New Mexico Educator Ethics (Shmethics) Bureau

Within the Public Education Department lies the Educator Ethics Bureau. It is the mechanism used by administrators to hold teachers accountable for ethical misconduct. However well it serves in that respect; when a teacher tries to hold an administrator accountable for ethical misconduct, it serves exponentially less well.

Almost two years ago, a complaint was filed against APS’ Superintendent Elizabeth Everitt. The complaint alleged that the effort, to save administrators and board members from accountability for ethical and criminal misconduct, was itself unethical.

Yesterday, I sought information on the outcome of that complaint and another complaint. I contacted one Paul Calderon, the Director of the Educator Ethics Bureau. He informed me that “The case is still under investigation. At this time no information is allowed to be given until the investigation is completed.”

So, almost two years later, the Educator Ethics Bureau is still investigating whether or not dodging ethical and legal accountability is unethical.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe. It seems a lot more plausible that in fact, Elizabeth Everitt (and her lawyers) enjoy the same exception to honest accountability that every powerful person in New Mexico enjoys. It is worth noting that although the Bureau is supposed to acknowledge that a complaint has been received, I have not received that letter of acknowledgement for either complaint. That situation enables, I suppose, that at some time the Bureau can argue that they never, in fact, received a complaint.

I would like to hold the Ethics Bureau accountable for the mishandling of my complaints. The effort requires two things; a standard against which their conduct can be measured, and a system under which the complaint will be resolved.

On the Ethics Bureau’s website, there is a link to “Our Rules”. The link doesn’t link. So much for a standard against which to measure their conduct. Before he started ignoring my emails, Calderon had been asked five times for access to the rules. Five times he ignored my request.

As to a system by which he might be held accountable; twice I asked Calderon for the name of the person with whom I could file a complaint over his obfuscation of the follow up on my complaints. Twice he ignored my request.

So there it is. No rules against which to measure his misconduct and no system under which his misconduct can be reported. It would seem his Directorship of the Educator Ethics Bureau has more to do with personal connections than personal example.

Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics is feckless

There is an old adage about buying padlocks; locks only keep out honest people. The understanding is that an honest person will recognize and respect the boundary implied by even the cheapest padlock, and a dishonest person will neither recognize nor respect that boundary implied by the heaviest lock.

Similarly, codes of ethics are of little use to ethical people; they simply do not need reiteration of boundaries. Unethical people will not be bound by them under any circumstance. In particular if the code is unenforceable as is the Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

Take for example, Albuquerque’s Tribune and Journal. Their refusal to report on a widespread ethics scandal in the Albuquerque Public Schools clearly violates the Journalists’ Code of Ethics. But what is one to do? There is no body to which they can be reported; no system by which they can be held accountable. Like a burglar with a ten pound sledgehammer against a cheap padlock, they will have their way.

Like a 79 cent padlock, the Code is useless in protecting the community even against the most egregious betrayal of their interests and trust.

The APS Ethics Scandal, the fight, the combatants, the MIA.

The scandal; the leaders of the Albuquerque Public Schools have decided that they will not be held accountable for their (mis)conduct. They have eliminated standards against which their conduct can be measured. They have rendered powerless any system by which they might be held accountable even to the meaningless standards that remain.

The stakes are not unimportant. Students no longer have role models of accountability to a higher standard of conduct. The story of George Washington and the cherry tree has been reduced to an exercise in hypocrisy. Community members now have no choice but to entrust hundreds of millions of tax dollars to individuals, not one of whom will accept accountability even to the law. Parents have been denied their right to meaningful participation, by silencing of their citizen advisory councils. Teachers have been denied the basic rights of citizenship; level two grievances can be denied without a hearing, teachers are not allowed to record meetings in which they are active participants; even disciplinary proceedings. It cannot be argued that the leaders of the APS have excepted themselves from accountability without cost.

In any fight, there are opponents and indifferent bystanders. On the side of dodging accountability are the men and women who run the district, their lawyers, and the local media. Least powerful in the axis are the board and administration. When the details of the scandal are finally revealed, it is likely that they will simply disappear. Their position is absolutely indefensible. Their lawyers on the other hand have seemingly unlimited influence. Feeding at the bottomless trough of unwitting taxpayer support for “education”; they have the capacity to save the leadership from accountability even to the law. And finally, there is the media. Were the scandal to become public, the leadership and their lawyers would fall. The media has steadfastly refused to report upon the scandal; even through two elections. They are aware of the scandal; their support for the leaders of the APS is considered and deliberate. They are responsible, more than any other participant, for the continued success of the board members and senior administrators in dodging accountability for their misconduct.

Allied against them; me. I have tried for a dozen years to create for the board and administration honest accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct. If there is anyone else standing up against this egregious betrayal of trust, they are unknown to me.

The MIA, those who know the truth and who enable to the scandal to remain unquestioned, are a constant disappointment. They include:

Senator Pete Domenici; a founding father of Character Counts.
Michael Josephson, the founder of Character Counts.
Martin Chavez, Mayor of Albuquerque
Members of Albuquerque’s City Council; Ken Sanchez, Debbie O’Malley, Isaac Benton, Brad Winter, Michael Cadigan, Martin Heinrich, Sally Mayer, Craig Loy, and Don Harris. (In fairness, I represent that these individuals are aware because I emailed the truth to them. If they represent that they are unaware because the message was not forwarded to them by a mail screener, I cannot maintain otherwise. The exception is Brad Winter who has witnessed the scandal firsthand as a member of the audience during a number of School Board Meetings where the board refused to be held accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct; the scandal manifest.)
The Albuquerque Teachers Federation. The Federation’s failure to stand up and be counted is particularly upsetting because it was the Federation who brought Character Counts to the APS. Their failure negatively impacts the teachers whom they represent.
Teri Cole and the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce who bask in the warmth of their claim to support Character Counts, but don’t.
The Character Counts Leadership Council. I will concede that the efforts to keep them in the dark may have been successful; however unlikely that possibility now seems.
APS senior and subordinate administrators. In their defense; APS’ culture of retaliation and retribution, makes the potential cost for standing up to be counted, higher than the cost for most. There is a concerted effort to keep them in the dark as well.
Finally, the untold numbers of eyewitnesses at board meetings and recipients of my emails begging for their support. Those who are apparently willing to do nothing but sit by and watch the scandal live on.

The board and senior administration will not end the scandal. Their lawyers will do what makes them rich. The media will not report it.

The scandal will end when the MIA stand up to be counted. Or it will never end.

Albuquerque Journal’s Amy Miller saves ink; reports half the truth

When a reader reads a newspaper article on a school board meeting, what do they expect to find? I submit that they expect to be told the truth, the whole truth. I submit that they would be disappointed to find that a part of the truth had been deliberately withheld. In particular I submit that they would feel betrayed when they find out that the truth has not been told at the behest of powerful people who manipulate reporters and newspapers to hide personal guilt; to avoid accountability for misconduct.

During the board meeting, it was entered into the record, that the broadcast version of a previous meeting had been falsified. APS gave a dishonestly edited videotape to a local TV station for broadcast. Viewers were deliberately misled.

The proof of this allegation is on the record. There is the tape of the broadcast version which can be compared to the “official” version and to the memories of anyone at the meeting. APS’ Rigo Chavez declares that this is not “dishonest” because the broadcast version is not the “official” record. His argument is as compelling as the school yard belief it is OK to lie if you cross your fingers behind your back.

It stands to reason that a reporter cannot report everything. Some judgment must be exercised regarding that which is important enough to burden readers with additional copy.

The Board was asked again, in recognition of National Character Counts Week, to hold themselves accountable to that standard; the standard they enforce upon students. Ms. Miller (and/or her boss) apparently feel that the Board and Administration’s seventh refusal to be held honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct, is also unworthy of mention.

Apparently Amy Miller and/or her boss, think the fact that APS has deliberately deceived the community regarding their unwillingness to be held accountable for their misconduct, is unimportant.

I can’t help but feel that readers would disagree. I think they would feel betrayed.

Falsifying the record of a board meeting isn’t “dishonest”

…says APS’ Rigo Chavez, because it wasn’t the “official” record.

During the public forum of the board meeting before last, the board and superintendent were asked if they would hold themselves accountable to the same standard of conduct that they enforce upon students.

The truth is that they refused to answer. They sat in silent shame shuffling papers or engaging in childish staring contests with me. When the “record” of the board meeting was broadcast on local TV, their refusal to respond had been edited out of the record. Every person who watched the public forum on TV was deliberately deceived. But it wasn’t “dishonest” according to APS front man Chavez. The broadcast record isn’t “official”.

Who falsified the record? No one on the Board or Administration has come forward to be held accountable; so the finger now points to Russell Reid, the guy who edits the broadcast version. Mr. Reid knows better. In a previous chat with me, he assured me that the edited tapes reflect the truth; the entire board meeting without omission. It is beyond me why he would sacrifice his integrity to protect board members unless someone told him to, but like I said, no one else is standing up.

