"We're not allowed to respond to questions."

There were a number of people
who asked questions of APS
Executive Director of
Communications Monica Armenta
at the District Goals Meeting at
Jefferson Middle School.

I heard her tell at least two people;
"We're not allowed to respond to questions".

Others were told; "We're not supposed to respond, but ..." and then she would answer anyway.

The difference was in the type of question that was asked. If the answer made the district look good, she would go ahead and respond, even though she "wasn't supposed to."

If the answer would make the district look bad, then she
"... wasn't allowed" to answer and would tell the person who
asked the question to call her instead.

And then she told them, "nobody has ever complained that her department doesn't respond to questions"; a false claim that has already been laid to rest by the facts, link.

So who has the authority to tell the Executive Director of Communications that she is "not allowed" to answer questions?

By law, the board has no authority, though I'm certain it wouldn't stop Armenta from doing what they tell her to.

That leaves Supt Winston Brooks. He is the only person in the APS with the authority to tell Armenta that she's not allowed to answer questions in public.

Which begs a question; why would he order Armenta to keep her mouth shut?

At the end of these meetings, Brooks invites the audience to ask him anything they want. He seems to enjoy playing "stump the chump" (his identifier, not mine).

I don't think anyone ordered Armenta to not respond; I think it is her own deliberate choice. And further, if anyone ordered anyone to not respond to questions, I think it was Armenta giving the orders.

Also not responding to questions that night; Board Member Marty Esquivel. After going on and on about how important it was for him to "listen" (as opposed to respond) to the community, he didn't even do that.

I was anxious to see him interact with the community, and what I saw instead, was him schmoozing administrators, another board member, and a teacher or two.

I didn't see him even listen in to either of the two groups that met in the room I was in. There was a time he was out of sight; perhaps he did interact in one of the two groups in a different room, however doubtful.

You really should go to one of these meetings. Listen to them talk about how important communication is, and then watch them avoid it like it was the plague.

The next meeting is at Sandia High School on Oct 18th, link. It will hosted by School Board President Paula Maes.

She's the one who proclaimed, she would "never agree to any audit that individually identifies"any corrupt or incompetent administrators or board members.

I'm betting, she's not going to be "allowed" to answer any questions either.

Like, why did she take it upon herself to write a "thank you note" as the board's entire response to a petition with more than a hundred signatures on it, link?




photos Mark Bralley