3 seats, 17 candidates

When the dust settled in the County Clerks Office yesterday, seventeen people had filed as candidates for the three open seats on APS School Board. I was not able to find a link to the story under either the headline or the reporter; Hailey Heinz.

In District 1, there are six candidates; (incumbent) Delores Griego, Phillip Chavez, Paul Crickard, Analee Maestas, Clara Pena, and Jay Zook.

In District 2, Robert Lucero's seat, there are seven candidates; John Herrera, Katherine Korte, Callen Martinez, Feliz Nunez, Peter Sanchez, Greg Snyder, and Ronalda Tome.

In District 4, there are four candidates; (incumbent) Marty Esquivel, Candido Archuleta Jr, Cheryl Ann Harris, and me.

At the end of the day, names were drawn to determine the order that names will appear on the ballot. There in no indication in the report whether the order of the names in the report reflects the result of the drawing or the reporter's bias; all else equal, there is an advantage to having one's name on the top of the list or, dead last.

I am going to keep track of course, of the Journal's coverage of issues in the election.

Reporter Heinz raised two; splitting the District, and the fallout from the scheduling fiasco at Rio Grande High School.

Heinz wrote; "Griego may face a tough election ..." as the debacle created a great deal of frustration and anger in District 1.

My positions on those two issues are; I am against splitting the District and, I don't think Griego should be held personally accountable for the District's handling of the scheduling mess, as she had no power and no authority to intervene.

Griego has plenty of things to be held accountable for, the mess at RGHS is not one.

Advocates of splitting the District say it will make the smaller Districts more responsive to stakeholders. I disagree. The argument is specious. The truth is that a school board of any size district can choose to ignore or respect stakeholders, and that decision is unrelated to its size.

Heinz did not mention in her report, the cover up of corruption in the APS Police Department, the denial of due process to whistleblower complaints, or the fact that both Esquivel and Griego have abdicated as role models of the APS student standards of conduct.