This has a familiar ring to it. Robert Lucero, who will be running for re-election next February, insisted that board members are not covered by the employee code of conduct because they are “not really employees”. They get paid by the District, but they are not “really” employees. And deliberately misleading people is not really “dishonest”.

Doesn’t it make you want to puke?

Mr. Chavez, Mr. Reid, and Mr. Lucero will be allowed to post a rebuttal if they care to.

Albuquerque Journal, Amy Miller; fall short on Trustworthiness

Ms. Miller’s article, Family Values, explores Character Counts and its presence in the APS. The article is dishonest.

According to Making Ethical Decsions, published by the Josephson institute;

There is no more fundamental ethical value than honesty. It involves both communications and conduct. 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.
Sincerity. Sincerity is genuineness, being without trickery or duplicity. It precludes all acts, including half-truths, …, 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.

Ms. Miller, and the Journal, have presented a half truth. Yes, in some classrooms and schools, Character Counts is taught and modeled. The untold half of the truth is that the Leaders of the APS have renounced Character Counts as their own standard. Her article leaves the impression that the APS are invested in Character Counts by failing to mention that the Leaders of the APS refuse to hold themselves accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts; the student standard of conduct. The community needs to know that the senior role models for 89,000 of their sons and daughters, and the stewards of hundreds of millions of tax dollars, refuse to be held honestly accountable to any code of ethical behavior.

Ms. Miller and the Journal are unworthy of trust.

APS Police officers reveal student safety issue despite fear of retaliation

According to KRQE news, two employees of the APS Police department stepped up to tell the truth about safety concerns regarding APS portable classrooms. The news report on the officers’ allegations substantiated the concern that they had raised.

The officers had asked that their identities be kept secret for fear of being fired. They raised a legitimate concern about student safety; and for that they fear retaliation.

Their fear is not unjustified. An audit by the Council of Great City Schools revealed that fear of retribution and retaliation against those who question decisions of superiors was part of the “culture” in the APS. Their use of the word “culture” is not insignificant. Retribution and retaliation against those who rock the boat in the APS is not limited to isolated instances.

Telling the truth about a school safely issue should not provoke retaliation; but in the APS it does. The men, women and lawyers that lead the APS are all about suppressing inconvenient truth. Not to forget, it was only one month ago that the broadcast record of a school board meeting was falsified to conceal the truth about the refusal of the board and superintendent to hold themselves accountable to a code of ethical conduct. Because they have excepted themselves from ethical accountability, they are able to continue to hide the truth from stakeholders; even when the stakes include student safety.

For how much longer will APS Leaders and the media continue to conceal the truth about the APS Ethics Scandal and the damage it is causing?

If you're not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

There is probably no title more likely to have driven off a reader. Thank you for your time and attention.

The Problem:

Children will grow into adults. If we have a preference between the kinds of adults into which they will grow; we need to involve ourselves in that growth.

What ever it is that we model; we teach. If we want children to grow to embrace character and honor and courage; we have to teach them what they look like. Character is taught by example; it is taught only by example.

I believe that the parents and community of the 98,000 students in the APS want those students to be taught to embrace a higher standard (than the law). We represent that George Washington was a hero and worthy of emulation because he was willing to hold himself honestly accountable to a higher standard of conduct. It is precisely the point of the story of George Washington and the cherry tree.

APS Leaders have abandoned their responsibilities as role models. They have refused repeatedly and on the record to hold themselves accountable to the same standard that they enforce upon students. The code of ethics that the state uses to hold educators accountable, requires that educators must demonstrate through personal example, their commitment to the higher standard of ethical conduct.

The Solution:

People need to show up at the next board meeting. At that meeting they need to express their belief that educational leadership begins with honest accountability to a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethics.

Or simply stand in support of those who do.

At some point, when the crowd is large enough, the Leadership of the APS will accept honest accountability; or they will resign. The terms of public service are the prerogative of the public; not of the public servant.


Alternatively, post a comment on this essay. Tell why you won’t come. Please

Protecting Children from School Violence

A suburban school district in Fort Worth Texas trains students to attack their attacker.

APS trains its students to lie silently and motionless in the dark, waiting for their murderer, and contemplating their helplessness. …for hours.

Experts in childhood psychology tell us that these different approaches, coupled with training in the approaches, carry with them profoundly different lasting psychological effects on children. In particular, on those students who already feel afraid at school for what ever reason.

School Violence; submit or resist

A suburban school district in Fort Worth Texas trains students to attack their attacker. APS trains its students to lie in the dark for hours, in silence, contemplating their helplessness.

The correct approach could be determined after an informed debate. But the leadership of the APS does not permit debate. According to the Council of Great City Schools audit, the board, administration and Modrall, have created a culture of retaliation and retribution for those who dare to rock their boat.

APS’ Praetorian Guard, according to their union president, wants to discuss the possibility of being armed all day long. After all, in addition to protecting the administration and board, they are responsible for protecting students. The board will not have their decision revisited.

It is arrogant, ill advised, and completely inappropriate.

Similarly, they refuse to discuss their decision to except themselves from accountability to the student standard for conduct; or any other meaningful standard of conduct.

It is arrogant, ill advised, and completely inappropriate.

Ethics Scandal, APS School Board President Paula Maes

The Trib’s Susie Gran reports that School Board President Paula Maes wants to find better ways to communicate with parents. Yet on her watch, the board decided the two influential and active citizen groups were not the best way to involve parents, and silenced them.

From a leadership standpoint, and until a better format is provided: it would seem to be prudent to keep the groups intact and allow them to address the issue themselves. The protests of the silenced community members are proof that those involved in the groups wanted to continue. How can Paula Maes and the board simply ignore them?

The answer is simple. The groups were not disbanded to improve communication with parents. The decision was made to obstruct communication by large, and therefore influential, groups of stakeholders.

At the very first meeting of any advisory group, or any other large group where I will be allowed to speak or hand out fliers, the members will be informed about the APS Ethics Scandal. And then Paula Maes will be compelled to resign. As will other Board Members and the Superintendent. Allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct, including felony criminal misconduct, by senior APS Administrators and Board Members will see principled resolution; they will be held accountable.

This is not about better communication; it is about suppressing the truth.

If a half truth is a whole lie, Susie Gran and the Trib have lied. Again.

Dear Senator Domenici

There is an ethics scandal in the Albuquerque Public Schools. The leadership of the APS; the board, administration and Modrall, has abandoned their commitment to the Pillars of Character Counts. Although the pillars remain the higher standard of ethical conduct for students, APS Leaders refuse to hold themselves accountable to the same standard.

In your role as a United States Senator, the scandal in your hometown school district may be inconsequential. But as a founding father of Character Counts, surely you must be appalled by the egregious betrayal of the principles of character which you helped to articulate. I wonder why you have not spoken up in defense of the necessity of ethical leadership, particularly in education

My hope is that you are unaware of the depth and breadth of the scandal. The effort to cover it up is monumental.

In my effort to contact Albuquerque’s Character Counts Leadership Council, high ranking APS Administrators, Toby Herrera, Dee Dee Stroud, and Carole Smith, all members of the Character Counts Leadership Council, have apparently done nothing to inform their fellow council members of the scandal. What other reason could there be for the failure of the Leadership Council to intervene? Carole Smith, Director of the APS Character Counts Leadership Cooperative, not only refuses to respect the stakeholder rights of fellow members by sharing the truth, but refuses to furnish contact information for members in order that I may.

Lisa Breeden, Communications Director in your Senate Office, is aware of the scandal. As you know, she sits on the Character Counts Leadership Council herself. She has repeatedly refused to establish contact between the council and me. Perhaps she, the APS senior administration, and others like them, have kept the scandal secret from you as well.

I have received two letters over your name indicating that you had contacted both the APS and State Boards of Education asking for a response my allegations. The APS Board claims to have received no letter. I prefer to believe the assurance sent to me over your name. I have heard nothing from the State Board either.

I cannot suppose that you would have heard about the scandal in the news media because it has not been reported. You, like your constituents have been kept in the dark; deliberately. Perhaps it is because Paula Maes, School Board President, in her capacity as President of the New Mexico Broadcasters, is able to manipulate the media. What other reason could explain their failure to inform voters even through two elections, and most probably, through a third?

She is in fact the President of the Character Counts Leadership Council; yet that group is not on the record in response to their betrayal.

I am supposing that given the number of people who will read this post and can actually get face time with you, that I can be assured that you will be finally informed, that I will have broken the circle of those who are apparently denying you your opportunity to speak up.

The specific allegations of the APS’ culture of corruption and incompetence are fully covered in by blog and are substantiated by public records. As yet, not one allegation has been refuted with evidence or sworn testimony. In fact, none has been refuted at all

I would like to know the truth. Are you aware of the truth surrounding the APS Ethics Scandal?

A comment in response to this post will suffice. In that manner it will be public record. It will be posted on NowPublic and on my blog; Diogenes’six

Respectfully,
Ched MacQuigg

Power Corrupts; Absolutely

…but only within a system that allows corruption. In fact power does not corrupt. The fount of corruption is the opportunity to abuse power without consequence.

