Why? Weh

Why Weh, won't you surrender the central committee meeting agenda to the public record?

Why Weh, won't you explain, defend, deny,
or even acknowledge, that your plan is to deny stakeholders
meaningful participation in decision making that affects their interests?

Why Weh, are you promising an all inclusive party and
delivering a good ol' boys club that is anything but?

Why Weh, would you compromise your character

to gain a tactical advantage in a power struggle
whose ultimate goal is to deny stakeholders
legitimate access their government?


... and think you that you are going to get away with it.





Update. A few hours after I posted this piece, I received
a copy of the call to the meeting. It appears that guests
will be allowed to attend for $20, which apparently includes lunch.

I would suppose members of the press are guests as well.

They represent a need to get reservations in by Monday the 5th
although the meeting is scheduled for Saturday the 10th.


Now, we've only to make sure that the whole meeting is run by
Robert's Rules of Order, and not by the rule of the gavel.

Learning and teaching styles

It has been widely known for a very long time that students have different learning styles. link

And it has been known for a very long time that teachers have different teaching styles. link

We have yet to pair students and teachers accordingly.

Why?

Build a Culture of Accountability: Five Ways to Enhance the Level of Accountability...

from the internet link

"Holding people accountable for results is the foundation of an organization's performance; it's management 101."

"...few factors negatively impact morale and productivity more than the perception that others are not held accountable for results,..."

Which of the following is recognized and implemented in the APS?

1. Translate strategy into specific objectives.
2. Coordinate actions across levels and work units and follow up on progress.
3. Provide accurate and timely information to employees.
4. Ensure that your actions are consistent with company objectives, values, and priorities.

Leaders can't expect people to trust or follow them if they are not willing to live by the same values and support the same priorities that they require of others.

5. Clarify expectations and head off potential problems.

The leadership of the APS is unwilling to hold itself accountable to the same standards of conduct and competence that they enforce upon employees.

More importantly, the leadership of the APS is unwilling to hold itself accountable to the same standards of conduct and competence that they enforce upon students,

and then they wonder why students are not behaving and why students are not succeeding.

I posted on Heath Haussamen's blog.

Haussamen posted a piece from Allen Weh, link and is
apparently not allowing any controverting information to
be added by means of a comment on the post.


I have written and posted another comment;

Ask Allen Whe for a copy of the agenda for the State Central Committee Meeting.

Ask him if he and the "all inclusive" party intend to keep you, and other members of the press, out of the meeting.

And then report upon what you find.

You have published one side of the story;
now publish the other.

No Weh

It is fair to assume that NMRP Chairman Allen Weh
has heard that he has been asked two legitimate questions. link

Can't prove it of course,
but that's the whole point in stonewalling.


He will answer or not, according to his conscience.

I would suggest that there is no good and ethical reason
to keep the agenda secret, or to close the meeting to
stakeholders including the press, who are obliged to be there.

I would further suggest that a refusal to respond means that
he will continue to resist the party reform manifest in the
adoption of Robert's Rules of Order.


And I would suggest that a refusal to respond means that
he is going to try to convene the meeting in secret from stakeholders.



It's time to cowboy up.

You pick a side, when you don't pick a side.

Who watches the watchers?

I assume that every agency of government includes someone
whose job it is, to watch over the public interests and resources.

It would appear that they are not doing their job;
the public trust and treasure are not being protected from
the waste that flows from corruption and incompetence.

Take for example the agency of government called the APS.

Someone was supposed to have been watching over the public
interests and resources for these last hundred years.

Now we discover, as reported by the Meyners Audit,
that the leadership of the APS has never protected tax dollars
with adequate policies, adequate accountability, or with
adequate record keeping; the most basic requirements for
fighting the waste created by incompetence and corruption.

So who watches over watchers in the APS?

Apparently, no one.

And now, when asked to allow a watcher to come in and
ferret out the truth about the corruption and incompetence
in the leadership of the APS,
an impartial administrative accountability auditor,

the leadership of the APS says, "no way."

School board head honcho, Paula Maes, said that
she will never allow an audit that names the names of the
incompetent and corrupt administrators and board members
in the leadership of the APS.


So who watches over Paula Maes and her ilk?

Apparently, no one.
And likely, millions of tax dollars have gone missing.

There was a time in the life of NMRP Chairman Allen Weh

when he was able to summon the character and the courage
to earn a recommendation for the Navy Cross, to be awarded
the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with “V” for heroism,
three Purple Hearts, and five Air Medals in addition to the
Legion of Merit, and two Meritorious Service Medals.


Can he summon the character and the courage now,
to answer two simple questions, candidly, forthrightly,
honestly, on the record, and rather immediately;

1. Will the debate over the adoption of Robert's Rules of Order, be the first item on his agenda for the upcoming meeting of the NMRP State Central Committee? and
2. Will the meeting be open to the press and other stakeholders, allowing them meaningful participation in a decision making process that affects their interests?

Any answer except yes, means no.


cc Allen Weh upon posting

Struggle for power in the NMRP

I heard it characterized as the "machine republicans" versus "free republicans", and the characterization resonates in me.

It is the "rule from the top down", against the "rule from the bottom up" republicans.

It is the "good ol' boys club", against the "all inclusive" club.

