Ensuring A candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools

Ms. Griego,

If a candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools is your honest interest;
you will have to vote not to accept another agenda which does not include that discussion.

Mr Esquivel,

To the extent that you represent my interests in the Albuquerque Pubic Schools, I insist that you vote not to accept another agenda that does not include a candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

Mr Rowe,

If there is ever going to be a candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools, it will be necessary for you to vote not to accept another agenda which does not include that discussion.

Ms Martin,

the legacy of your many years of service to this community depends on a candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

Unless you vote not to accept another agenda that does not include that discussion;

the legacy of your service will be an administration that tolerates and enables corruption and incompetence.

Stakeholder constituents are owed a roll call vote on the acceptance of any agenda that does not include

a candid, forthright and honest discussion of the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

School Board Member Delores Griego

has on two, maybe three, occasions indicated that she would like the board to discuss "school board ethics".

Her expressed interest is then ignored by the rest of the board.

Not even Marty Esquivel will second her emotion.

I would suggest to Ms. Griego, a more direct approach;
at the board meeting tonight, when the vote is taken to adopt the agenda, vote no. Vote against any agenda that does not include a candid, forthright and honest discussion of school board ethics.

Perhaps if she stands up for what she believes in,
Marty Esquivel might find the courage to do the same.

Which might inspire Gordy Rowe to grow a pair,
which might inspire Mary Lee Martin to stand up as well.

If four members of the board vote not to accept another agenda that does not step up the ethics and accountability crisis in the leadership of the APS

the remaining three board members; Maes, Lucero, and Facio, would have no way to keep the subject from coming to the table.

Inn of the Mountain Gods Soiree Comes Full Circle

Remember when a bunch of APS vendors underwrote the administrative soirée at the Inn of the Mountain Gods? link

Now we find out from the Meyners audit that those vendors might have benefited from a; "Requisition & procurement process (that) is bypassed and contract process (that is) not adhered to"; and a "Lack of and enforcement of financially sound policies and procedures."

Which begs the question; were any of the vendors who paid for the party at the Inn of the Mountain Gods beneficiaries of a requisition and procurement process that is not adhered to, and the lack of sound policies and procedures?

My guess would be yes.

Which begs another question; What if Meyners + Co found violations of the law during their audit of the APS Finance Division?

What is Meyners + Co. required to do with evidence of violation of civil or criminal statutes?

Are they required to report law breaking? Is there a bean counter code of ethics? Does it mean anything more than the utterly fectless lawyers code of ethics, or the journalists' code of ethics?

If APS administrators have broken the law, will Maes/Modrall be covering their asses and billing taxpayers $3-600 dollars an hour?

Who covers our backs?

Meyners + Co cannot be allowed to continue the cover up of the mess in the Finance Division. They have already indicated that they can, and will, produce a report of a financial crisis in the APS without naming a single administrator who should be held accountable for the mess.

I just looked up Meyners + Co. link
It turns out their offices are right next to Modrall's.
What a coincidence.

Corruption Possible?

From the Meyner audit of the APS Financial Department;

• District Superintendents have encumbered the District for purchases or services greater than $50,000 without involving purchasing.
• We were unable to locate any district wide policies and procedures that were updated and trained upon.
• Requisition & procurement process is bypassed and contract process not adhered to
• Other District staff have encumbered the District by signing for purchases or services without involving purchasing.
• Requisitions and/or purchase orders for software or high cost items may not go through appropriate authorizations
• Inventories for fixed assets have not been taken and the tagging system is not current
• Equipment that has been issued to various schools and classrooms comes up missing.
• New hire orientation is limited to signing up for benefits. There is no district-wide orientation explaining policies and procedures.
• Access (to programs, networks, vpn) is not always deleted when an employee leaves
  

Overall Meyners noted;

Lack of enforcement of financially sound policies and procedures in the APS Financial Department.

A profound lack of standards, accountability and record keeping.

I am willing to bet that some of the Billion tax dollars a year sent to the APS have been stolen and wasted.

What do you think?

"... the problem did not pop up overnight ..."

Good ol' boy accounting.

One of my readers once offered that if you are doing something illegal and will be convicted by a record of your conduct; just don't keep records!
One does not go to prison for keeping lousy books.

APS keeps lousy books on billions of tax dollars.

They have been keeping lousy books for generations.


I have in my possession a copy of the
Executive Summary Analysis of Finance Division
March 5, 2002, and of the
APS Finance Division 2008 Project Plan

They were surrendered without incident by APS' Custodian of Public Records, Rigo Chavez.