The first intelligent abuse of power is to eliminate accountability for the abuse of power. Where there is accountability there is no abuse. Accountability is fatal to the abuse of power.

Consider transparency. Transparency is arguably the most effective deterrent to abusive power. To the extent that it is not provided, it is not provided because it is not in the interests of those who wield power. They prefer to wield their power in the dark. That is because they don’t want you to know what there are doing.

Now consider the amount of transparency that is provided for us by those to whom we entrust our power. Were there some way to quantify integrity, and the support for transparency, we would find that those with the least integrity are least supportive. Those with the most integrity are the most supportive.

There is proof, there will be more. Mario Burgos offered an opportunity for integrity to manifest itself in reporting campaign funding. He can report on the number of respondents and perhaps upon the implications of the number. Gideon Elliot reported upon the punch the clock campaign. He will be able to report upon the number of respondents and the implications of that number.

I am confident that the results will support the thesis that those who represent the “system” are not going to fix the system.

The system will be fixed only when the pubic crashes into the system and takes back control.

Who is in charge?

Apparently there has been an incident at a high school in Rio Rancho. What ever the specifics of that incident, in general, it was a manifestation of a deeper issue. There is a struggle for control in schools. The struggle exists momentarily and fundamentally.

If asked, I suppose that the leaders of the APS would argue that the school board and administration are fundamentally in charge of their schools. I would argue that they are not.

Board Policy forbids students from “sagging”, wearing pants low enough to deliberately expose underwear. The issue is not sagging. The point is that the school board prohibits sagging. And yet, students sag. The point is that the adults said no and the children are doing it anyway.

And when they do, they are toe to toe and eyeball to eyeball with adults. They are defying a rule; openly and deliberately. It is not inadvertent misconduct. It is deliberate and in your face misconduct And they are getting away with it.

Students are in charge at schools where prohibited behavior is permitted.

For a number of very good reasons; adults have legitimate and justifiable authority over children. It is widely conceded that that situation is in the best interests of children.

APS Leaders will not admit that they are not in charge of their schools.

For years the numbers associated with the lack of control in schools has been rising. APS Leaders offer that this is the result of keeping better track of the data. Apparently they keep getting better year after year. How long does in take to get good at writing the truth in the, How many kids got stabbed at your school today? box?

The axis of the Board, Administration, and Modrall, refuse to be held accountable for their conduct. They have forfeited the moral authority to demand that students be accountable for theirs. And they aren’t. At some substantial cost.

The situation is educationally inefficient. It must change.

APS’ Everitt, the Subject of an Ethics Complaint

On July 2oth, 2006, a complaint was filed with the State of New Mexico, Department of Education, Educator Ethics Bureau. The complaint alleges that APS’ Everitt breached the Standards of Professional Conduct for Educators.

The complaint alleges that Everitt has breached the Standards by:
1. maintaining two standards of conduct; one for adults and one for students, the students being held to a higher standard. It was alleged that this violates her responsibility to lead by example; and is diametrically opposite to the requirements of the CODE OF ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE EDUCATION PROFESSION. One cannot claim to model accountability by refusing to accept it.
2. failing to provide honest accountability for ethical misconduct by administrators.
3. failing to provide a consistent and justifiable personal example. Her refusal to hold herself honestly accountable to the student standard of conduct is a manifest failure to provide a personal example.
4. betraying the public trust. The public trust was betrayed by the removal from the employee standards of conduct, the expectation and the phrase, …in no case shall the standard for adults be lower than the standard for children.

There are two questions; does Everitt refuse to be held accountable to the same code of ethics that binds students, and, is it unethical to refuse to be held honestly accountable to a code of ethics?

On the first, Everitt has repeatedly refused such accountability at open meetings of the school board, on the record, substantiated by a video tape record.

As for the second question, the answer is self evident.

The allegation is simple, the evidence is clear. The Ethics Bureau is yet to respond to the complaint. They have yet to acknowledge its receipt, despite the fact that such acknowledgement is required the rules of the Bureau.

Is the Superintendent exempt from the process?

Does the Superintendent of APS enjoy some exception to the rules that bind her subordinates?

If so, perhaps she will defend that exception, on the record.

Accountability by voter; the myth

When voters lament corruption and incompetence in public service, they are assured that they can hold public servants accountable for their corruption and incompetence at the next election; by voting the scoundrels out!

At best, at the very best, they might occasionally remove a bad apple or two. But the expectation that the overall level of corruption and incompetence will be reduced in the process is naïve. Were there real efficacy in the approach; we would not now be the victims of widespread corruption and incompetence.

Ending corruption and incompetence in public service by attempting to vote out the corrupt and incompetent is a little like fighting a malaria outbreak by treating the headache and fever.

Corruption and incompetence exist because they can. The system tolerates and enables them. Those who created and maintain a system friendly to corruption and incompetence cannot be expected to create a system hostile to them. It is not in their interests.

Voters will never do more than choose between two, or a few, individuals who will then either join the system or be crushed by it. Voters are never offered anything but a choice. The extent of their exercise of power is to select between the choices offered to them. They will never be offered a choice between clean and dirty government. Voters will never vote on the system.

There is an opportunity to change the system; a window of opportunity.

APS Ethics Scandal; worthy questions.

Students are taught that their character depends on their accountability to a higher standard, a code of ethical behavior, the Pillars of Character Counts. They are taught that their character is worth developing and protecting. It is the fundamental principle that we illustrate with the story of George Washington and the cherry tree. They are taught that their character counts; that it is worthy of deliberate and meaningful personal sacrifice.

The eight men and woman and their lawyers, who run APS are not accountable to the same standard. In practice, they are are not accountable even to the law.

Imagine that a student asks, why are there different standards? And then asks, why should I hold myself accountable to a higher standard, at some sacrifice, while you will not?

APS Ethics Scandal hiding the truth

There is only one reason to hide the truth; to avoid the consequences that the truth will evoke.

According to state law, public servants and public institutions are required to tell the truth in so far as they are required to surrender public records upon demand.

The failure to surrender public records is one manifestation of the ethics scandal in the APS.

Rigo Chavez, APS’s Custodian of Public Records was asked to surrender the truth regarding a number of issues. To date he has not. Has he broken the law? A number of lawyers feeding at the trough of unwitting taxpayer support of “education” and at the behest of the leaders of APS would argue no. And they will continue to argue no until “…directed otherwise by a court of law after exhausting all possible appeals.”

They can afford to do that because of a virtually unlimited budget that will be used to suppress the truth.

If you want the opportunity to inspect and/or copy records of the truth it will cost you $.50 per page; tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, and years of your life.

I would like to know how much money the Modrall Law Firm makes off APS. That is particularly important because the President of Modrall, and the President of the School Board are married to each other. My request for pertinent public records did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

I am curious why the media will not investigate or report upon the APS Ethics Scandal. My request for public records revealing the amount of money that local media make off of APS did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

I believe that members of the APS Character Counts Leadership Council have a right to know about details of the scandal. My request for public records revealing contact information for council members did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

I believe that employees, parents, and students at school sites have a right to know the truth about the ethics scandal. My request for public records that would enable practical contact with school sites did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

Subordinate administrators have a right to know the truth. My request for useful contact information did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

Board member Robert Lucero argues that he and other board members are not accountable even to the newly lowered employee standards of conduct. He maintains that he and other board members are not “really” employees. My request for the truth about their “employment” did not result in the disclosure of the truth.

The record of a previous board meeting was falsified before its broadcast on TalNet. My request for the original video tapes of the meeting has not resulted in the disclosure of the truth.

I could go on, trust me. The point is made. The Leadership of the APS has an ethical and legal obligation to surrender the truth, even the inconvenient truth, and they will not. Their ethical obligation is unenforceable because they have eliminated accountability to any code of ethical conduct. Their legal obligation is unenforceable because they have a virtually unlimited legal defense fund, and because their lawyers are willing and able in the practice of Juris Mustelidae Mustela. If you are powerful enough and have resources enough and are so inclined; you are unaccountable even to the law.

Honest accountability defined

Honest accountability means;

the least powerful person can file a complaint against the most powerful person, and that complaint will be impartially adjudicated according to agreed upon principles.

(note; the actual post date is 10/11/07)

APS Ethics Scandal and Senator Pete Domenici

Senator Pete Domenici owns my respect for among other things, being one of the founding fathers of Character Counts.

I am disappointed that he has not spoken publicly about the APS Ethics Scandal. In fairness, I have never spoken to him personally; so there may be some chance that he is still unaware of the scandal.

I know for sure that Lisa Breeden, who works for the Senator and who is herself a member of the APS Character Counts Leadership Council, is aware of the scandal. I know that she has repeatedly refused to allow me to contact the Leadership Council with information on the scandal. I believe that the stakeholder rights of Council members have been disrespected by the cover up of the scandal.

