Why is the APS Character Counts Leadership Council Membership Secret?

Why is Carole Smith, APS' head honcho for Character Counts! keeping the names of the members of the leadership council a secret?

Do they even exist?

Has something been misrepresented in order to secure federal money for the APS?

Have they resigned en masse over Paula Maes'
egregious betrayal of the principles whose defense the claim to "lead"?

How does a role model lead secretly?

I cannot imagine why the membership of the
APS Character Counts Leadership Council
must be kept secret.

Can you?

Did Phill Casaus betray Marty Esquivel?

Mr. Esquivel courageously shinnied out on a limb;
he was the first in the history of the APS to propose
an effective end to corruption and incompetence
in the leadership of the APS.

Phill, and the good ole boys who own the truth here
in River City, sat and watched as Marty climbed out,
and as Paula Maes and the APS good ole boys club
sawed the limb off behind him.

There is a supposed conflict in honest journalism;

if you are a camera man and some asshole
is beating the shit out of your friend the reporter,

do you film it, or stand up with your friend?

When I taught character counts to young people
I used to illustrate with two stories about the different
kinds of loyalty.

In one, two friends are walking through the woods
when a mountain lion confronts them.
As one of them strips off his backpack getting ready
to run, the other says, "You can't out run a lion"
to which his "friend" replies
"I don't have to out rut the lion,
I only have to outrun you."

In other, an English author, Shelley I believe
was walking across his boyhood school ground
when he saw his friend being beaten by a bully.
He confronted the bully, asking
"How many times are you going to hit him?"
The bully asked, "What difference does it make?"
To which the "friend" replied,
"Because I will take half."


So the next time some camera man is filming you
getting your ass kicked,
who would you rather the cameraman be;
Marty Esquivel or Phill Casaus?

Or Thomas J Lang, Kent Walz, Michele Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl, or Sue Stephens?

Marty Esquivel Knuckles Under

APS School Board Member Marty Esquivel used to be
the only member of the leadership of the APS,
who openly advocated for a full scale accountability audit
of the administration of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

It doesn't really make any difference why
he no longer does.

I suspect that his spirit has been crushed under the
onerous weight of school board president Paula Maes,
the Modrall law firm, and his betrayal by Phill Casaus
and the good ole boys that run the newspapers
and broadcast news



Like I said, it really doesn't make any difference
because the effect is the same.

There is once again,
not a single member of the leadership of the APS,
not one board member, not one administrator;
who will enable the end of corruption and incompetence
in the leadership of the APS by commissioning an audit.


Woe unto students and other stakeholders,

In a world where newspapers defend democracy

the information that voter stakeholders need
is provided by the newspapers;
clearly, candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

In a world where newspaper men and women
defend and represent for the privileged class,

in Albuquerque for example,

news men and women, like Thomas J Lang,
Phill Casaus, Kent Walz, Michelle Donaldson,
Thomas Pearl, and Sue Stephens

report the outrages of the privileged class selectively
or not at all.


One such outrage is the ethics and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS.


Tommy Lang , et al, will not, because they can not,

explain, defend, or even acknowledge their decision
to ignore the corruption and incompetence in the
leadership of the APS.

Their decision not to investigate and report upon
the scandal is indefensible.


So they will continue to stonewall

as their contribution to the defense of democracy
and of the rights of taxpayers and voters in Albuquerque.


Albuquerque's finest
... at their finest.

Character Counts is NOT a grassroots movement

"grassroots - of or involving the common people
as constituting an agent of change"

Character Counts appeals to the common man
as a means of leveling the playing field.

If the world were a place where character counts
cheaters would never win.

In a world where character doesn't really count,
cheaters always win.

And the idea that the common people will inspire
the privileged class to embrace the importance of character

as a means of leveling the playing field,

is either hopelessly naive

or a deliberate deception offering at most,
false hope to common people, the "great unwashed"

in order that they not become so disillusioned and angry, that they rise up and displace the privileged class.


And replace the good ole boys
with a system where character counts,
really counts.



The patently obvious unlikelihood of either eventuality,

the virtual impossibility that the privileged class
will be displaced by revolution or inspiration


is what makes describing Character Counts
as a grassroots movement,
the death knell for Character Counts.
\
Grassroots movements, by their very nature,
pit the powerless against the powerful.

The result is as obvious as it is inevitable.

"Power shites on the back of reason." B. Franklin

Always has, always will,
apparently.

Linda Sink to be next APS Superinendent

Tommy Lang and the Journal have manifest their
support for the "wonder principal" Linda Sink, as the
new APS superintendent. (link sub req)

Apparently the only thing Ms. Sink didn't do while
she was working at AHS, was to hold herself
honestly accountable as a role model of the
student standard of conduct.