I am not an accountant. But if I were, and I wanted to set up They were surrendered in fact; promptly, professionally, and courteously.a system where taxpayers could be easily screwed out of a large part of a billion dollars a year, this is the system I would create, maintain, and defend as though my life depended on it.

"Meyners + Company, LLC (Meyners) was engaged by Albuquerque Public Schools to perform an analysis of the District's financial policies, procedures and financial reporting structure and develop a comprehensive project plan for the Division."

... for which they were paid some great deal of money.

In exchange for which they have offered up an analysis that doesn't name a single good ol' boy, and offers to fix the whole thing for a great deal more money.

... all while continuing to cover the asses
of the good ol' boys who are responsible for the mess.

As an example.

"The problems in the Finance Department did not pop up overnight."

That is Meyners' way of saying the problem has been around for a long time, but doesn't raise the issue of who might be responsible on the night the problems did pop up.

If the the problems popped up any one of the previous 1000 nights or so, they popped up on Tom Savage's watch. If they popped up during any one of the previous 33,000 nights; Tom Savage is responsible for enabling them for a 1000 more.

Paula Maes has made good on her pledge that she would allow no audit that would allow Tom Savage to be held individually accountable for his conduct and competence as a public servant.

Tom Savage will not be held accountable for APS' Peanut Butter Gate and the criminal misuse of Darren White's super sophisticated and secure criminal information data base, and the illegal background check made on Tom Savage's girlfriend.

No one in the APS Peanut Butter Gate scandal will be held criminally accountable.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg has been sitting on the evidence for over a year, still unable to determine whether or not to prosecute high ranking public servants who have committed felony criminal misconduct.


In summary,

• APS has a financial department that is ripe for corruption and handles a billion dollars a year.
• The good ol' boy who owns the problem, is the same good ol' boy who owns the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the APS Police Department.
• He is being protected from the consequences of his corruption and incompetence by Paula Maes and the Modrall Law Firm,
• who regularly litigate against the public interest, and in defense of APS administrators and board members.
• Meyners + Company, LLC has an offer on the table to fix the whole finance department thing without a single good ol' boy's head hitting the floor.
• The offer will be accepted by the leadership of the APS.
  

And the Journal won't investigate and report upon it.

Neither will KRQE, nor KOAT, nor KOB, nor KKOB.

No member of the privileged class will be held accountable against their will; except by the privileged class.

And they like the way Tom Savage keeps their books.

Adult Humor. If it will offend you, don't read it.

Three gentleman are sitting on the porch having an animated discussion. One is arguing that he probably has the largest nose in the world. Another gentleman is arguing that he probably has the world's largest thumbs.

They decide to pursue the issue by going to the place where one can have Guinness World Records decided on the spot.

On the way, the third gentleman reluctantly admits that he probably has the world's smallest penis, and is interested in determining if he too is world record holder.

As they walk out of the place where Guinness World Records are adjudicated on the spot, each carries a sheet of paper.

The first reads his paper and says; "Here it is; I have the world's biggest nose."
The second reads his and says; "And I have the world's biggest thumbs."

The third reads his paper and says; "Who in the hell is Winston C. Brooks?"

When Winston Brooks attention is drawn to this post, he likely will not be amused.

Yet he can do nothing about it.

He cannot take umbrage without admitting that
he has read this post. And that he read my demand for a
candid forthright and honest admission of his intentions
regarding;

1. administrative role modeling
2. administrative standards of conduct and competence, and
3. an administrative accountability audit.

Since he has no intention of being honest with APS stakeholders on those three issues, or even of acknowledging their existence, he cannot respond to the joke either; and it will remain on the internet for eternity, popping up any time anyone googles his name.

Site Based Management That Fails

Site based management can and sometimes does fail.
When it does fail, the urge is to blame the site based management, and site based "managers".

In fact, if site based management has failed at any school in the APS, it is because the administration above the site based managers has failed.

Just because a school's management is site based,
doesn't mean that the leadership of the district can simply
wash their hands of their responsibility to oversee the public
interests in the public schools.

If a site based management team is "failing",
it is the responsibility of a site based administrator to
call attention to the problem and enable its repair.

Instead, one of two things happened;
the site administrator simply called off the process,
or sat back and allowed the dysfunction to continue,
destroying the legitimacy of the effort itself.

The leadership of the APS allowed well meaning and
otherwise qualified decision makers to fall into any one of
a number of pitfalls that could have been easily avoided,
if the ultimate success of site based decision making had
ever been the actual goal of the leadership of the APS.