It is possible, I suppose, that Ms. Breeden has placed herself between me and the Senator as well. Somebody needs to tell him the truth. His home town public school leadership has repeatedly refused to hold itself honestly accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts. They refuse to hold themselves honestly accountable to the standard that they represent to be the minimal acceptable standard for student conduct.

I cannot imagine that he would not be upset.

APS Ethics Scandal covered up by the media

The local media, print and broadcast, are aware of the APS Ethics Scandal. It appears to be their deliberate decision to leave the scandal uninvestigated and unreported.

When I asked Rigo Chavez for any public records indicating the amount of money APS pays to local media outlets, Mr. Chavez provided no pertinent information.

Perhaps the media is helping a big client with a big problem. Who knows? It would be difficult even to speculate whether the amount of money was large enough to warrant biased reporting.

The bias is profound. The APS Ethics Scandal has been covered up by APS leadership and the media through two elections, and probably through the next.

If the media is not protecting the administration and the board for economic reasons; then why?

Whose interests are being served by the cover up? Voters? Parents? Students? The only interests being served are those of the leadership of the APS. They are not legitimate interests.

There is no ethical interest of which I am aware that mitigates the media’s refusal to report the truth.

APS Ethics Scandal is bad business

Stewardship of tax dollars is at least the second highest priority of administrators and board members.

There are two impediments to effective stewardship; corruption and incompetence. The corrupt will steal money, the incompetent will waste it. A vacuum of accountability is filled by corruption and incompetence.

Although honest accountability is fatal to both corruption and incompetence; the leadership of APS has chosen to provide none. In the APS, an administrator or board member who is corrupt and or incompetent, cannot be held honestly accountable for that corruption and or incompetence The school board and superintendent have repeatedly refused to hold themselves honestly accountable for their conduct.

A recent audit of the APS revealed that administrative evaluations were subjective and unrelated to promotion and step placement.

The leadership of the APS tolerates and enables corruption and incompetence. They are misdirecting funds which should be used in the education of 98,000 students.

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the media will not report upon this situation or upon any other aspect of the APS Ethics Scandal.

APS Ethics Scandal; school safety.

Your honor student is a whole lot more likely to get beat up at school than s/he is to get shot.

Your child’s safety at school is directly affected by the atmosphere at their school. To the extent that adults are in charge; that the adult will is manifest; your child is safer. To the extent that students are in charge, that their will is manifest; your child is less safe.

It is against APS board policy for students to “sag”. Rightly or wrongly, the board prohibits the wearing of pants so low that underwear is deliberately exposed.

If you visit a typical middle school or high school, you will see a number of students sagging; without consequence, in plain sight, in manifest defiance.

This is not about sagging.

Our sons and daughters are less safe at schools where prohibited behavior is permitted; schools where the will of the student is super-ordinate.

The responsibility for the enforcement of discipline policies falls upon the administration and board. With respect to the issue of sagging; the board and administration are permitting prohibited behavior. They are not in control of our school campuses; students are.

They cannot hold students accountable for their misconduct, because they themselves will not be held accountable for their own.

Before APS Leaders decided that the issue would no longer be surveyed; before they decided (deliberately) to no longer compile the statistic; most teachers reported that the failure of the administration and board to control the behavior of students represented a significant deterrent to an educationally efficient environment.

APS has no discipline philosophy. Even after the problem was entered onto the record, the leadership of APS failed to provide a philosophical foundation for their discipline policies. APS’s discipline policy is indefensible by any argument on the record.

The student discipline policy, in that respect, is indefensible. Were that not problem enough; the schools’ leadership refuses to model the policy before students. They expect students to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard than they will hold themselves. They model only hypocrisy. This situation enables disruptive students to continue to disrupt classrooms.

The situation will not be addressed because it cannot without drawing attention to the issue of administrative and board member accountability.

The Leadership of APS cannot afford to make an issue about accountability because that discussion would inevitably turn to their own exception from accountability. They would have to defend their decision to except themselves from accountability.

The only defense of an indefensible position is to stonewall.

The refusal of the administration and board to hold themselves honestly accountable to a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct; makes schools inherently less safe.

I am compelled to remind readers that the media has not reported upon this situation or upon any other aspect of the APS Ethics Scandal.

APS Praetorian guard; armed and unaccountable

On the table; should APS Police carry guns all day?

After that decision is made, those officers would be accountable to some set of standards that govern the carrying and the use of those guns. Or will they?

By his own admission, Chief Lovato’s APS Praetorian Guard is unaccredited and uncertified by any external organization. What that means is; if an officer mishandles his/her weapon it will be reported to Lovato, who will then, supposedly, report the incident to Tom Savage and or Beth Everitt. Neither Everitt, nor Savage, nor Lovato is required by APS board policy nor APS Procedural Directives, to tell the truth.

The truth will be managed. If it is inconvenient, it will be suppressed.

Students are required to tell the truth in response to a legitimate question. Everitt, Savage, and Lovato are not. Board member Robert Lucero disposed of a motion before the Board which would have required, as a matter of policy, that APS Administrators and Board Members be required to tell the truth. APS leadership is not required by any APS policy, to be accountable to any standard of truthtelling and ethical conduct.

I am not so worried about the individual police officers personal conduct, as I am worried about their oversight by a system that deliberately and methodically dodges accountability.

I am concerned that this situation, and the entire APS Ethics Scandal, is being covered up by APS Leaders and the media. Even through two elections, and most probably a third.

APS Ethics Scandal; pick a side, cowboy up.

There is a fight going on.

On one side is the Leadership of the APS. They refuse to hold themselves honestly accountable to the same standard of conduct that applies to students. They refuse to be role models of the student standard of conduct.

On the other side there are those who believe that the Leadership of the APS should lead by their example. That they should be honestly accountable at the very least, to the student standard of conduct.

I don’t know how to use the phrase, “battle between good and evil” with out sounding histrionic. But if this is not, what is? I don’t know how much clearer the line can be drawn.

I don’t know how the stakes could higher.

There are times in life where you pretty much have to pick a side. You watch, you consider, and you find that you simply must pick a side.

The moment of truth is that time when you realize what you have to do; and then must summon the courage to do it.

Confucius wrote, "To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice."

Those who wait for better circumstances to make their stand, in the end will have made no stand at all.

Climbing off the fence will always mean sacrifice. It often requires courage.

When the danger has passed, so has the opportunity to display courage. The line between heroism and cowardice is in fact, a point. It is a moment. And when the moment has passed; the same act will never be more than too little and too late.

If we truly want our children to embrace character and courage and honor, then we must show them what it looks like. Now is a moment of truth.

I confess to an admiration for the builders of Stonehenge. The admiration isn’t inspired by the moving and placing of giant stones. A greater wonder is that someone could say something that compelled so many people to help with such a monumental and seemingly impossible task.

I wish that I knew what to say to get a few hundred people to go to a school board meeting.

APS senior administrator, APS chief of police

When APS senior administrator Michael Vigil was being arrested for aggravated drunk driving, he sought to escape accountability. He sought to contact a number of influential people, I suspect in the hope that they would use their influence to save him.

Why do you suppose, among candidates was the APS chief of police?

Why, when the media reported the story, was the name of the APS chief of police underreported?

Why is it that whenever APS fires a senior administrator, they have to give them a bunch of money? Might it have something to do with suppressing the truth about incompetence and corruption in APS?

How many APS administrators, who represented criminal and civil exposure for the District, no longer work for APS, but now have better jobs with APS vendors. I can think of two right off the top of my head.

APS Public Forum

At the beginning of the Public Forum at an APS school board meeting; the rules are read.

Among them; the board does not answer questions.

They would like to have you believe that the rules prevent them from answering questions.

They write the rules. They don’t want to answer questions.

Questions like, Will you hold yourself honestly accountable to the same standard of ethical conduct that applies to students?

APS Ethics Scandal; incompetence and corruption unchecked

Most of what is wrong with public service has to do with incompetence and corruption. More fundamentally it has to do with a system that tolerates incompetence and corruption. Corruption exists only because it can; the system allows it.

A system deliberately and intelligently designed to illuminate incompetence and corruption would likely eliminate them. The system has to be changed.

The system is not now fixed because those who have the power to fix it, don’t want it fixed. It is not in their interests.

There is only one check for incompetence and corruption; accountability. Accountability is fatal to incompetence and corruption.

The Leadership of the APS will not admit accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct.

When dodging accountability, two things happen; standards are lowered, and the complaint process is disabled.

The Leadership of APS has lowered the standard. Once accountable to a widely recognized, accepted and respective code of ethical conduct; they are now accountable to none; deliberately, methodically, and in their self interest.

They have disabled the complaint process. There is no procedure in the APS to hold an administrator or board member honestly accountable for ethical misconduct.

The record will show that they do not hold themselves accountable even to the law. When they repealed their accountability to a code of ethics; they created an opportunity for themselves; unethical litigation. A powerful law firm related to the school board by marriage, on what appears to be an unlimited budget, and willing to litigate unethically; can save board members and administrators from accountability, even to the law.

