of the complaint.


It is disgraceful behavior, absolutely disgraceful.

cc Esquivel upon posting.