APS Public Forum policy change; records hidden

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education Policy and Instruction committee plans to meet Wednesday at 5 pm.  According to their agenda, link, they will meet to discuss and then give their stamp of;

Approval of Changes to Board of Education Policy BE4 Public Participation at Board of Education Meetings

The problem is that state law requires those policy changes to be made available for public inspection at least 72 hours before the board approves them. It gives interest holders the time to react to an outrage before its too late.  They are not available as I write.

It has been APS practice for some time, to publish their agenda online.  Part of the agenda has been the opportunity to click onto links to the documents that the board will discuss.

If you actually clink on the link to the agenda, you will have an opportunity to click on a "packet".  In the past, that provided the same agenda but with links to documents under discussion and subject to action.

If you do click, you'll find you no longer have access to the packet, but instead have to "sign in" with no way to sign in if you aren't already signed in.  The same is true for the District and Community Relations Committee Meeting, link.

Holding a meeting without posting the agenda and all its components 72 hours before the meeting violates the law.

Which is not to say, they will be or even can be held accountable for violating the law.

Board members and senior administrative personal accountability for violating the law is always subject to whatever cost is no object legal defense they'd like to put together to avoid said accountability.  They can do this because, they can do it without any real oversight.

Consider their current effort to defend Marty Esquivel and Kathy Korte's egos in federal court.  It is going to cost taxpayers a million dollars.  It is manifestly unjustifiable.

They will do this in plain sight.

In-especially, they will do it in plain sight of the Journal.
This despite the Journal's inexorable obligations to report on public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the public schools.

The only reason they don't, is because you can't make them.

Back to the policy change process.

Don't need your stinkin' input.

David Peercy chairs the Policy and Instruction committee.

There is no public forum at his
meetings because the coward
David Peercy, link, has
no interest whatsoever in
public participation in
his decision making process.

He really doesn't care what you think about them limiting the free exercise of your rights and responsibilities to participate meaningfully in decision making that affects the public interests.

None of them do.  Proof to the contrary will come when it is their turn to speak Wednesday.

There is no public forum.  And even if there was, the opportunity to sign up for it closes before most people get of work; by their deliberate design.

It is a committee of the whole.  Every school board member will have the opportunity and obligation to pick a side.

open government yes, but not for us.

I can't wait to see what transparency in government hero and Defendant, Marty Esquivel has to say.

Who knows, this might be another meeting he misses.

Each and every school board member will

1.  stand up and speak up in favor of open and honest public discussions of important issues, or

2,  vote in favor of further limiting your rights to participate meaningfully.  

Consider that it is their latest "rule of decorum" that

you my praise any one of them by name, but
if you want to criticize them, you can't.

The Journal knows about it, link.  Judging by their lack of investigation and report, they're good with it.

update; by 11:11, the link had been corrected and now links to the "packet".  They remain in violation of the 72 hour rule.




photos Mark Bralley