It is more of the status quo, against a fresh beginning.


More than anything else, it is the "rule of the gavel" mentality
against the "Robert's Rules of Order" mentality.
link (the official site) or wikilink (easier for a quick read)

Rules are written by the powerless to level the playing field with the powerful. Rules are then perverted by the powerful to retilt the playing field in their favor.

Allen Weh and the ham fisted style of leadership that has largely destroyed enthusiasm of any kind in the Republican Party of New Mexico, will do every thing they can to prevent Robert's Rules of Order, from becoming the rules that govern deliberative meetings of the Republican Party in New Mexico. The fight will take place at the upcoming NMRP State Central Committee meeting.

Allen Weh attempted once already, to call a meeting of the Central Committee without putting the amendments on the agenda. that would have established, among other things, parliamentary procedure at deliberative meetings, that protects the rights of the powerless. His attempt to hide the issue from the membership, is exactly the kind of despicable behavior that Robert's Rules will prevent in the future.

Allen Weh, et al. would like to maintain the power to suppress legitimate opposition by pounding it down with the "rule of the gavel"; an indefensible notion that Allen Whe, and others like him, are so good for the party, that they should be given the power to steer decision making in directions that suit their interests.

Case on point;

Republican Party Rules link make no mention of a need for candidates for state party office to announce their candidacy in time to have their name places on a ballot to be printed in advance of the State Central Committee meeting where the election takes place.
Sensing an opportunity to stack the deck, Weh has decided that there will be no opportunity to nominate candidates from the floor of that meeting.
His decision meets no need but his own. He thinks he can get away with it by his own unilateral decision.
He will attempt to place the amendment that provides for Robert's Rules of Order to be adopted, on the agenda after he manipulates the election process for state officers.
He will meet with substantial opposition.
The discussion of Robert's Rules of Order, will be the first order of business.
Some one else first wrote;

"The most important decision a group will ever make, is their decision about how decisions will be made. It should also be their first."

This "plot" to reform the NMRP, is the product of a group that the leadership of the NMRP calls "that Saturday morning group" hosted by State Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones. link I have it on good authority, first hand, that there are no less than two spies that attend the Saturday morning discussions and then report back directly to the leadership of the NMRP.

Allen Weh once said, after stomping on the opposition by means of his "rule of the gavel";

“It’s my bat, my ball ..." link

Not any more it isn't.

Silent whistle is an oxymoron.

when you consider the purpose of a whistle.

Anonymous writes

"Whenever an organization forms its own internal audit,
awareness, or review, especially with an air of secrecy
or "confidentiality", it can only be self-serving.

This would mean 2 things in my experience:
1)The activities reported would lead bosses to a better cover up and give them a chance to conceal evidence and
2) they would form a plan to protect their own asses from being tied to the inappropriate behavior.

Thus, this kind of system doesn't help the public,
doesn't bring inappropriate activity to light,
and will not be public-user friendly.
However, from a political view, and when you
"say it fast", it tells the public "we care".

In actuality, it means "we care (about covering our asses)"

What do you think happens when
there are millions of tax dollars on the table,
too few rules, too little accountability,
and too little record keeping?

So you go ahead and blow a silent whistle,
tell the one of the good old boys, that
other good ol' boys are ripping off millions of dollars,
and see what they do about it.




What if they just came right out and said;

We are using tax dollars to buy a service that appears
superficially to provide for a principled resolution of
legitimate complaints, while it in fact allows us
to secret from everybody but us, all of the corruption
and incompetence that is deliberately allowed or
negligently permitted in the administration of the APS
and more than a billion tax dollars a year.

Who do you suppose is going to do an audit to ferret out the corrupt and incompetent in public service?

Do you really suppose that the people who are stealing millions of dollars are going to do an audit that will reveal their criminal enterprise?

Do you really suppose that the people who are so incompetent that they could let millions of tax dollars go missing, will do an audit that will expose their incompetence?

Do you really suppose that the administrators who are not personally corrupt and incompetent, and who have done nothing to expose the incompetence and corruption, are suddenly going to stand up and expose what they have enabled?

You do so, in bone crushing naiveté.

And there will never, ever be an audit.

Now that we have proven SilentWhistle not to work

If APS' Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Hotline is itself
fraud, waste, and abuse, link

where do you report that fraud, waste, and abuse?


a fair question brought up by a reader

Manifestly dishonest APS leaders by name

We will begin of course, by defining "dishonest".
For the purpose of this post, we will use dishonest as defined
by the APS Student Standard of Conduct,
by which APS leaders are bound as role models.

The Student Standard of Conduct mentions the obvious manifestations of dishonest behavior. In addition it specifically adds "stonewalling" as manifest dishonesty.

In so far as none of those who will find their name on this list, will stop stonewalling in response to legitimate questions about the public interests in the public schools, they are manifestly dishonest.

