APS School Board; best in the state!

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education attended
the New Mexico School Boards Association Annual Convention, Friday and Saturday last.

They were voted the Best School Board in the state, link, due in part, to, "... the board’s diligence to continually seek community input ..."

Those who laud the APS School Board on their diligence to continually seek community input, were either unaware of, or did not care about the board's efforts to stifle community input through efforts that run the gamut from a paucity of public forums, through prohibiting the asking of questions at forums, to arresting people for holding posters in peaceful protest of the board's denial of due process to a legitimate petition for standing for the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication.

Those who gave the board an award for "seeking community input" are ignorant or corrupt; ignorant seems the likely culprit. How would they know what really goes on at board meetings?

They certainly wouldn't have been able to read about it in the Journal which has yet to investigate and report upon even one of the outrages perpetrated by the board on free speech and the right to petition one's government. Nor have they reported upon any of the other ongoing outrages including;

• denial of due process to whistleblower complaints, nor
• the cover up of public corruption in the leadership of their publicly funded private police force, nor
• their abandonment of their responsibilities and obligations as role models of the student standards of conduct, the Pillars of Character Counts!, nor on
  
• the board and leadership's ongoing refusal to hold themselves honestly accountable to their own Code of Ethics.

The Board was also recognized for raising graduation rates, though they did so mostly by making what was a four year plan into a five year plan, and by dropping the students least likely to graduate from their calculations, link.

Marty Esquivel and Paula Maes were the only board members who were not recognized for, and were not given Leadership Development Awards, indicating perhaps, a shred of legitimacy in that process.

I hope the board shares their accolades with their crony Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz, without who's aiding and abetting, he would not have even been considered for positive recognition.

Walz is seen here before the NM Foundation for Open Government Awards Banquet giving APS Supt Winston Brooks the formerly prestigious Dixon Award for heroes of transparency while Brooks was, and is, busily hiding the Caswell Report on corruption in the leadership of the APS Police Force, from public knowledge.

Just another example of the good ol' boys slapping each other on the back and giving each other awards they have not earned and do not deserve, and turning a blind eye to each others shortcomings, failures and naked corruption.




frame grab Mark Bralley