APS texting gaffgate more than colossally careless; it is illustrative

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That APS Supt. Luis Valentino
did not correctly address his text
reveals in him, a certain level of
carelessness.

The content of his text reveals
a certain level of insufficiency
in his character.  It reveals how
he intends to remove from his
staff. people he doesn't like.

It is not whether he has that right,
but whether this is the way employees should be dismissed without cause? - Moya is yet to be accused of doing anything untoward at all.

When former APS Supt. Winston Brooks embroiled himself in a scandal over disrespectful messages he tweeted about a sitting Secretary of Education, an observation was made that I think resonates;
it wasn't so much that Brooks had tweeted what was running through his mind, rather, it was that he was even having those thoughts in the first place.

APS Supt. Valentino and those in charge of APS' public relations would have stake and interest holders believe that it is APS Chief Financial Officer Don Moya's "misconduct" that has caused the brouhaha; if only he had kept the text secret, there would not be this problem.

There is no better defense than the exculpating truth.

Moya's strategy is in fact, brilliant;  APS' "legal" defense for everything is to hide the truth.   Anyone who can get out the truth around the leadership of the APS, the Journal and their lawyers has accomplished something monumental.


Which is exactly why the leadership of the APS spend so much money and energy to keep the truth hidden.  Witness the hundreds of thousands of dollars they have spent hiding the Caswell report on felony public corruption in the leadership of their publicly funded private police force.

Luis Valentino made APS' stake and interest holders a promise; he would not take advantage of the golden parachute the board has provided.

When it is time for him to resign, he said, he would not collect on the remainder of his contract.  I thought at the time, it was a pretty impressive offer and commitment.  It may be time to take him up on it.

In any event, it is time for the board to speak up.
The longer they wait to weigh in on the implications of the content of the text, the more likely it becomes that they will not weigh in at all (their preference) or that they intend to weigh in without notice.

The board of course, is betwixt a rock and a hard place;

• the rock;

If they admit that their new hire has screwed up,
it's tantamount to admitting they made a mistake in the meetings in secret where they decided to hire Valentino.  They will appear incompetent.

• the hard place;

If they don't own his screw up, it will stink of cover up.  They will appear corrupt.

Does our school board really want the district run this way?  Does APS really need a dark side; a place where business is done without regard to ethics or even the law?

Also 'twixt a rock and hard place,
Journal Editor in Chief Kent Walz;

• how can he report credibly on the ethics, standards and accountability crisis in the leadership, 

• without first reporting credibly on his failure to report on the scandal heretofore?  nearly a decade since they abandoned their obligations as role models and more than five years after they began their cover up of felony criminal misconduct involving the leadership of their police force.

photos Mark Bralley