I have been making this argument for quite some time. It has been acknowledged by neither the APS Leadership nor the media. Both are problematic.

The Leadership of the APS, the board, superintendent, and Modrall, will not respond to this allegation. There is only one reason not to respond. The allegation is true. They do refuse to be held honestly accountable to any meaningful standard of conduct. Their position is indefensible.

The media will not report the story. By this I mean they will not assign a reporter to conduct an impartial investigation and then report the truth to stakeholders. This has been true even during the past two elections and will likely be true during the next.

Unfortunately, the media is the only real hope of addressing the problem. The APS axis controls the system. The system will not hold them accountable. They can be held accountable only by stakeholders.

If a thousand people attend a board meeting to insist that APS Leadership be accountable to a higher standard of conduct; those eight public servants would be compelled either to hold themselves honestly accountable to the same standard that applies to students, or resign.

If stakeholders are kept ignorant, they will never assemble in numbers large enough to effect a change. How do you get a thousand people to go to a board meeting if the media wants the truth suppressed as well?

Trust; a poor substitute for honest accountability.

One system that guarantees accountability is worth a hundred assurances that such a system is unnecessary. “…because you can trust us.”

Public service offers no guarantee that in the conduct of that service, public servants will be accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct.

The responsibility for this situation falls squarely upon the shoulders of public servants. It is they who have failed to safeguard the power entrusted to them. It is they who have created and maintain a system that enables incompetence and corruption to not only survive, but thrive.

It is the responsibility of public servants to provide for the protection of the power of the people. It was they who should have created a system that by its fundamental nature illuminates corruption and incompetence; and thereby, eliminates them.

It is ironic that in order to safeguard our power, we are compelled to give it away to individuals who have not, are not, and will not use that power to protect us from its abuse.

Perhaps our best hope to change the system is to fight back. The only other hope would be that public servants will do something that they are not now doing and that they have never done before.

The Leaders of the APS, eight pubic servants and their lawyers, refuse to accept accountability for their conduct. Their position is absolutely indefensible. Their only option is to suppress the truth.

Accountability is fatal to the abuse of power. There is only one reason to oppose accountability and that is to avoid accountability.

They can be stopped; but only by a large crowd at the next board meeting, and the next, and the next. One night, the crowd will be too large to ignore and the Leadership of the APS will find itself honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct in their public service, both as role models and as the stewards of public funds.

APS board meeting record falsified

A record is kept of meetings of the school board. It is a video tape compilation, normally from tapes from two cameras. I have been assured by Russell Reed, APS videographer, that when he edits the tapes, he combines footage in a manner that preserves the second by second history of the meeting. Were that not his own representation, it is certainly the requirement of any meaningful standard of ethical conduct.

The version of the board meeting that is being broadcast on TalNet, ch. 96, is missing some seconds; it is missing a lot of seconds. An inconvenient truth has been edited out of the historical record.

Each member of the board has been asked if they will hold themselves honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct. They have been asked to hold themselves accountable to the same standard of conduct that applies to students.

Their repeated response has been, no.

In fact, when asked the question, they sit in silence; always with their eyes hidden from their constituents. They have done so five times in as many board meetings.

A constituent watching the board meeting on TV will not see the board members response to my question. Their response has been edited from history. They will not allow themselves to be held accountable to the truth. Likely; they will be successful.

I don't know if this constitutes criminal misconduct. Even if it is criminal; the Modrall Law Firm will ensure that no one is held accountable; even to the law.

Eight public servants and their lawyers are demonstrating that they can do what ever they want to do; and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Public servants are dictating the terms of their service. This is absurd.

Do the rules apply only to the little people?

Apparently so.

And where is the media?

The Trib spins the APS Ethics Scandal

Consider the eight ounce glass holding four ounces of water. The pessimist’s spin is that the glass is half empty. The optimist’s spin is that the glass is half full. Both spins are fundamentally true statements from a different perspective. And that is what legitimate spin is; a different perspective but fundamentally true.

Consider now the Tribune editors’ “spin” on APS and the Bond Issue Election.

The truth is that a small percentage of voters split 57/43 in favor of the bond. The truth is that before the election a concerted effort was made to separate the bond issue from an endorsement of APS. The truth is that a lot of voters held their noses while they voted for buildings for children. A lot of voters wanted to vote no, and did vote no, because the Leadership of APS no longer enjoys public support. This lack of confidence was precisely the reason the previous bond issue failed.

The editors’ spin; “…voters just gave the district a pretty strong vote of confidence…” “APS voters delivered a decisive mandate…”

Editorial is short for editorial opinion. It allows spin. It does not allow deliberate deception. The Tribune has refused to report the APS Ethics Scandal through two elections now. They will likely suppress the truth through another election early next year. This is not spin. This is a betrayal of public trust.

The Tribune editors deserve one big boo for their unswerving assistance to the Leadership of the APS in their effort to conceal corruption, incompetence, and ethical misconduct.

APS Leadership and Moral Courage

For twelve years, I have tried to establish for the Leadership of the APS, honest accountability to the same standard of conduct that applies to students.

I left my Character Counts training 12 years ago, believing that Character Counts was the best shot we ever had, ever would have, to turn children into adults with character and courage and honor.

I remember feeling my heart sink, when Michael Josephson answered a question about the role of administrative leadership in promoting Character Counts. He said that is was going to have to be a grassroots effort. The subordinates were going to have to inspire the leadership to commitment.

I guess I knew then that Character Counts was destined to fail. Never the less, I spent twelve years trying to get the Leadership of the APS to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts.

That specific phrase used to be in the standards of conduct for the leadership. At one time they were actually expected to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts; the same expectation that applied to students.

Now they are not. They removed that expectation from the standard of conduct to which they are held accountable.

Now every adult telling a child that their character depends on holding themselves accountable to a higher standard; models hypocrisy. They are not themselves, accountable to a higher standard of conduct. They expect more from the child than they expect from themselves.

History teaches us that no younger generation has ever met the standards of their parents generation. Invariably though, they live up to the example that is set for them.

Every generation expects the next generation to be the first to hold itself honestly accountable to a higher standard of conduct. It hasn’t worked, it doesn’t work, it will never work.

For five board meetings in a row, I have stood up at public forum and asked the Leadership of the APS to hold themselves honestly accountable to the same standard that applies to students. At each of those meetings I prepared a handout that explaining the problem and asking for support.

Still I am standing alone. Is there not a single administrator in APS that is willing to stand up and hold themselves accountable to the standard that they enforce upon students?

Is there not a single Character Counts advocate who will stand up for what they believe in?

Not a single teacher; or parent, or community member?

Not a single voter? Not only are they refusing accountability as role models for students; they are refusing accountability as stewards of public money.

Why won’t anyone stand up?

“All that is necessary for evil to prevail in the world, is for good men to do nothing” burke

APS should clean house…

… wrote Joline Gutierrez Krueger of the Trib. APS has “homework” was the Journal’s pathetic stab at the issue.

The thrust of Krueger’s article was that APS should clean house before the next bond election; or face the possibility of losing. The premise is sound. It begs the question; will they?

There is an old saw that says, where there is smoke, there is fire. I cannot recall an honest opinion of the APS, which did not acknowledge the widespread belief that the culture of APS Leadership tolerates incompetence, corruption, and dodging accountability.

Right now, the Leadership of APS refuses, on the record, to be held accountable for their conduct. Five times in as many board meetings, they have refused to hold themselves honestly accountable for their conduct. This is not smoke; this is fire.

Why should they? People do the “right” thing for one of two reasons: virtue and self-interest.

Will APS clean house because it is the right thing to do? If there were that virtue in the Leadership of APS, the house wouldn’t be this dirty. The truth would not need to be hidden. Honest accountability would not be being rejected.

Will the Leaders of the APS clean house in their own self interest? If a clean house were in their self interest, the house would not be dirty. If the truth supported their interests, they would be telling it. If they were willing to be held accountable, they would answer yes, when they are asked:

Will you hold yourself honestly accountable to the same standard of conduct that applies to student?

Five times they have sat in silence rather than answer the question. This is not smoke, this is fire.

APS: “Breaking the faith” still on the table.

The APS axis, eight people and their lawyers, sit a top a vast empire. There are at least a few people on the west side, who believe the best interests of their community would be served by a division of that empire.

The counter attack to preserve the empire includes the following threat: If you split from the District, you will leave your share of the bond money here. You will pay increased property taxes, but you will receive none of the money.

Paula Maes said, “Where are they going to get the money?” “They’re not thinking straight.”

According to this morning’s Journal, Modrall lawyer, Art Melendrez said, the board is not “legally” required to use the money raised Tuesday for West Side schools.

Again according to the Journal, Melendrez was able to recognize that changing the plan “would probably be viewed as breaking the faith” … with voters.

Gee, do ya think?

You will notice that he did cover the collective butt though; he said “probably”. Nobody really knows for sure. Right?

For the record, if the Leadership of APS were honestly accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct, breaking the faith would no longer be on the table. It would never have been placed on the table.