In the APS, despite the fact that APS teachers bring some
70,000 years of teaching experience to the table,
site based decision making was a long hard fight.
The good ol' boys that run the system were, and are,
reticent to share their power.

The good ol' boys did everything they could to clandestinely
obfuscate the process. As but one example;
consider a school where a number of stakeholders have
gathered to make a decision.

Likely as not, there is not a single one of them who is trained
in facilitating a discussion, or in any of the other concrete skills
necessary to develop and hone consensus.

They were doomed from the start.
They routinely dissolved, unnecessarily, into interpersonal
squabbles and turf wars.

APS never had any intention of letting any stakeholder
group overrule a site based administrator.
Although participants were led to believe that they were
making decisions, they were allowed to make only certain
decisions.

When push came to shove, the final decision was always
the prerogative of the principal, who was always backed by
the central office when s/he usurped the decision making
power from a site based group.

Former APS Administrator and Human Resources "expert"
Michael Houser was asked straight out, how a dispute over
who owns a particular decision would be made.
He said; "There is a reason that principals are given the master keys to a school".

Site based management makes sense. But it has to receive
unqualified support from the leadership.
It never has, and there in lies the rub, and the failure of
site based management at sites where it has indeed, failed.

"Jessica Garate Naked"

If you google Jessica Garate's name, you will find links to
Diogenes' Six because I have used her name in my posts.


Someone googled "Jessica Garate naked" and ended up
at my place.



Sorry dude, no can do.

(Jessica's erstwhile fan found 0 hits.)

Where is the Albuquerque Teachers Federation?

The AFT used to stand in support of the right of teachers to
participate meaningfully in the decisions that affect their
interests; site based management.

Winston Brooks has announced that he intends to put an
end to teachers plotting the future of their own profession.

His mind is already made up.

Not one to make waves (even on behalf of teachers);
nothing yet link from Ellen Bernstein, union president.

Graduation rate goal to be established

It appears that the Journal will support Marty Esquivel's
effort to force Winston Brooks to set a goal for graduation
rates; up from 53% to something closer to the national average
of around 65%.

No one is talking about any intermediate or enabling goals
and objectives.

It is the enabling goals and objectives that allow the final
goal to be reached. If none are identified, or evaluated,
all issues become one.

Consider for example; chronically disruptive students.
I have not seen any figures that represent the effect of
chronically disruptive students on the graduation rate;
I suspect that it is significant.

Yet Winston Brooks will have no specific goal related to
student behavior at school.

The entire student body of the APS will continue to practice
prohibited behavior (sagging as but one example) with the
tacit permission of the leadership of the APS.

The effect of permitting prohibited behavior on the rate
of graduation, will not be measured or evaluated.

Nor will any other of the myriad of the day to day problems
the confront those who work at the educational interface.

Winston Brooks can't pass a bond issue in his own backyard.

It appears that Brooks is asking for a school bond issue that is being opposed almost 9 to 1 by Wichitans. link

Between that and APS' sorry reputation with stakeholder voters, at least we won't have to worry about tax increases for awhile.

The Wichita School Board and Winston Brooks are accused of a lack of integrity in their manipulation of the voting date for their bond election. link

One thing seems certain if you read a little about Brooks' tenure in Wichita, is that he doesn't seem to be a big fan of transparency.

Which means he should fit right in, in the APS.

Winston Brooks can run, but he can't hide.

Sooner or later, the elusive new superintendent will find
himself in a position where he can no longer hide, and
he will be asked for a candid, forthright and honest response
on three issues;

1. administrative role modeling of the student standard of conduct
2. administrative standards of conduct and competence, and
3. accountability by administrators and board members.

What is Brooks' intention regarding an impartial an
administrative accountability audit that would expose the
corrupt and the incompetent in the leadership of the APS?

Will he conduct an audit,
or will he continue to cover the asses of the corrupt and
the incompetent good ol' boys that run the APS?


Brooks, like the current superintendent will hide from the questions for as long as possible.

The media will help. Both the Journal and KRQE had full blown interviews with Brooks and neither asked him about role modeling, or about standards and accountability.

Did it not occur to Jessica Garate to ask?
Did it not occur to Zsombor Peter to ask?

Did Michelle Donaldson tell Jessica not to ask?
Did Kent Walz tell Zsombor not to ask?

The bottom line is that neither asked,
and neither will.

But I will, and it will be in public, and on the record.

You can run, Mr. Winston Brooks,
but you can't hide; not forever.