Same as now.

APS Superintendent Candidates Will Evade Question

The candidates for the next superintendent of the APS
have no choice but to evade the question.

Will you be accountable as a role model?

Consider their choices, there are four; answer yes,
answer no, refuse to answer, or evade the question
(stonewall).

Easiest to hardest;

Stonewall.

It is the easiest because they can do it in secret.

The media would not ask the last superintendent
to answer the question.

They will not ask the current superintendent
to answer the question.

They will not ask the next superintendent
to answer the question;

as a matter of privilege.

Answer no.

Harder, because the candidate would eliminate themselves from serious consideration as the next superintendent.

The public would never stand for the school board
hiring a candidate that admits on the record that
they have no intention of being held accountable
as a role model for students.

Refuse to answer.

Again, this choice would end the candidate's chance of being hired.

The public would never stand for a candidate who refused, on the record,
to answer the question;

because they know what refusing to answer the question really means.

Answer yes.

This represents an impossibly difficult answer to extract from any candidate. They cannot answer yes.

There is in fact, not a single senior administrator or
board member in the entire APS
who will answer the question, yes.

The problem is that in order to be able to answer yes,
in order to actually be a role model for students,
one would have to hold themselves honestly
accountable to the student standard of conduct.

Whatever else role model means,
it means if you hold students accountable to a standard,
you hold yourself accountable to that same standard;
as an example, as a role model.

If the new superintendent were actually accountable
to the student standard of conduct,
s/he would have to hold subordinates accountable
to that same standard as well;

a widely recognized, accepted and respected
code of ethical conduct.



Which means they would all be subject to an immediate full scale accountability audit.

Which means the end to incompetence, corruption, and
the practices that enable them, in the leadership of the APS.

Which means public humiliation and disgrace, firings,
and if there is justice, civil and criminal prosecutions.

The good ole boys club would be wiped out entirely.



And since no superintendent is really going to do that;



No one is going to answer yes.
They can't answer no.
And, they can't refuse to answer.

They have no choice; they must evade the question,

Just like Paula Maes,
and every single member of the school board is doing.

Just like Linda Sink,
and every single member of the senior administration of the APS is doing.


Nobody will know about it because
the media in Albuquerque are as corrupt as
the leadership of the APS.


Thomas J Lang, publisher
Kent Walz, editor
Phill Casaus, editor
Sue Stephens, channel 7
Michelle Donaldson, channel 13, and
Thomas Pearl, channel 4.

Shame on you for not asking the question yourself
these many years.


Shame on you more
for not asking it now.

Did APS Superintendent Linda Sink "Lie"

"A half truth is a whole lie." unk

Linda Sink said,

“APS has had great success with Character Counts!”
link

Is the statement the truth? candid, forthright and honest?
Is it even half the truth?

I would maintain that in a school district where
there is not a single administrator or board member
who will pledge allegiance to the Pillars of Character Counts!

even though it is being represented as the student standard of conduct,

has failed so miserably with Character Counts! that there is nothing that balances it, much less surpasses it, and would justify a statement that implies, district wide, “APS has had great success with Character Counts!”.

Their abdication as role models of the Pillars of Character Counts!; including the abdication of the President of the Character Counts! Leadership Council herself

is such an egregious betrayal of the principles of Character Counts!

that Linda Sink cannot honestly say “APS has had great success with Character Counts!”

And she has lied to stakeholders.

Taking national Character Counts! staff to schools which do not fairly, accurately, and honestly represent the presence of CC in any school except a very few and exceptional schools, is deceitful.



Linda Sink, and the leadership of the APS, could respond to this allegation. They have Monica Armenta, and a million dollars worth of spin doctors, and Carole Smith, APS' Character Counts Director, to gather every success story that has been accomplished district wide.

Let them all work together to assemble the positive side of the ledger; and then place it along with the statement; “APS has had great success with Character Counts!”

On the other side, let them admit that there is no administrator or board member in the entire APS that can claim to be honestly accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts!, the student standard of conduct; and that they have, one and all, abdicated from their responsibilities as role models of the student standard of conduct.

Let stakeholders view them side by side and
determine for themselves whether or not

Linda Sink lied.



The greatest success that (the leadership of) the APS
can point to; is that they managed to except themselves
from accountability to the student standard of conduct
(and the law) without stakeholders finding out.

A tip of the hat for that ,goes to Thomas J Lang,
Kent Walz,Phill Casaus, Michelle Donaldson,
Sue Stephens, Thomas Pearl
and their ilk, for their help in the cover up.