APS sleight of hand.

Before the school bond issue election; voters were assured by pretty much everyone that, the election was about kids/buildings, it was not about APS Leadership.

Now that the bond issue has passed, 57% of a frighteningly low turnout has apparently endorsed APS Leadership as well.

The Journal, this morning, quotes APS School Board President, Character Counts Leadership Council President, New Mexico Broadcasters Association President, and Modrall Law’s First Lady, Paula Maes.

“If the bond had failed, I think, the mayor would have had a lot better ground to stand on because he would have said, ‘Look, the community doesn’t trust APS to manage this huge amount of money.’ “ Maes said, “It’s going to be harder for him to say that now.”

Now, after the avalanche of community support for eight people, not one of whom will hold themselves accountable even to the student standard of conduct.

The problem is global, APS is only one example.

The single worst problem in public service is incompetence and corruption. Both of which exist because we have failed to provide for honest accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct.

The axis of the school board, administration, and Modrall, fundamentally public servants all, is standing squarely against any form of honest accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct.

If eight people and their lawyers can carry off creating an exception for themselves; who exactly do you think ever will be held accountable, in their public service, to a meaningful standard of conduct? On whom will you launch the first real challenge to abusive power?

There is no precedent. Where are there public servants who are held immediately and unequivocally accountable for their conduct as they wield the power of the people; power on loan to them; power entrusted to them?

If not them, then who?

If not now, then when?

If not you, then who?

So, I guess asking you to resign is out of the question?

For the fifth time in as many board meetings, the APS board and administration refused to answer the question.

As stewards of 351 million dollars, and as the role models for 98,000 of our sons and daughters, will you hold yourself honestly accountable to the same standard of ethical conduct that applies to students?

For the fifth time they sat in silence until my time expired.

The answer is no, folks. The answer is no.

So I asked them if they would resign; the answer was no.

Kill the head; kill the roots?

Some problems are reasonably likened to a snake; the appropriate solution delivered to the head. There are problems like weeds whose solution is applied to the roots.

Such is the problem of incompetence and corruption in public service. It will do no good to kill or replace the head. It must be attacked at its roots.

The greatest irony in the “power of the people” is that the people are not in charge of its use. They can only wield their power through intermediaries. The root of incompetence and corruption in public service is the failure of the people to provide for immediate and absolute accountability for those intermediaries.

The people allow the terms of public service to be determined by the (public) servant. It is absurd.

Systemic incompetence and corruption will not be eliminated by those whose existence depends on a system that tolerates incompetence and corruption.

Everitt alone is reason enough…

Phill Casaus, Albuquerque Tribune Editor, writes, “Everitt alone is reason enough to vote for the $351 million bond issue…” He is a voter, and that is his absolute prerogative.

Other voters might feel differently. And they are every bit as entitled to allow their decision to depend on that single aspect; or upon other aspects of the issue.

In his commentary, Casaus can mention or not, any aspect of the issue that moves him. On every other page of the paper, he has an obligation to mention every aspect of the issue. Voters rely upon the media in order to cast informed ballots. They trust the media for an impartial and unbiased presentation of the truth.

The media like everyone else telling half the truth; is being entirely deceptive.

There are voters who are legitimately concerned that money appropriated to APS will be wasted. The fact that the board and superintendent steadfastly refuse to be held honestly accountable to a code of ethics, speaks to the concern that the money will not be spent ethically. It is an “issue” in this election.

The APS Axis of the Board, Administration, and Modrall, has decided that voters will not contemplate issues of corruption and incompetence in their consideration of the bond issue. The decision is entirely consistent with their need to suppress the truth.

Inconsistent, is the media’s decision to support that decision. It is inconsistent with their obligation to inform voters fully and fairly.

This ball needs to be kicked on to the field before the election. Voters have a right to know.

This is a case on point for the need for ethical reform in public service.

What is ethical reform if it is not accountability to the truth? Suppressing the truth is not illegal; but it is unethical.

When and where will ethical reform begin, if not here and now?

Just say no.

Winston Churchill said that, if there is no solution, there is no problem.

We have no problem with corrupt and incompetent public service. That, which causes individuals to surrender to temptation, is human nature. “Better humans” is not a solution.

The underlying problem, for which there is a solution, is that the system tolerates, enables, maybe promotes, corruption and incompetence. The solution is to impose a system that is unfriendly to corruption and incompetence. To the extent we can accomplish that, corruption and incompetence are proportionally exposed and deterred.

The first ethical use of power is to ensure that that power cannot be abused, ever.

Clearly we cannot fix the “system”. But there is a weak spot, an Achilles’ heel.

Once the hypothesis is proved, that the people can take their power back when their power is being abused, a precedent is established. If the school board can be held honestly accountable to a meaningful standard, why not the city council, or the legislature?

Who defines the terms of public service, the public or the servant?

Standing in the way are eight people (seven elected, one appointed) and their lawyers.

They are on the record refusing to be held honestly accountable even to the standard to which they still hold students accountable.

Voters want accountability to a higher standard, the servants do not. The servant’s position is indefensible; except by exercising their power to table the discussion.

Corruption exists only because it can.

All we have to do is stand up and say no.

Next Wednesday, the 2oth, 5:00 pm, APS board room.

Lt. Governor Diane Denish joins APS apologists.

On the radio this morning, we are assured by Ms. Denish that none of the APS Bond Issue money will go (directly) into the pockets of APS Administrators in salaries.

Red herring. (from the practice of drawing a red herring across a trail to confuse hunting dogs: something that distracts attention from the real issue). It has never been suggested that there was any connection between the school bond and salaries.

The herring was dragged in front of us to take our eye off the ball. Can these people can be trusted with our money? The issue is whether we trust APS Leadership as stewards of a third of a billion dollars. How can it not be an issue?

Governor Richardson referred in his recent op-ed, to a “persuasive” “argument” that these eight individuals have “a long history of dodging accountability when it comes to managing (their) finances and modernizing schools.”

How is this not an election issue?

It is not an issue, because the board/administration/Modrall axis says so. They have decided that voters will not contemplate the character of the board and administration as they decide whether or not their money is safe and destined for appropriate use.

APS Leaders have decided that they will not be held honestly accountable to any meaningful standard of conduct.

They can’t be touched. They are public servants and they are using the power entrusted to them to save themselves from accountability. Our power, in their hands, makes them too powerful to be held accountable to the even to the law.

This is diametrically opposite to the notion of public servants as “servants”. A notion that I suspect is as old as our republic.

Character Counts. It's a declarative sentence.

"Character Counts" is a declarative sentence. Mostly you see it with an exclamation mark. Character counts a lot.

Or does it? Cheaters never win! Or do they? A persuasive argument could be made that character doesn’t count; at least not as much as money, or power. If character counted, character would be omnipresent.

Character counts sometimes. Character counts with some people.

Most people would agree I think, we are better off as a civilization if we successfully encourage our children to value character; theirs and in others.

If that is really our interest, then we have to stop rejecting the standard which we expect children to embrace.

Younger generations have always fallen short of parents’ standards. Rarely have they fallen short of their parents’ example. It seems like every generation expects the next generation to be the first to hold them selves accountable to a higher standard.

Character is taught by example. It is taught only by example. Our children will not make sacrifices that we will not make ourselves. Why should they; because we tell them to? Hypocrisy is a poor teacher. “Example has more followers than reason.” Bovee

If we really want our children to embrace character and courage and honor; then we must as well. They have to see us leading by our example.

Any standard worthy of their allegiance is worthy of our own. We have to show them what it looks like to hold one’s self accountable to a standard of conduct. We cannot do that except by holding ourselves honestly accountable to a standard of conduct.

So far we have shown them only that we are willing to be held accountable to the law; a standard so low that one who fails to meet it might be caged. And, if you ask me, we doing a damn poor job of showing children that we are accountable even to the law.

At some point we must accept the responsibility of role models and live up to the obligations that that implies.

A worthy candidate or cause should be able to garner votes by illuminating the truth.

To the extent that votes must be earned by deception, whether by omission or commission; mustn’t the candidate or cause admit to unworthiness commensurate to the magnitude of the deception?

It is three days before the vote on the school bond issue.

In theory, the bond vote represents the expressed will of an informed community. In theory, voters will have discussed and debated all of the essential issues; and then based on their understanding of the truth; they will express their will at the polls.

In practice, voters are really not that well informed; they don’t know the whole truth. If that situation exists because the voter is lethargic; it is acceptable (on some level). If the situation exists because of a deliberate and methodical effort to dis-inform voters; it is not acceptable. It is perverse.

Because of a deliberate and methodical effort to suppress the truth; voters will not know the whole truth about the would be stewards of 351M dollars. That is unacceptable. The issue is germane to the approval of a bond issue. We cannot represent a belief and faith in democracy, and at once support its perversion.

The test is simple. Imagine the policy or philosophy, that allows this issue to be deliberately and methodically suppressed; and yet protects the practice of democracy on issues about which we feel differently. Talk about slippery slopes.

How bad do you want it?