Winston Brooks; deceptive and clueless

Winston Brooks sat for an interview with Jessica Garate.
link

Deception;
The interview began with Garate's first question;
what it the biggest problem facing the district?

Brooks dodged the question entirely.

The only problem he admitted to specifically in the whole interview, was our low graduation rate.

Winston Brooks' answer was neither candid, forthright nor honest.

Clueless;
When Garate asked Brooks want teachers want most from
him, he replied that teachers want the district to tell them
what to teach, and on what day it should be taught.

I think he is absolutely wrong in this belief; clueless in fact.

He believes that teachers want to end site based management.

Oddly, although he intends to end the practice,
he freely admits that site based management has been
extremely successful in some schools.

He admits that one of the greatest influences on the
drop out rate is that we have teachers who lecture all day
long, and who are "boring students to death".

His solution is to "raise standards and expectations".
Gee, if only someone had thought of that one before.

Lest I seem entirely critical; Brooks has some good ideas;
one of which is to spend some real money on technology
that students can use to further their own education.

But he doesn't have any better ideas than most of the 6 or 7 thousand people who work at the educational interface every day, and who will have no input in decisions that affect their interests and the interests of their students.

Winston Brooks will not be a role model of the student standard of conduct. He cannot model the Pillar of Respect while planning to eliminate autonomic decision making by those who have the skill set, the experience and the expertise to plot their own future.

Winston Brooks still will not respond to questions about an accountability audit, or about administrative role modeling.

He is obtuse, corrupt, or a coward.

Winston Brooks,
Elaborate upon;

1. administrative role modeling of the student standard of conduct, and upon
2. meaningful standards of conduct and competence for public servants in your administration, and upon,
3. your system for providing principled resolution of complaints against administrators and board members.
   

Esquivel Continues to Disappoint.

APS Board Member Marty Esquivel was the subject of an article in the Journal this morning.

There was an opportunity for Zsombor Peter to write about the single most effective step that can be taken to cure the ills that affect the APS; an administrative accountability audit.

Instead, according to Zsombor Peter,
Esquivel would like APS to set some more goals.

Great, more goal setting. Why even bother?

First,
not reported in the paper, was Esquivel's suggestion that
the goals be determined by holding, you guessed it,
more meetings with stakeholders.

When a public servant is stuck betwixt a rock and a hard place,
they do one of two things; they form a task force to study
the issue, or they hold meetings to "gather stakeholder input".

Second,
the leadership of the APS does not set goals in the first place;
not real ones anyway. It smacks too much of accountability.

I defy anyone to name a single goal that APS has ever set,
where the failure to reach that goal, cost anyone their job.

In the APS, goal setting is an exercise in diverting attention.

Don't you suppose that one of Tom Savage's goals was
to prevent public corruption in the APS Police Department?

Don't you suppose that one of Tom Savage's goals was to
at least keep records on the spending of a billion tax dollars
a year?

He failed to meet either goal, and he still has a job.

Paula Maes said she will never allow an audit that will allow
Tom Savage to be held individually accountable for either
his conduct or competence as a senior public servant.

Marty Esquivel needs to stand up to Paula Maes/Modrall
and for an immediate administrative accountability audit
of the leadership of the APS.

There is no equivalent gesture.

If he is not willing to take out incompetent and corrupt
administrators and board members,

all the stakeholder meetings and goal setting in the world
will not make a wits worth of difference in graduation rates,

or in any other meaningful measure of progress in the APS.

Winston Brooks Visits for Four Days, Makes Four Grand

According to Linda Sinks weakly (sic) message;

Incoming superintendent Winston Brooks will be back in town Wednesday through Saturday, meeting with key constituencies around the city and speaking at several events. On Saturday morning he will attend a community event hosted by Garfield Middle School.

Brooks will earn a thousand a day for showing up and meeting with "key constituencies".

It is unclear who those key constituencies are. It is not the school board; Robert Lucero was not able to secure any assurance from Linda Sink at the last board meeting, that Brooks would have time to meet with the board.

It is not the public. None of the meetings have been announced in advance, with the exception of a Garfield Middle School community meeting on Saturday.

Sooner or later, Brooks will have to answer the question in public;

Superintendent Brooks,

Why will you not be held honestly accountable as the senior role model of the student standard of conduct?

He can't hide forever
can he?

Hey Ched, are you OK?

Yes, I am, and thank you for asking. I apologize for just dropping off the radar for awhile without explanation.

Sometimes the exceedingly thin prospect of actually changing anything about the leadership of the APS makes the investment in writing even one more post seem pointless.

The hiring of Winston Brooks, without any discussion of his obligations as a role model was the straw that broke the camel's back; at least momentarily.