Darren White, Kari Brandenburg; Dishonest

You can at least understand why the leadership of the APS does not want the law enforced, with regard to their
criminal abuse of Darren White's NCIC data base.

You can also understand why
Darren White does not want the law enforced.

But it is his job, it is the commitment he made,
it is the oath he swore.

How bad could the truth be, that he needs to
hide the truth more than he needs to enforce the law?

And Kari Brandenburg, how bad could the truth be,
that she needs to hide the truth more than she needs to
enforce the law, meet her commitment, and live up to
the oath she swore?

These points would be moot, except for
Thomas J Lang, Phill Casaus, Kent Walz,
Michelle Donaldson, Sue Stephens and
Thomas Pearl;

each of whom has be given an individual opportunity
to respond, refute, or rebut the allegation that

they are covering up an ethics and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS, that manifest itself in
felony criminal misconduct using Darren White's computers.

And instead, each chooses to stonewall.

The only reason to stonewall
is to defend an indefensible position.

Stonewalling is dishonest.

And so is the leadership of the APS,
Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White,
District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, and
media who are hiding all of this from stakeholders.

There is no such thing as "ethics reform" in government

that does not include absolute transparency
in the administration of the public trust and treasure.

Anything else is at best,
a baby step in the right direction.

Gradegate; Final Score

NM Secretary of Education, Veronica Garcia,
for her botched gradegate "investigation" and for her
decision to prevent a public hearing of the evidence;
off scot-free.

Paul Calderon, NM Educator Ethics Bureau; for his part in the botched "investigation";
off scot-free.

Beth Everitt; off scot-free.

Nelinda Venegas, and Susie Peck; off scot-free.

Miguel Acosta, and Teresa Cordova; off scot-free.


The only person to suffer any consequence at all;
Elsy Fierro, publicly accused of gross ethical misconduct,
guilty or no,
and then denied the opportunity to clear her name.

This is so bad for stakeholders; so wrong,
and so just like the corrupt leadership of the APS
and the NMPED.

What did Elsy Fierro do wrong?

I read with interest the many comments on blogs and forums; mostly against Fierro.

Many commenters regard these shenanigans as Elsy Fierro's efforts to get away with something.

I don't know Elsy Fierro, and I don't know anymore about Gradegate than anyone else reading the newspapers and listening to the news.

I can't help but think that
the only person who wants an open public hearing,
the only person who wants the truth to come out;

must not have as much to hide as everyone else.


Which indicates to me that she really is the scapegoat
for a decision that was made by more senior members
of the leadership of the APS; who are still needing
the cover provided by Veronica Garcia and the media.

A casual search of media headlines reveals that
all the news people are pushing Garcia's version;
"There is no case without the student records."

Even though these "crucial" records were unnecessary
up to now, and their absence up to now, did not
prevent Garcia et al, from formally, and publicly,
charging Fierro with ethical misconduct so gross
as to warrant loosing her license.

Seems reckless and incompetent to me.

In my book, Veronica Garcia and the senior leadership of the
APS look far guiltier than Elsy Fierro; and I for one
would have been interested in hearing Fierro's version of the truth.

Fierro, through her steadfast insistence on airing
the truth, has earned the benefit of the doubt.

Everitt, Maes, and Garcia on the other hand,
seem to be the beneficiaries of no doubt at all;

and their misconduct should have been revealed
in a public hearing.

"Judge's decision forces state to drop Fierro ethics case."

according to the headline in the Trib. link

Except that it isn't true.

"Education Secretary Veronica Garcia said in a news release Thursday that without access to the records, the department could no(t) ... pursue the case." (emphasis added)

Judge Nash disagreed and; "... suggested in her written decision that the state could have continued with its case." (emphasis added)

"While the records are extremely useful, NMPED can present at least some of the information through witness testimony," Nash wrote." (emphasis added)

Whoya gonna believe, a highly respected District Court Judge or Veronica Garcia?

The "state" wasn't forced to drop anything.
Veronica Garcia chose to drop the case
in order to maintain a cover up.

And to cover the the trail that leads to public
corruption in the highest levels of the APS and
the NMPED, she has dragged the red herring
of "student records" out to cover her scent.

Susie Gran writes; "The state Public Education Department will drop its ethics case against an Albuquerque school administrator after a judge refused to allow crucial records to be disclosed." (emphasis added)

How was it that Veronica Garcia was able to
publicly accuse Elsy Fierro of ethical misconduct
so gross as to warrant action against her license;
if she had not yet seen the evidence that she
now claims is "crucial" to pursuing her case?


The student records are a red herring,
dragged across the trail of a bunch of corrupt
public servants, to hide their trail.

The trib bought it hook, line, and sinker,
or worse,
they know it's crap, but printed it anyway.




The student records are a red herring.