Do you want (your) children to grow up to embrace a higher standard of conduct?

If yes, then you have no choice but to model that standard for them. Some one has to show them what it looks like.

It seems as though the younger generation has always fallen short of the standards set by their parents. But they almost never fall short of the example set by their parents.

If we really want our children to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard; we will have to lead by our example.

Children completing Character Counts class used to get a tee shirt that on its front and back read;

Stand up for what you believe in
even if you are standing alone.

During a child’s moment of truth, they should never find themselves alone. There should be an adult behind them offering encouragement and support; an adult beside them sharing the load; and an adult in front of them leading by their example.

It seems silly to try to write about the role modeling and other important things; when so many others have said it so well.

Aphorisms; you either love them or hate them. I hope you appreciate some of the ones I reflect on.

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." Theodore Roosevelt

"Don't worry that children never listen to you. Worry that they are always watching you." Fulghum

"Children need models rather than critics." Joubert

“The question for the child is not ‘Do I want to be good?’ but ‘Whom do I want to be like?’ ” Bettelheim

“Example has more followers than reason.” Bovee

"Why are we surprised when fig trees bear figs?" Titzel

"If we want our children to possess the traits of character we most admire, we need to teach them what those traits are and why they deserve both admiration and allegiance. Children must learn to identify the forms and content of those traits." Bennett
"The formation of character in young people is educationally a different task from and a prior task to, the discussion of the great, difficult ethical controversies of the day." Bennett

"It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately." Thomas Jefferson

"To see what is right and not to do it is cowardice." Confucius

"Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or we grow weak, and at last some crisis shows us what we have become." Brooke Foss Westcott

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Edmund Burke

"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil." Arendt

"Most people are good only so long as they believe others to be so." Friedrich Hebbel

"No one ever became extremely wicked suddenly." Juvenal,

[Because power corrupts] “Society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.” John Adams

"If we lived in a state where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us saintly. But since we see that avarice, anger, pride and stupidity commonly profit far beyond charity, modesty, justice and thought, perhaps we must stand fast a little, even at the risk of being heroes." A Man For All Seasons

“The people have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge – I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers.” John Adams

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power." Abraham Lincoln

“I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do what I can.” Edward Everett Hale

“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” Calvin Coolidge

The New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act

The NMIPRA requires public servants to surrender the truth (in so far as that truth is represented in the form of public records); even against their will.

Under the NMIPRA, I have asked for records (contact information) in order to inform stakeholders about the Ethics Scandal in APS. They have a right to know the truth.

I have asked for contact information for; administrators, teachers, students, parent groups; the community. I have asked for contact information for individual members of the Character Counts Leadership Council.

The Leaders of APS will not surrender the truth.

This allegation is substantiated by current public records. The evidence is incontrovertible.

But the point is moot. They won't surrender those records either. It isn't in their interest. ...to obey the law.

They are breaking the law with impunity.

The Board/Administration/Modrall axis is too powerful to be held accountable to the law.

It is so powerful that it can suppress the truth.

It is powerful enough even to keep the truth out of the news. Through two elections.

“one can give without caring; but one cannot care without giving”

And one cannot care and not pick a side and cowboy up.

There are those who will and will not be accountable to a higher standard. Pick a side. Cowboy up.

Open letter to APS teachers.

You know that if students were more respectful and responsible good citizens, trustworthy, caring and fair; test scores would go up. No (fewer anyway) child would be left behind.

Before APS Leaders stopped asking the question, every year a majority of teachers indicated that classroom disruptions interfered with education.

To fix that problem, we can; ignore/deny it or we can specifically address it. We can address it with an approach around the value of character, like Character Counts; or we can use some other model.

I know of no significantly better model. The District has already endorsed Character Counts; there is at least a toe in the door.

The choice is really; ignore/deny or try modeling Character Counts.

Your board and senior leadership have excepted themselves (and you) from honest accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts. They refuse to be held accountable as role models of Character Counts.

Which pretty much does it for the credibility of Character Counts in APS.

Paula Maes, the School Board President, is the President of the Character Counts Leadership Council. But she and the board and the superintendent will not be held accountable to the same standard to which they hold students accountable.

The Director of the APS Character Counts has betrayed Character Counts. Carole Smith has kept the truth from those who trusted her. And Toby Herrera, and DeeDee Stroud; all of them are senior APS administrators.

The new Employee Standards of Conduct apply to you. Every employee is painted with the same brush.

”…in no case shall the standard for an adult be lower than the standard for students…”

In your name that phrase, and that expectation are no longer part of the standard against which your character will be measured.

The phrase was removed by the senior leadership in order that they could no longer be held accountable to a code of ethical conduct.

The APS Ethics Scandal will be exposed only if those who are willing to stand up and be counted in support of Character Counts, and decency, and courage, and honor; actually stand up to be counted.

At every school board meeting until we have leadership that is honestly accountable to higher standard of conduct.

Please copy this letter to other teachers.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Negative campaigns; or not?

That question begs the question; who decided on that premise?

The servant rode the master.

A servant does not define the terms of servitude.

Why are the public servants defining the terms of public service?

The consensus among voters will determine what a campaign looks like.

When was it decided, by whom was it decided, that you could ask for someone’s vote and never look them in the eye?

Candidates will stand and deliver on any legitimate question or defend their refusal.

No?

Sez who?

In the next election, will the servant again mount the master? Looks like.

APS Ethics Scandal Still Unrefuted

Despite ample opportunity to refute allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct, the record will show none.

My web log will absolutely tell the truth. I will stand in defense of my allegations in any venue.

Bond Outcome Too Important to Let Voters Decide.

If the vote on the bond issue read:

Loan a third of a billion dollars to eight people; not one of whom will be held accountable to a higher standard (than the law).

Would voters cast their votes differently?

Governor Richardson referred in his recent op-ed, to a “persuasive” “argument” that these eight individuals have “a long history of dodging accountability when it comes to managing (their) finances and modernizing schools.”

Is this an election issue? Should voters talk about this before they vote? Will they? Do they have a right to?

People trust the media to give them the information they need to vote intelligently. Many absolutely rely upon the media to help them understand the truth. The obligation of the media to report the truth is much like APS Leaders commitment to Model and Promote the Pillars of Character Counts. It looks good on letterhead, is the stuff of great speeches; but, it's not really enforceable.

I was told by an editor (or news director, I don’t remember) that corruption in APS is old news and people don’t want to hear about it anymore. An editor told me that if I could get a petition with 600 signatures of people who cared about the APS ethics scandal; she might consider assigning a reporter. I don’t think that there is any question as to newsworthiness. The decision not to report the truth is manifest abuse of power. It is a betrayal of trust.

The media in this town know the truth; the community doesn’t. And powerful people are so hooked up that, no one can do anything about it; especially one old shop teacher.

You won’t read the truth about the APS Ethics Scandal in the papers, you won’t see it on the news, but you can find it at Diogenes’six.

APS’s Praetorian Guard (the School Police)

From their own website: (This quote does not fairly represent its context.)

The primary focus is directed toward assisting the school principal ...

But it does fairly represent the function of the school police. If your interest is in escaping accountability; it works to have the police working for you. There is a reason that when Michael Vigil was arrested for aggravated drunk driving; he asked that Gil Lovato (the chief of police) be allowed to come to his rescue.

It’s all about controlling the truth.

When I asked Gil Lovato if the preatorian guard was certified or accredited by any outside organization; he said "no".

Have you ever noticed that APS can’t fire a senior administrator without giving them a quarter of a million or so when they leave? Ever wondered why?

Immunity for felony misconduct

My expose of the APS Ethics Scandal often includes the phrase; …unresolved allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct, including felony criminal misconduct.

The point is not so much that the allegations go unresolved as it is; the Leadership of APS represents a culture of ignoring rules and escaping accountability.

When the Council of Great City Schools did an independent audit of APS, they wrote about the evaluation system that the Leadership use for each other. They wrote …evaluations are subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placement. Does that sound like a system that ensures that the most capable administrators will be in charge of spending a third of a BILLION dollars?

There are allegations, mine, of ethical and criminal misconduct. Were all participants accountable to a code of ethics; those allegations would see a principled resolution. A principled resolution guarantees that the whole truth is considered by a competent and impartial third party. And that that consideration is guided by a set of agreed upon principles; in this case the Pillars of Character Counts.

There is only one reason to avoid a principled resolution; it is to avoid the exposure of the truth. Principled resolution of my complaints has been my consistent demand. Opposition to a principled resolution has been the only response by APS Leaders by and through its legal arm, the Modrall Firm.

There is substantial and irrefutable proof. That it is irrefutable is established by the fact that the record shows that not one allegation has been refuted (on the record, sworn testimony or admitted evidence). The proof of that statement exists in the form of public records.

Public records are accessible under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records. According to the law, all one has to do is ask Rigo Chavez, APS Custodian of Public Records, for the opportunity to inspect and/or copy the records.

They sit in a box, neatly organized and available for immediate surrender; at least that is the intent of law.

