Is the APS Board of Education Trustworthy?

There are two standards of conduct in the Albuquerque Public Schools. School board members and senior administrators are (not really) accountable to the law; the lowest standards of conduct acceptable to civilized human beings.

Student standards are far higher.

School board policy requires student to “model and promote” honest accountability to a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct.

According to APS student standards of conduct; in order to be worthy of trust (a characteristic that students are taught, is important) they must be “honest”. And, not just every once in a while.

Student standards read;

Honesty in communications is expressing the truth as best we know it and not conveying it in a way likely to mislead or deceive. There are three dimensions:

Truthfulness. Truthfulness is presenting the facts to the best of our knowledge. Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and truth itself. Being wrong is not the same thing as lying, although honest mistakes can still damage trust insofar as they may show sloppy judgment.

Sincerity. Sincerity is genuineness, being without trickery or duplicity. It precludes all acts, including half-truths, out-of-context statements, and even silence, that are intended to create beliefs or leave impressions that are untrue or misleading.

Candor. In relationships involving legitimate expectations of trust, honesty may also require candor, forthrightness and frankness, imposing the obligation to volunteer information that another person needs to know.

School Board President David Peercy and the board reject student standards as their own. They have abdicated their duties and commitments as the senior-most role models in the district.

Not only do Peercy and the board refuse to replace the role modeling clause* in their own standards of conduct, they refuse to discuss their refusal in an open and honest public meeting.

*In no case shall the standards of conduct for an adult
be lower than the standards of conduct for students.

APS students are expected to be worthy of trust.

Their seniormost role models? … not so much.