Stifling success in APS

The Principal at Sandia High School went to the APS Policy Committee for support for starting an International Baccalaureate Program at Sandia High School. The International Baccalaureate program, link, commonly called IB, is a challenging college preparatory program accepted by universities worldwide.

According to the Journal, link, the proposal received a chilly response from most members of the board.

Their resistance fell into two categories; fairness and cost. A number of board members said they thought it would be unfair to place the program at Sandia HS, instead of at a high school in their district. Others thought the cost was unjustifiable.

Board Member Marty Esquivel objected to the program being located at Sandia HS because the school was not "chosen" as the seat of the program by any "real" process. Esquivel wondered;

“Why not allow every high school to, in a fair and open process, apply for an opportunity to run the program in its school?”

In fact, Sandia was not "chosen" at all. A synergy has developed at Sandia which has resulted in their effort to begin a program at their school. Nothing stops any other high school from applying for program status. If board members think a high school in their district could sustain an IB program, why not start one of their own there? Why try to hijack Sandia's program to move it to their school?

Some argue about the (relatively modest) cost. With a start up cost of approximately $40K and an annual cost of about $10K, programs can support between 60-70 students making the annual cost after start up, of between $140 and $170 per student. While in most contexts $40K is a lot of money, in APS $620M annual operational budget, it is small potatoes.

If Sandia was given the $40K they need, would it be the worst spent $40K in the budget? I would suppose that if anyone took a hard look, they would find a number of $40Ks being spent for far less effect.

How much money does APS spend on AVID, link, for instance? AVID is Supt Winston Brooks' pet project and has seen nothing but green lights from the board.

AVID and IB have something in common; they both take exceptional students and offer them exceptional resources, at exceptional cost, in order to produce exceptionally well qualified college bound graduates. Both are about proving that if you take students who are willing to work, and you spend a great deal of time and money on them, they can succeed.

A good faith search of APS' award winning website revealed nothing about how much APS spends on AVID, though a comparison of the costs the board endorses and rejects would be revealing.

Board Member Lorenzo Garcia objected to a program that his constituents would have to travel to get to. He too, would hijack the Sandia program and move it into his district, rather than just start his own.

At one point, he suggested situating the program closer to his district, but on neutral, central ground; the Career Enrichment Center.

Asst Supt Linda Sink informed him that CEC wasn't set up for an IB program and it would cost far more to place it there, demonstrating Garcia's suggestion didn't have a better idea based on facts, it was just his effort to hijack a someone else's plan and superimpose his own agenda.

He did the same thing when the Citizens Advisory Council on Communications submitted their petition to the board; he voiced his support and then immediately tried to hijack their agenda by listing the subjects he wanted to see them discuss.

When it dawned on him that he wasn't going to be able to co-opt the Council's agenda, his support for their Petition evaporated and he joined the rest of the board in denying the petition any real due process.

Board member David Robbins, becoming renown for putting his foot in his mouth, link, offered the most sensible comment on offering programs at some schools that cannot be offered at all;

I don’t think we need to say ‘no’ to any new program if we can’t make it available to everyone, because then what we’re doing is we’re really relegating ourselves to mediocrity in the district.”

One has to wonder at District efforts to stifle innovation and success, whether it be relentless opposition to Charter Schools and their success, or putting down any program that will demonstrate that under different circumstances than the district normally makes available to students, they can in fact be very successful.




photo Mark Bralley