• The entire Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education;
  
  • Paula Maes,
  • Robert Lucero,
  • Berna Facio,
  • MaryLee Martin,
  • Delores Griego,
  • Marty Esquivel and
  • Jon Barela.
• Superintendent Winston Brooks,
• Chief Operations Officer, Brad Winter,
• Chief Academic Officer, Linda Sink,
  
• Executive Director of Communications, Monica Armenta,
• Director of Communications, Rigo Chavez,
• Executive Director of Human Resources Andrea Trybus,
• Chief Financial Officer, Gina Hickman,
• Director of Internal Audits; Margret Koshmider
  
• Executive Director of Instruction & Accountability Rose-Ann McKernan,
• Director of Instruction & Accountability, Thomas Genne,
• Chief of School Police, Bill Reed, and
  
• The Modrall Law Firm, the litigations arm of the leadership of the APS
  

Necessarily part of the list would be;
The Albuquerque Journal, KRQE,KOAT, KOB, KKOB

All that anyone of these people has to do to remove their name
from this list, would to set the time, the day, and the place where they will respond to any legitimate question about the public interests in the public schools,
candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

You, the reader, have to accept that in response to the question;

Are you willing to be held honestly accountable
to meaningful standards of conduct and competence?

no comment means, no. Stonewalling means, no.


cc everyone, co superintendent(at)aps.edu, apsboard(at)aps.edu, the Journal,KRQE,KOAT, KOB, and KKOB.

Not that it will do any good

but, I have filed a SilentWhistle complaint against
APS Director of Internal Audits, Margret Koshmider.

The secret case ID number is; Case ID: fedef65f-e8ef-9ea4

What does an organization do, when they have no one ethical
enough to pursue complaints of ethical misconduct?





Case Status>>Existing Case Summary


Other submitted on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 9:07 AM
General Information

Case ID: fedef65f-e8ef-9ea4
Submitted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Type: Other
Company: Albuquerque Public Schools
Name: Anonymous
Relationship: Other
Select your time zone:


Case Questions

Please identify the person(s) involved including names and titles:
Margret Koshmider, APS Director of Internal Audits

Do you believe that management is aware of this issue?
Yes

If yes, who in management?
APS Superintendent Winston Brooks

When (approximately) did this issue occur?
Ongoing

How did you become aware of this issue?
It happened to me

Does this issue involve any outside parties (vendor, customer, etc.)?
Yes

Please explain:
Margret Koshmider's behavior has a negative effect on SilentWhistle because as a result of her behavior, it has become obvious that APS' use of SilentWhistle is a sham.
It also has a negative effect on anyone who would like to use SilentWhistle, and they no longer have any reason to believe that the system is anything more than a way to keep ethical misconduct by APS senior administrators secret.

Do you believe that anyone has taken steps to hide this incident?
Uncertain

Please describe the issue in detail:
Margret Koshmider received a complaint from SilentWhistle.
She absolutely refuses to address the subject of the complaint which is that the Superintendent of the APS has refused to step up as a role model of and ethical standard of conduct, the student standard of conduct.
Instead, she is steadfastly trying to divert attention to tangential issues instead of the central issue.

What would be the best way, in your opinion, to resolve this concern?
If the SilentWhistle is to have any confidence at all from stakeholders,
it cannot be under the control of those most likely to be reported by the system.

It is a blatant and egregious conflict of interest.


End note: I am at a loss as how to explain why the complaint reads that it is filed anonymously. I must have clicked the wrong button at some point in the process.

Update; I have been notified by SilentWhistle, that APS has responded to the complaint;

This SilentWhistle has been sent to Margaret Koshmider's
Supervisor 12/23/08.

I have emailed Koshmider and asked for the name of her supervisor.

In response to my several objections, Koshmider writes;

Mr. MacQuig (sic)

Your accusations are vague and of your opinion. A facial expression is a facial expression; not proof of anything. I cannot “track a case” without specific facts. I do not base anything on opinions. You placed the issues on the table as the basis of the complaint and cannot support it. If you have specifics I will investigate your complaint. Nothing is self evident and if that is what you have we are done. You will need to find another avenue to register this complaint.

Peg Koshmider

The tangential issues Koshmider would like to focus on instead of the real issue, were not placed on the table as the basis of the complaint. The only thing that I have ever laid on the table as the basis of the complaint, is Winston Brooks ongoing refusal to respond to the call to step up as a role model of the student standard of conduct, the real issue, and an issue that Koshmider is yet to acknowledge in any manner what so ever.

By "facial expression", she is apparently referring to the videotape of Winston Brooks refusing to answer the call to step up as a role model. The call was made last, during the public forum of the December 3, board meeting.

This is an interesting argument, and worthy of some elucidation.

If I had accused Winston Brooks of being a bank robber, and then I argued that, he has never denied it, and therefore it is proven that he is a bank robber, the argument would be nonsensical. Someone accused of bank robbery has no obligation to deny the charge. However, someone accused of not standing up as a role model, is obliged to stand up as a role model, as an integral and essential aspect of role modeling.

If someone is singing, and they can't be heard,
they must sing louder.
If someone is role modeling and they can't be seen,
they need to role model more conspicuously.
It requires an overt act. There is no such thing as inconspicuous role modeling, the concept is oxymoronic.

I have accused Winston Brooks of lacking the character and the courage to step up as a role model. His refusal to step up when asked, does prove the allegation. A role model of the Pillars of Character Counts! would step up as a role model when asked.

My allegation that Winston Brooks is unethical because he refuses to step up as a role model is proven by his failure to step up.