The leadership of the Trib are fish mongers;

and their paper is fit mostly, for wrapping fish.

"You can't just tell the truth; you don't know how someone might try to use it."

according to West Point graduate and former
APS Superintendent, Peter Horoscak.

It was his justification for not changing school board policy to reflect the right of teachers and other stakeholders to know the truth about what was going on in their schools.

That was almost fifteen years ago, and
damned if that isn't the way the leadership of the APS
feels about it still.

"It takes a Village to Raise a Child"

the ones who are raised instead by TV, video games
and by other children, are turning out deficient
in important aspects of their character.

How is it that School Board President Paula Maes
gets to choose for this community
that their will be no character education
in the Albuquerque Public Schools?

How can Thomas J Lang, Phill Casaus, Kent Walz,
Michelle Donaldson (KRQE), Thomas Pearl (KOB)
and Sue Stephens, sell out 89,000 of our sons
and daughters in the APS to hide Paula Maes'
abdication as the most senior role model in
the leadership of the APS?

"Schools committed to character education, ..."

must;

1. Define core ethical values in terms of observable behaviors and hold all school members accountable to standards of conduct consistent with those behaviors
2. Help members of the school community recognize, value, and act upon core ethical values.
3. Integrate character development into all aspects of school life and deliberately plan ways to Imbue every area of the school environment -- including the classroom, the cafeteria, the hallways, and the playground -- with evidence of core ethical values.
4. Provide students with real-life challenges to help them develop a practical understanding of the moral requirements of the core ethical values.
5. Provide a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners and helps them succeed.
6. Develop students' intrinsic commitment both to core values and to the academic curriculum.
7. Involve all school staff in modeling and promoting core ethical values, and provide staff with the same opportunities for personal and academic growth afforded students.
8. Require strong moral leadership from both staff and students.
9. Recruit the help of parents and community business, religious, government, and media.
10. Continuously assess the progress of character education by evaluating the character of the school, the character of the students, and the success of the staff as character educators.

Dr. Thomas Lickona

"There is no such thing as ...value-free education.
Schools teach values every day, by design or default.
When schools do not teach values,
they are teaching that values are not important."

"... we must consciously set about creating a moral climate within our schools."

"I believe that a values vacuum exists in American society, and that teachers must not be casual or apologetic about confronting it. We must make an explicit commitment to formal character education. We must integrate character education into the fabric of the curriculum and into extracurricular activities. We must train teachers in character education -- both pre-service and in-service. And we must consciously set about creating a moral climate within our schools."

Bob Chase, President National Education Association

link

Is Character Education the Answer?

"As incidents of in-school violence become more common, and strict disciplinary techniques and increased security measures fail to control the problem, many parents, educators, politicians, and social leaders are looking for reliable methods of prevention. Is character education the answer?"

So begins the examination of the potential of character education to pro-actively address the problems that stand between students and their education. Link

If you are a stakeholder in public education
I am betting that you will bookmark this site;
Education World, for your further reference.

"All of us in business and the entire adult community need to do our part in helping build young people of high character. There isn't a more critical issue in education today." (emphasis added)

Sanford N. McDonnell, Chairman emeritus of the former McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

Michael Josephson and Jessica Ellis

... the founder of Character Counts! and the National VP who visited APS last week;

They are apparently comfortable with the local
Character Counts Leadership Council, and its
president Paula Maes modeling only hypocrisy
for 89,000 students in the APS.

They see no problem, apparently, with the
President of the Character Counts Leadership Council,
rejecting the Pillars of Character Counts as her own
standard of conduct, even for the measly few hours
each day that she serves as APS' most senior
role model of the student standard of conduct.

They are comfortable with the deliberate deception being visited on APS stakeholders.

I would assume at this point, that they will remain comfortable for as long as the APS continues to buy crap from the CC store.

I am beginning wish I had never met
Michael Josephson or heard of Character Counts!



"We will remember, not the words of our enemies,
but the silence of our friends.
MLK

Gradegate Cover Up Successful

The NM Public Education Department will drop its case against Elsy Fierro, according to the Journal this morning link sub req)

The public will never know why State Education Secretary Veronica Garcia (friend of Beth Everitt and Paula Maes) "investigated" the scandal without asking Everitt, Acosta, or Cordova to answer a single question on the record.

Stakeholders will never know which board members and administrators pulled strings for County Commissioner Teresa Cordova and former School Board Member Miguel Acosta;

clearing the way for the next politico looking for
special treatment.

Nothing has changed, nothing has gotten any better;
it is just more of the same old, same old.

No wonder some many have given up trying
to end the culture of corruption in NM politics
that will keep us forever,

50th in everything.