APS' Board Candidate Orientation

The school board candidate orientation meeting was held deep in the keep at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

Public access to the keep is limited to one door and an
examination by, in my experience, a very pleasant and
professional member of the APSPD and another apparently
random member working the same shift, chatting across a counter.

Tonight, the second man on the front door was none
other than Steve Tellez; the current Chief of the APSPD.

I made my way down the hall to the DeLayo Martin Room.
The meeting was held with the doors closed and the blinds half shut.

There was an armed officer who sat 10 feet behind and to my right in a completely non-threatening manner.

The Chief, also armed, sat in the diagonally opposite corner.

At least one more armed guard prowled the hallway outside the meeting.

No, I am not making it up.

I guess the market glut on stolen APS property has cut
down crime in the APS to the point where putting enough
firepower in the room to repel a terrorist attack, seems like
a prudent use of the resource.

Most of the orientation found us being read to.
You guessed it, a Power Point presentation.

Sidebar;

If elected, I promise to write policy that prohibits
meetings in which bright busy people sit and get
read to like elementary school students.

Part of the presentation centered on the need for accountability as a board member and public servant.

It was followed by a presentation of the New Mexico School Boards Association Code of Ethics.

I asked a question about it. It was the same question I asked four years ago; how does the NMSBA enforce its code of ethics?

The answer was also the same; the NMSBA does not enforce, at all, its code of ethical conduct.

We we also handed a copy of the APS School Board's own Code of Ethics.

Had I asked APS School Board President Marty Esquivel if he was actually accountable to that code of ethics, his candid forthright and honest answer would have to have been, no.

He admitted as much when they passed the code unanimously.

There is not a wit of difference between the highest and
the lowest standards of conduct, if neither can be enforced.

Accountable means; inescapably accountable to clear and unequivocal standards of conduct and competence. It means accountable by means of an impartial system, powerful enough to hold even the most powerful politician or public servant, accountable to those standards, even against their will.

You can't claim to be accountable and not be able to prove it.

If Marty Esquivel was honestly accountable to any standard of conduct at all, he would point to it.

When the question is, will you tell the truth?
any answer except yes, means no.

The Board Staff support meeting is always top knotch. Kudos to Board Manager Brenda Yager and all of those who serve with her.

I did chat briefly with Cheryl Harris and introduced myself to Candido Archuleta Jr, the other candidates in District 4.

I visited Cheryl's website, link, and was most pleased to see she has stepped up on the issue of role modeling of the Pillars of Character Counts! She writes

APS leadership must set the example of "Character Counts!".

Cheryl Harris is willing to make Character Counts! a bonafide campaign issue.

Kudos to Cheryl Harris on her manifest character and courage.