No matter what the latest in a long line of incompetent and corrupt Directors of Internal Audit has to say to the contrary.

cc Koshmider and Brooks upon posting.

Open letter to Winston Brooks

Superintendent Brooks,

As you are no doubt aware, I have filed a complaint against you by means of the alleged SilentWhistle. link and others if you have an interest, just read them.

A number of highly unethical attempts are being made in an effort to keep you from standing on the record, and defending your refusal to step up as a role model of the Pillars of Character Counts!

Step up now, or corroborate my allegation that you lack the character and the courage to step up as a role model of a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical behavior.

Explain, defend, or deny your refusal to step up at a role model.

Your failure to do so, points to and underscores your cowardice.


cc Winston Brooks at superintendent(at)aps.edu
upon posting.

My response to Koshmider's dodge

APS' Margret Koshmider is trying very hard to keep Winston Brooks from having to stand on the record and defend his refusal to step up as a role model of the student standard of conduct.

She is attempting to close the case without addressing the complaint.

I have written to SilentWhistle;

What a sham.

My complaint is simple. Winston Brooks, the senior most administrative role model of the student standard of conduct, the Pillars of Character Counts!, a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethics,
refuses to be held accountable as a role model.

The unethical behavior is self evident.

Koshmider's insistence that I corroborate a number of tangential complaints is categorically disingenuous and patently dishonest.

Shame on SilentWhistle if they allow this egregious abuse of their system.

Just so we are clear. I wrote to Koshmider in response to her attempt to introduce a red herring. I wrote;

If you are waiting on me to furnish anything more to you at all before you close this case, close it immediately.

BY which I meant move to the next stage of the process,
as in closing arguments.
Which to her, means closing it without resolution.



cc Koshmider upon posting.

SilentWhistle silenced

It would appear that the complaint filed against Winston Brooks will be "closed" without addressing the complaint. link

APS Director of Internal Audit, Margret Koshmider apparently intends to close the case without addressing the complaint.

As I reported, Koshmider responded to the complaint by insisting that I supply evidence of the tangential incidents that I listed on my complaint.

I wrote to her to protest her response.
I told her that I had no intention of gathering impossible to retrieve evidence, to substantiate claims tangential to the actual complaint that

Winston Brooks is behaving unethically in refusing to hold himself accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct.

She wrote to SilentWhistle this morning;

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 7:55 AM by Albuquerque Public Schools

Originator requested Silent Whistle be closed. Closed 12-23-08.

This patently dishonest, disgraceful, and conclusive proof of my allegation that SilentWhistle is a sham, and apparently Margret Koshmider is complicit.

CC Margret Koshmider upon posting.

City's no settlement practice slammed.

According to the Journal, link, a federal judge revealed that
the city of Albuquerque has a practice of "no settlement" of
claims against the city. Every case goes to litigation which
has the effect of denying justice to many legitimate victims.

APS has the same policy.

APS' insurer, United Educators, link, recently raised the APS'
insurance premiums specifically based on the district's higher
than acceptable litigation expenses.

Rather than just make a fair settlement with victims of abuse
by the district and its employees, the district makes every
complainant prevail in court - no mean task considering that
APS employs the most powerful law firm in the state, and that
that law firm has a virtually unlimited large bore pipeline to
unwitting taxpayer financial support of education.

The bulk of the money goes to school board head honcho,
Paula Maes' husband's law firm, the Modrall.

Modrall makes so much money off litigating for the APS,
that they won't even tell you how much they make,
even in response to a request for public records under the
New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

You can if you want, sue them over the records.

good luck.


As a side note; Paula Maes is running for the school board
again. Not only does she want to continue to feed off the
system, but she needs to be in place to prevent an honest
audit of the relationship between her law firm, and the APS.

How many APS senior administrators does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

I am looking for maybe two pages of public records.
I want the subordinate evaluation instrument that the district uses to allow teachers input on the conduct and competence of their principal.

I don't have the paperwork, and look how many APS senior administrators have nothing better to do than to get into the obfuscation of the surrender of public records;

1. Thomas Genne, is the Director of the Research, Development/Deployment, and Accountability. He says he doesn't have it, and I should check with
2. Bob Woody, who is the Director of Labor Relations. Bob Woody says he doesn't have it and I should check with Thomas Genne and RD/DA. I am fairly certain that it was
3. Rose-Ann Mckernan Executive Director of the RD/DA who stopped by long enough to suggest that maybe I should go to
4. Rigo Chavez, who is the Director of Communications and the Custodian of Public Records who will obfuscate the surrender for as long as he is asked. His office was also the suggestion of
   
5. Andrea Trybus, who is the Executive Director of Human Resources, who emailed me to tell me that I should go to Rigo Chavez who will then ask one of them for the instrument, in order that he might eventually surrender it to me. Meanwhile,
6. the Director of the APS Police Department has subordinates lying to him, and no less than three of them following me around the building harassing me. and
7. the Executive Director of Communications is trying to figure out some way to spin the whole thing.
8. The Superintendent is on everybody's cc list. And so is
9. Art Melendrez and the Modrall law firm.