Anyone can ask for them, but just try to get the Leadership of APS to surrender them.

There is a body of lawyers, specialists in Juris Mustelidae Mustela who stand between the intent of law and accountability to that intent (by powerful people). They will appear in cases like this; and they will deny your rights under the law.

Is this the example that we want to set for principals, teachers and 100,000 of our sons and daughters?

Character Counts Leadership Council betrayed?

By way of background; Character Counts represents a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethics. It is the standard to which students in APS are held accountable. In my opinion, it is by far the most promising approach to children who we hope will come to embrace character and courage and honor.

It is also a network of organizations from locals to a national site. It is worth a google.

• The Character Counts Leadership Council is the local.
• There is also a Character Counts Office in APS; headed by one Carole Smith.
• Paula Maes, the School Board President, is also the President of the Leadership Council.
• As it pertains to (the lack of) attention by the media, Paula Maes is the President of the New Mexico Broadcasters Association.
• Paula Maes husband is the President of APS’s legal arm; the Modrall Law Firm.

As part of my strategy to address the APS Ethics Scandal, I have been trying to get people of gravitas to stand up and be counted in opposition to the efforts of the Leaders of APS.


I have tried to approach the Character Counts Leadership Council. It is difficult because the APS site where their contact information would be proudly displayed; displays only a bankrupt excuse for its absence.

I believe that APS Leaders have violated the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, in their failure to provide contact information for the members of the Council. They have also failed to provide information to contact administrators; and teachers, and students, and their parents.

There are several people who know that I want to tell the Council the truth. And they sit on the Council. What have they shared with the Council? Do Council members know that their President, Paula Maes, refuses to be held honestly accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts? Do they know that APS Leaders have all excepted themselves from accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts?

That they know; is important. Character Counts recognizes the stakeholder right to autonomous decision making. They have a right to the truth. They have a right to decide for themselves whether they will ignore the APS Ethics Scandal, or will they stand up and be counted? They are being denied the right to make that decision by those who are suppressing the truth.

According to Character Counts doctrine:

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.

It would seem that council members, who know the truth, have some obligation to tell it.

Unless of course, there is no legitimate expectation of trust.

Sincerity: if you can fake it, you've got it made. Daniel Schorr

There is something especially obnoxious about betraying trust among people who place such high value upon it.

Their names are Paula Maes, Carole Smith, Toby Herrera, Dee Dee Stoud, and Lisa Breeden. In an odd irony, Lisa Breeden works for one of the founding fathers of Character Counts, Senator Pete Domenici.

Governor Richardson reminds us we're buying buildings.

He would like us to focus on the fact that APS desperately needs some money. He asks us to ignore the issues of

• Waste on, “bureaucratic red tape.”
• APS’s “…long history of dodging accountability…”
• “…ill will across the state.”,
• Legislative and community “…distrust of APS…”
• “…a lack of leadership…”

He reassures us that, “Following the election, I welcome a debate on potential solutions aimed at requiring more accountability in our schools.” As in “…giving Albuquerque’s Mayor some control over the city’s schools.”

I feel better already.

The problem is corruption and incompetence. The solution is honest accountability. By their own representation, the Leadership of APS will not hold themselves honestly accountable even to the standard they hold for students. And we are just supposed to ignore it. And early next year, when we approve another 125 million dollars and elect board members; will we just have to ignore it then as well?

How unimportant is trust when we’re talking about trusting people with a third of a billion dollars and no accountability?

Lower taxes your taxes

If we eliminate incompetence and corruption, by insisting on honest accountability in public service; our taxes will go down. Or I’ll eat a bug.

APS Administrators Guilty knowledge?

For the most this pertains to administrators in that they have the power and others don’t.

They can be divided into at least two groups. There are those who are incompetent and/or corrupt. And there are those who are neither incompetent nor corrupt; yet have guilty knowledge of the corruption and incompetence.

Guilty knowledge means you could have done something, you should have done something; but you didn’t. It means that there is nothing honorable or courageous, or even acceptable, about not doing the right thing.

In so far as incompetence and corruption are part of the District’s culture, it would be difficult to represent that you never, ever saw it.

I would grant the possibility, that there could be administrators who could look you in the eye and represent that they are so clueless that they could not see the truth.

Fortunately, there are also those who can show a record of the times that they have stood up for what they believed in; at some personal sacrifice.

Sometimes on specific issues, there is a group who are simply out of the loop.

There are those who really do not know that the Leadership of APS is excepting itself from honest accountability even to the student standard. Maybe, if they knew the truth, they would be outraged. Maybe Character Counts is a hill worth dying on.

They would stand for their students, and their parents, and their teachers. They would stand up for what they believe in, even if they stand alone.

The Leadership of APS has deliberately interfered with my efforts to contact administrators, teachers, students and parents.

This is a case on point. APS Leaders are not breaking the law when they deny autonomous decision making to stakeholders. It is an ethical concept. They cannot be held accountable for conduct which is legal, but never the less reprehensible. They cannot be held accountable because by their own decision, they are no longer accountable for ethical misconduct.

It worth noting that no credible explanation has been offered for the media’s failure to inform voters and their community about the APS Ethics Scandal.

The Chamber supports Character Counts. Not!

The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, in the person of Teri Cole, knew about the APS Ethics Scandal as early as early as June of this year.

I see no evidence that they have done anything but help to cover it up.

In my effort to address the APS Ethics Scandal, a betrayal of the Principles of Character Counts, leadership, and trust; I tried to contact the Character Counts Leadership Council. APS has denied my requess for the information that I need to contact its members.

I went to the Chamber of Commerce because they claim to support Character Counts.

From the Chamber's website:

Partnering with the local Character Counts! Leadership Council, the Chamber promotes the implementation of formal plans to advance Character Counts! in workplaces throughout the metro area.

(like the Albuquerque Public Schools main office?)

Teri Cole was informed of the nature, depth and breadth of the scandal. I think that she owes Chamber of Commerce members, the Character Counts Leadership Council, and the community, an explanation of her apparently inappropriate response. Teri Cole, if she claims to be a “believer” in the Pillars of Character Counts, had a responsibility to stand up and defend Character Counts and the community against the scandalous behavior of the Leadership of APS.

Now she needs to stand up and tell us why she did not.

Albuquerque's news media can report credibly on the APS Ethics Scandal

only after they report credibly on their failure to report on the APS Ethics Scandal.

who defines the terms of public service; the public or the public servant?

the public.

The problem is not the solution; it will not self correct.

The problem is corruption

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. Upton Sinclair

Similarly you cannot expect a man to end corruption if his existence depends on corruption.

Einstein said that you cannot solve a problem on the same level it was created. This problem was created, and is maintained by the highest levels of public servants. There is only one higher level; the public.

The public as the servant’s master may seem incongruous with the current situation; where in the public servants ride the public like a donkey.

It is not that the power is not ours; because it is. It is simply that we allow ourselves to be mounted by our servant.

The power needs to be taken back. It will not be taken back in a face to face confrontation between powerful and powerless individuals. The outcome of that pairing is as obvious as it is inevitable.

However a large number of powerless people in the face of one powerful person can wrest their power back.

There is available a large number of people who are motivated but powerless. They are powerless because each stands before a different door; feckless. There is no power in small numbers.

Somehow we must gather in front of the same door. We should do it; but in front of which door?

The first win is the most important. It will prove that a win is possible. It will be the example to point to.

May I suggest that we break down the flimsiest door first? Even a weak door will prove the hypothesis.

There exists; a very flimsy door. A small group of relatively unimportant, but elected, public servants has placed itself in an indefensible position. Despite the fact that they are the senior role models for 100,000 of our sons and daughters, and despite the fact that they would have us trust them with a half a BILLION dollars; they refuse to be held honestly accountable to a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethics.

Four times, in public, on the record, on videotape and witnessed by reporters from two large newspapers.
I am only one man. I have knocked on their door four times with no effect.

Perhaps if someone followed me to the podium; and there asked the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education and Administrative Superintendent; “Will you hold yourself honestly accountable to the student standard of conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts?” they might answer. Doubtful.

Two knocks I think will not break down the door; nor four; nor twenty; maybe not a hundred. But there is a tipping point; and on that evening everything will change. It will be demonstrated that power can be wrest back from corrupt public servants; even against their will.

And on the next evening we will go the city council and ask, “Are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable to a code of ethics?”; like the School Board? And then we go to the Mayor’s office, and the legislature, and the Governor. We’ll take our state back.

Your sacrifice will include showing up for about an hour, 5:00 until 6:00 every first and third Wednesday evening until we win; or give up.

You can stand up for what you believe in simply by standing there to be counted. Perhaps you will be compelled to sign up for the public forum, walk up and ask, “Are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable to the same standard as students?”

Corruption exists only because it can. It exists only because we allow it to exist. No one, no one is going to fix it but us. We will do it; or it will not be done.

Bring someone else. Bring your child. If they are to grow to embrace character and courage and honor; someone has to show them what it looks like.