Journal editors easily impressed

In the Journal this morning, link, the editors are wowed by Brad Winter's Academic Master Plan.

I get that as Journalists it is important for them to rhyme
master plan and masterstroke.

Nevertheless, masterstroke is an enormously powerful word.
It means;

an action which demonstrated great skill
an outstandingly skillful and opportune act
a very clever move.

The reform proposed by Winter and the lame-duck board, and which so wows the Journal amounts to;

• plan ahead and

• continuously evaluate performance

Don't get me wrong.  I cannot imagine a more important reform in the leadership of the APS than for them to finally begin to;

• plan ahead and

• continuously evaluate performance

That they have come up with
their masterstroke of a plan
well into the second century
of their endeavor, is more than
a little unsettling.

I submit the Journal editorial
as evidence of the Journal's
aide and abet in support of
the status quo in the leadership
of the APS and of their willingness to do anything to manipulate the discourse.

They write;

There’s nothing like having a fresh set of eyes focus on a challenge.

Seriously?  Brad Winter; fresh eyes?! A member of the inner most circle knew nothing about the profound lack of planning and accountability in the effort to achieve the district's primary mission?

Right, and a pint of Häagen-Dazs serves four.

For years Winter oversaw APS’ capital program.

If Winter is proud of his spending in their castle keep, why won't he show us
his record?  Did he really spent $800 dollars a piece on chairs for board members?
Why won't he produce a candid, forthright, and honest accounting of the money
he spent there?  Is it to avoid the accolades or to escape the consequences?

For as many years as Winter over saw APS' capital program, he has been refusing to be honest with stake and interest holders about the resources he committed to sprucing up their apartments in the sky at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

If Kent Walz and the Journal really believe Brad Winter has been an outstanding steward of our trust and treasure, why don't they insist upon publishing his record on his behalf?

When it was still reporting on corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS, the Journal actually reported, link, Winter was $500K over budget in his renovation of their utterly unjustifiable million dollar board room.

The corruption ridden leadership
of APS' publicly funded private
police force was a direct report
to Winter.  Winter enabled it.

For years

... he worked for policies designed to bring accountability and transparency to that endeavor

For years, Winter has been part and parcel of a cover up of corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS Police force.

For years, Winter has refused to produce ethically redacted records of investigations of allegations of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators.

Winter says that the plan and program evaluations should justify the money spent on programs, and those that don’t produce results should be scrapped.

Wow! Winter really is a genius!

While Winter plans to leave APS after the district hires a new permanent superintendent, his academic plan promises to give his successor a better place to start.

"His successor" will not participate meaningfully in the decision making of the policy s/he will administer.  Nor will new school board members.  Nor will community members or any other stake or interest holder.

"These aren't the droids
you're looking for." unk

Journal Editor in Chief Kent Walz would have us just move along.

Don't trust the Journal.

Don't trust anyone who does not stand on the record in support of your meaningful participation in decision making that affects your interests.  Don't trust them or their good intention to come up with a plan as soon as they are elected.

Don't trust anyone who will not point to the time the day and the place where they will stand and answer legitimate questions about the public interests and about their public service and then
respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

When the question is;

do you intend to tell the truth
(about the wielding of public power and
the spending of public resources)
the whole truth and nothing but
the ethically redacted truth?

any answer except yes,
means no.




photos Mark Bralley