The only Director who is not part of this little exercise is the
10. Director of Internal Audit who is busy trying to make a SilentWhistle complaint against Winston Brooks disappear without anyone knowing. link


All at a very substantial cost to taxpayers.

Instead of just giving me the survey instrument.

Because the survey instrument is proof that
the leadership of the APS has never asked teachers,
in any meaningful way,
for their input on any issue at all.

And they need to keep it secret.

The games people play

APS has responded to Silent Whistle.

As you will see from the form below, I was asked a number of questions about my allegation. All of the responses are tangential to the complaint, which is that

It is unethical to refuse to be held accountable
to an ethical standard of conduct.

The proof is prima facie.

pri·ma fa·cie (prī'mə fā'shē -shə, -shē-ē)

At first sight; before closer inspection, ostensible,
true, authentic, evident without proof or reasoning;
obvious.

There is only one defense for the allegation.

Winston Brooks would have to stand up as a role model
of an ethical standard of conduct. He will not.
His refusal is incontrovertible proof that the allegation is true.


Instead of responding to the allegation directly,
APS wants me to prove the validity of the tangential responses
by coming up with evidence of them, evidence that they have
already refused to surrender.
It was this way in litigation as well; they suppress evidence and
then try to get the case dismissed for lack of evidence.

The focus on the tangential issues is a red herring.
Nowhere in their response did they deny the allegation
which is that

Winston Brooks' refusal to step up as a role model,
is cowardly, characterless, and unethical.

You will see also my response(s)




Case Status>>Existing Case Summary


Other submitted on Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 11:02 AM
General Information

Case ID: ba656791-a44a-a5fe
Submitted: Sunday, December 21, 2008
Type: Other
Company: Albuquerque Public Schools
Name: Charles Macquigg
Relationship: Other

Case Questions

Please identify the person(s) involved including names and titles:
Albuquerque Public School Superintendent Winston Brooks.

Do you believe that management is aware of this issue?
Yes

If yes, who in management?
The entire leadership of the APS

When (approximately) did this issue occur?
On going since 1994. In Winston Brooks case, since before his was appointed to be the superintendent.

How did you become aware of this issue?
I observed it

Does this issue involve any outside parties (vendor, customer, etc.)?
Yes

Please explain:
The lack of accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence in the leadership of the APS, means vendors cannot depend on a fair and equitable system under which to compete for contracts.
The situation is likely causing the loss of millions of tax dollars.

Do you believe that anyone has taken steps to hide this incident?
Yes

Please explain:
Absolutely. I have been arrested by their publicly funded private police force on six occasions for trying to draw public attention to this issue.

The leadership of the APS has gone so far as to falsify the broadcast record of board meetings in order to hide the secret.

Please describe the issue in detail:
It is evident on its face.

Students are held accountable to an ethical standard of conduct.

Winston Brooks refuses to hold himself honestly accountable to that same standard of conduct. He is a hypocrite and his behavior is unethical.

What would be the best way, in your opinion, to resolve this concern?
The leadership of the APS must provide stakeholders with a system under which complaints can be heard. The system must be impartial and powerful enough to hold them accountable even against their will.

SilentMessage Board

Date Message
Monday, December 22, 2008 at 2:38 PM by Albuquerque Public Schools

In order to direct a Silent Whistle to the appropriate department to start investigating an issue it is necessary to obtain specifics. In this case, it sounds as though the issue pre-dates both Mr. Brooks and the current board (based on the date referenced). It would be necessary to obtain from you the vendors affected, the dates of occurrance, how the bid process was violated and any pertinent data that you may have.

Relative to the arrests, again, without the specific dates, it is not possible to obtain the records of the arrests. Based on your comments, I am not sure if this is part of the current issue.

If you can provide dates of the broadcasts that have been altered, the original version for comparison, and the issue involved, if not connected to the vendor contracts, then the claim can be investigated.

Without a starting point, it is not possible to review years of records without knowing what is being sought. I would not be able to justify using APS resources to look for a record without knowing esactly what we are looking for and the reason. Additionally, fourteen years would not be attainable unless a record is categorized as permanent.

Silent Whistle will not close this out until 01-19-09 to afford the individual an opportunity to provide specifics that include dates and issues. If no contact is made by then, this Silent Whistle will be closed.

Monday, December 22, 2008 at 3:06 PM by Charles Macquigg

There is no need to review anything.
I am alleging that today, right now, Winston Brooks refuses to hold himself honestly accountable as a role model of the student standard of conduct, an ethical standard of conduct.
None of the rest of it makes a bit of difference, and is only a red herring designed to through the investigation off track.
My allegation that he is behaving unethically by refusing accountability as a role model of an ethical standard of conduct. It is self evident

.

The accoutrements of power.

I believe it was Socrates who first wrote;

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

I would argue that the correlation is coincidental and not causal.

There are powerful wo/men who are not corrupt.

Some because of their virtue, and others because
they know that they can't get away with it.

It is not the power that corrupts.
It is the ability to abuse power without consequence,
that corrupts.
Absolutely.

In can be made impossibly difficult to get away with being a corrupt and or incompetent public servant.

Getting away with corruption and incompetence,
will not be ended by those who benefit from their self exception from accountability.

Nor will it be ended by a small handful of honest politicians and public servants; no matter how good and brave. A small number have always been there, and they never got it done.