In any case, I am feeling stronger and prepared to resume my efforts to bring some reform to the leadership of the APS.

Is it time to give up on Marty Esquivel?

He won't stand up and expose the ethics and accountability
scandal in the leadership of the APS.

He enables by his silence;

• an administration with no meaningful standards of conduct or competence,
• and an institution with no system for the principled resolution of complaints of the violations of such pitiful standards as there are.

He enables by his silence;

• the hiding of public records of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department).

He enables by his silence;

• Winston Brooks to be hired as the senior most administrative role model of the student standard of conduct, though he will not be accountable to that standard of conduct by any honest measure.

Marty Esquivel has either to stand up in support of;

• administrative role modeling of the student standard of conduct, and in support of
• meaningful standards of conduct and competence for public servants within their public service in the APS, and in support of
• honest accountability to those standards, and in support of
  
• an impartial administrative accountability audit of the administration of the APS
  
• before Winston Brooks takes the wheel.
  

or defend his refusal to do so.

You cannot attrit good ol' boys.

If they are not taken out en masse through fundamental
and sweeping reform; they will prevail.

"You pick a side when you don't pick a side." unk

Stonewalling isn't going to cut it any more.





cc Esquivel upon posting.

The Possibility of Another Dynamic in Play

I have never been able to take notes and attend to a discussion at the same time,so I don't.
This essay is based on my recollection of the discussion that I listened to, very carefully.
I will bow to controverting fact.

As I listened to the special board meeting Friday morning,

I came away with the distinct impression that Winston Brooks
is unavailable to the board, individually or collectively.

Robert Lucero would like very much to have some face time
with Winston Brooks. He figures that if the board is paying
Winston Brooks a thousand a day to drop by and visit APS;

Board members should have some time of their own.

Current titular head of the gob; Linda Sink informed RL and
board that Brooks has a lot of other stuff to do.

The new dynamic possibility then;

The good ol boys in the leadership of the APS
are not in the same club, and
the good ol' boys in the administration,
outweigh the good ol' boys on the board

It makes sense if you think about it.

The institution of the good ol' boys club in the administration
of the APS has been around for more than a hundred years,
carefully crafting all of their policies, procedures and
directives.

Board members come and go.

I went to the "special meeting" of the Board of Education this morning.

I had intended to voice my concern that they were about to
take action on a contract with Winston Brooks;
and that there were aspects of the contract
that would be unacceptable to stakeholders.

I suspect that the contract does not mention
Winston Brooks' obligation as a role model
of the student standard of conduct.

It is unacceptable for the Superintendent of the APS
to simply pretend no honest obligation as a role model.

Further,

I suspect that there is no mention creating meaningful standards of conduct and competence for public servants in the APS. Nor is there mention of his proving that intention by beginning an immediate impartial administrative accountability audit.

More importantly, his second year of employment is not
contingent on the administration of the APS passing its
second annual audit.


There is no reason to oppose an honest accountability audit
except to escape one.

Accountability to fatal to corruption and incompetence.

You cannot end the good ol' boy system except by ending
the good ol' boys.

That will happen over the vigorous resistance of
good ol' boys like Tom Savage,

and the most expensive litigation taxpayers can afford.


Is Winston Brooks charged with cleaning out the good
ol' boys club and Modrall?



Winston Brook's contract language is secret.
Stakeholders had no opportunity to read it before it was signed.*
It was written in a meeting that stakeholders were not allowed to attend. It was signed off on in a "special meeting" where public input was not allowed.


*My email to Marty Esquivel, asking for the draft language
on role modeling, and standards and accountability,
sent at around eight in the morning Thursday,
is yet to be answered.

Superintendent's Contract (Discussion/Action)

Special Meeting Friday, April 4, 2008 7:30 AM DeLayo-Martin Community Room

I. Call to Order A. Roll Call B. Adoption of Agenda and Approval of Minutes for March 19, 2008 Regular Board Meeting and March 14 and 22, 2008 Special Board Meetings (Discussion / Action) II. Special Issues A. Superintendent Contract (Discussion/Action) B. Superintendent's Visit / Future Visits (Discussion/Action) C. National School Boards Association Conference - Sharing Information (Discussion/Action) I. Goals Setting (Discussion/Action) D. Board Committees - Structure and Schedules (Discussion/Action) E. KNME General Manager Selection Update (Discussion/Action) F. Graduations/ Commencement (Discussion/Action) III. Superintendent Report IV. Board Reports V. Future Topics VI. Adjournment