Corrupt and incompetent public servants are powerful because they control large amounts of power. It is not their power. It is our power. We gave over control of it to them, because they told us that that is the way government works.

We no longer have control over the spending of our power and resources.

The simple proof that you have lost control over power and resources that are fundamentally your own;

is for you to ask a public servant to answer legitimate questions about the use and abuse of your power and resources,

and have them tell you "no comment".

Do you have to be hit in the head with a brick?


"No comment" is not an acceptable answer to a legitimate question about the public interests and resources.

Chicken and the egg; which came first?
corrupt and incompetent men and women who created a system under which they cannot be held honestly accountable for their corruption and their incompetence, or

a system without standards or accountability that
corrupted good men and women?


The question is moot.

Either way, the solution is the same.

You commission honest auditors who will follow the public interests and resources, looking very deliberately, for incompetence and corruption. And if they find any, they will report it to the public record, not to the corrupt and incompetent, expecting them to actually hold themselves accountable for their corruption and incompetence.

Because we have no choice but to "trust" public servants with control over our power and resources,

it is reasonable to expect them to hold themselves accountable to a higher standard of conduct than the one they wrote for themselves; the law,

the lowest, and loosest standards that we can enforce;
except on the powerful.

Whatever that higher standard is determined to be,
it includes having to tell the truth. It includes the expectation
that legitimate questions will be answered candidly, forthrightly,
and honestly.

And if they are not, there will be a system under which the least powerful can hold the most powerful, honestly accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.

Trust runs a distant second to honest accountability,
in protecting the public interests from corruption and incompetence.

We will not be given back control over our power.
It will not be legislated back.
It will not be regained by election.
It will not be returned by the courts.
There is no branch of government that will return control over public power and resources, to the public.

It will be taken back only by revolution.
More of us than them,
taking back control over our power and resources,
even against their will.

We have justification for a revolution.

All we are lacking is revolutionaries,
all of whom died out, apparently,
generations ago.

Request for public records

I am trying to gather evidence of the lack of respect that the
leadership of the APS has for teachers and educational assistants.
link

The specific evidence is an instrument used in the annual subordinate evaluation of principals by their staffs.

I was run out of the building before I could retrieve these readily available public records. link

Now I am compelled to get them by filing a request for public records. This process will allow the leadership of the APS to refuse to actually surrender the documents for as long as they choose to spend unwitting taxpayer support for "education" to pay lawyers to engage in the legal weaselry that enables them to except themselves from accountability even to the law.

To: Custodian of Public Records, Albuquerque Public Schools

From: Charles MacQuigg, (address and phone number)

This constitutes a request for public records.

Specifically, I would like copies, original copies, of the instrument used to survey school staffs in the annual subordinate evaluation of their principals.

If I have not described them will sufficient accuracy, please let me know.

I suspect we will not have the opportunity to inspect and/or copy those public records until next year.

The Praetorian Process

My harassment by APS' Praetorian Guard link was apparently provoked by a complaint containing absolutely false information. The falsehood will be evident on any security tape of the visitor's desk. The truth is incontrovertible.

I am told that no hard copy was made, nor will be made,
of any part of the incident.

It's like it never happened.

I am not surprised.

Winston Brooks; betwixt a rock and a hard place

Sometime this morning, Winston Brooks will find out that he
is the subject of a complaint filed under his precious little
SilentWhistle program.

Complaints are fielded by the Internal Audit Department,
and are supposed to go directly to the superintendent and
to the school board.

All of them are guilty of ethical misconduct.

Everyone of them refuses to be held honestly accountable
as a role model of the student standard of conduct; a nationally
recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct.

Winston Brooks has only two choices;

1. he can find himself and the rest of the leadership of the APS guilty of ethical misconduct, or
2. he can do anything else at all.

Since he and the board have been refusing for months to
even discuss the issue of administrative role modeling of
the student standard of conduct, it is obvious what he will do today.

He will prove that the whole SilentWhistle thing is a sham.
He will prove that it exists for two reasons, and
for two reasons only;

1. to mislead stakeholders into believing that there are consequences for ethical misconduct by the leadership of the APS, and
2. to keep complaints secret from public knowledge.

Following up on the SilentWhistle complaint.

I know that our complaint has been forwarded to APS' Internal Audit Department for resolution.

I am curious about the identity of the APS administrator who will field the complaint, and about APS' internal procedure for resolving complaints.

It will difficult since any contact information for the Internal Audit Department is a secret. link
(under "select the department" select "internal audit" and you will find the information that APS is willing to share about the department.)

The thick plottens.

Update; I talked with someone in the APS Internal Audit Department who claimed to be the person to whom the complaints first go. She gave me her email address and I sent her the following email, return receipt requested. The return receipt request is normally ignored by the leadership of the APS who are loathe to creating a record that proves that they are aware of a problem. (it was in fact ignored, although an immediate response was provided)

The email read;

Ma'am,

I have filed a complaint against Winston Brooks which should be on your desk now. SilentWhistle informed me that the complaint had been emailed to you.

the case number is Case ID: ba656791-a44a-a5fe

I would like to know about the process which you will now follow.

Please tell be as much as you can about time lines, and particularly, at what stages in the process will decisions about the complaint be made, what decisions will be made, and by whom.

Please note that I am asking about the process and I am not requesting any specific information about the complaint itself.

I am grateful for your time and attention.

ched macquigg

Further update; I can see from my hit log, that someone from SilentWhistle is reading about this on D6.

And more still; a response from Internal Audits

Mr. MacQuigg –
I have not yet opened your Silent Whistle.
The company that forwards them to the audit department at APS does not put a number on the title, it shows on the subject line after the Silent Whistle is opened.
Therefore, I open them in order of receipt to insure that none are overlooked. I did not want you to have to wait for this reply until I got to your Silent Whistle as there are several and I do not know when yours will turn up. They will all be opened and started today.
I will let you know who your Silent Whistle is forwarded to as soon as I open it and what response date it has.
For now I will walk you through the process. After the Silent Whistle is opened, it will be determined who is best able to deal with the situation. For example, a safety issue is forwarded to Risk Management as well as the supervisor of the area named in the complaint. If it is a Fraud, Waste issue is forwarded to the area affected by the claim, plus the supervisor of that area. The complaint is assigned a response date by the vendor that receives the call/e-mail and it usually is two weeks for the response. Right now I will extend those dates as Winter Break started on Friday for the schools and starts on Wednesday for Administration. Some people are taking extra annual leave and may not be here to work on the issue.
I also place a follow-up date prior to the callback date for the individual who filed the Silent Whistle to either insure timeliness in the response or to extend the response date if necessary so as not to leave the caller waiting without an update.
We also log all contacts and action into a separate log in case there is a malfunction by the vendor so that APS has a record.
Many callers that have complaints that involve personnel issues are not satisfied with answers as we are not permitted to release information from personnel files. In those cases I would recommend direct contact with the supervisor(s) of the specific employee.
Once the issue is resolved to the extent possible, the results are returned to the audit department and we communicate with the caller through the vendor format. We also rotate the responsibility of handling these contacts within the department on a month-to-month basis to insure timeliness in the response from APS, continued familiarity by the audit staff with how to handle the calls, and the opportunity to work on the issues that turn into a major investigation for the audit employee that originally received the issue.
I hope this provides you with an idea of the process.
Please feel free to give me a call if you have questions.

Peg (Margaret) Koshmider Director, Internal Audit
880-3727 Koshmider(at)aps.edu

If I were asked the same three questions

that posed over on the eye on aps link

If were running for the board again and I were asked;

1. What would I do about the budget?

I would have an annual audit of the administration of the public trust and treasure. Impartial auditors would assure taxpayers on an annual basis that their tax dollars were not being wasted by corruption or incompetence. There would be absolute transparency in the spending of public resources, and in the use of the public's power.

2. What would I do with respect to employing a superintendent?

The superintendents contract would depend on the annual audits. If the audits are clean, s/he has been a good chief administrative officer. If the audits reveal waste from corruption or incompetence, then the superintendent will be looking for a new job.

3. What would I do with respect to policy making?

• I would begin by ensuring that any stakeholder who wants to participate in the decision making process, has a seat at the table where decisions are made.
• Decisions will be made collaboratively.
• There will be absolute transparency. The truth will be told to stakeholders. Legitimate questions will be answered candidly, forthrightly and honestly.
• Everyone in the district, from the least powerful to the most, will find themselves accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.
• There will be agreed upon standards of conduct and competence.
  
• Those standards will be enforceable by an impartial system that is powerful enough to hold even the most powerful, accountable even against their will.
• Every adult in the district will find themselves honestly accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct.
• There will be an emphasis placed on the development of good character in the hearts and minds of 87,000 of this communities sons and daughters.
• There will be leadership by personal example.
  

This is felony criminal misconduct being kept secret

link

The behavior described in the article, illegal use of a supposedly secure criminal data base, is a fourth degree felony.

"... DPS (NM State Police) spokesman Peter Olson said Thursday that APS school police have no authority to conduct such checks.
"BCSO and APS can't share (an authorization number). It's illegal; it's a violation of federal law," Olson said.

Rigo Chavez says the leadership of the APS, almost two years later, has still not surrendered the evidence, the report from Access Investigations, to District Attorney Brandenburg.

Statutes of limitation will expire long before they ever do.

Along the same lines we have link, another APS senior administrator looking for exception to the law.

... and I find myself wondering, if enough will ever be enough.

Colleen Heild, the Journal reporter who wrote the original story has been asked to write a follow up on the expiration of statutes of limitation, and the get out of jail free cards for APS senior administrators.

APS' private investigators

When someone in the leadership of the APS screws up and it cannot be hidden entirely, it is investigated by either their own police force, or by a private investigator, both of whom report directly to the leadership of the APS, and only to the leadership of the APS. The leadership of the APS then decides whether the evidence will be turned over to law enforcement, or if it will simply be hidden until it is no longer a threat.

I would suppose they use private investigators when they don't want even their Praetorian Guard to know the truth about criminal misconduct by senior administrators.

In a Journal article from July, 2007, link we glean some interesting facts;

Albuquerque Public Schools spent tens of thousands for a private investigative firm to secretly videotape employees, the former head of the APS police alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Former APS Police Chief Gil Lovato contends his contract was terminated because he spoke out against the hiring of Caswell Investigations for "selective administrative investigations" into possible criminal activities.
(emphasis added)
Gil Lovato's attorney, Sam Bregman said that in the course of the lawsuit he would be demanding copies of Caswell's billing records.
"We believe the total amount of money they're spending on secret police is a lot— six figures, if not more. I understand they've done 45 private investigations of different individuals at APS," he said. (emphasis added)
and

He said his client complained on numerous occasions to administrators that they should not be using a private firm for secret investigations because they lack police enforcement powers.
Bregman said that ... criminal investigations were left unchecked ... (emphasis added)

We have no idea how many secret investigations were done, and we have no idea what criminal misconduct was uncovered and has not been reported to law enforcement.

We do know that at least one investigation revealed criminal misconduct, the Access Investigations report,and is still being secreted from the District Attorney almost two years after it was completed; weeks short of the expiration of statutes of limitation, and get out of jail free cards for the senior administrators involved in the Peanut Butter Gate scandal.

Paula Maes said she would never allow an audit that names the names of the corrupt and the incompetent in the leadership of the APS.

And she has not.

Someone with some real investigatory authority needs to do
a forensic audit on the leadership of the APS.

Soon.

Leonard DeLayo for School Board? I think not!

He has failed once already, badly.

In early 1990, then APS Police Chief Daryl Harrell resigned in the wake of a scandal reported in the Journal. The Journal reported;

"The Bernalillo County district attorney and the Albuquerque Police Department launched a joint investigation.

No criminal charges were filed. But the APS-funded audit that followed was highly critical, citing a lack of accountability and professionalism within the department."

The leadership of the APS clearly ignored the audit results; because twenty years later, we are in exactly the same situation; a lack of accountability and professionalism in the department. link and link

Only this time, the whole thing happened on Leonard DeLayo's watch. And according to the Journal, When the scandal was exposed, DeLayo claimed to know nothing. DeLayo said;

"...he has heard nothing negative about the APS police agency ..."

According to the Journal, when the 1990 scandal was revealed, Leonard DeLayo wondered;

"what kind of system do we have that lends itself to no accountability."

And then he led one; a system that lends itself to no accountability. The system never changed.

During the time Leonard DeLayo was on the board, the whole problem happened again.

Were that not reason enough to disqualify him from being elected to the school board; he has repeatedly refused to step up as a role model of the APS student standard of conduct.

That by itself, is reason enough to deny him the seat.

Leonard DeLayo knowingly permitted, or recklessly allowed, the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the APS Police Department. He is either incompetent or corrupt. He refuses to be held honestly accountable as a role model.

It's a twofer.

He has no business even running for the school board.

Blowing SilentWhistle

From the December Perspective on the APS website,
page 6. link (update, 3/7/10; APS has obliterated this link)

SilentWhistle is the new APS Fraud,
Waste and Abuse Hotline that allows
individuals to communicate their
knowledge of any possible inappropriate,
unethical or illegal activities within the
district. SilentWhistle is hosted by a
third-party company – Allegiance, Inc. The
information communicated through
Allegiance goes directly to the APS Internal
Audit Department. Your communication
will remain completely confidential and
anonymous, unless you select otherwise.
The site may be reached by going to
http://abq.silentwhistle.com or you may
choose to speak to a live operator toll free
at 1-877-874-8416 (24 hours a day/7 days
per week). Your comments and valuable
feedback have a direct result to the success
of APS. (emphasis added)

Let's blow the SilentWhistle link on some unethical activity
and see what happens.

We will blow the whistle on Winston Brooks, who's
ongoing and steadfast refusal to step up as a role model
of the student standard of conduct,

a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts!

is unethical behavior on its face.

Realize now, SilentWhistle really has no power to do anything at all.

They are in effect, a mail box for the leadership of the APS.

Whatever we send them, will be forwarded immediately to
the subject of the complaint, or one of his subordinates.

The subordinate is subordinate in "a culture of fear of retribution and retaliation ..."

It is a sham. The leadership of the APS is making a deliberate
effort to mislead stakeholders into thinking that their complaints
will see a principled resolution.

The creation of the appearance of a conflict of interest
is specifically prohibited by the school board's code of ethics,
a code which by their own words is completely unenforceable.

Not even by the mighty silent whistle.

So we will see now, what Winston Brooks will do with a complaint alleging his unethical abdication as the senior most administrative role model of the student standard of conduct.

The case has been filed, the secret case ID number is

Case ID: ba656791-a44a-a5fe

I have already been notified by email by SilentWhistle that
my complaint has been forwarded to Winston Brooks or one
of his subordinates, to be resolved.

This should be interesting.

New threats to inspection of public records

Written and enforced by those with something to hide.

link

http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1850

APS School Board Candidate Questionnaire

I am making available, an opportunity for school board candidates to connect with voters. The opportunity is virtually unlimited; as opposed to the Journal, which if they cover the elections at all, will do so very superficially.

The questionnaire is published on my alternative blog;
Eye on APS
link.

The web address is;

http://eyeonaps.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/aps-school-board-candidate-questionaire/

if a whole bunch of you google or yahoo;

aps school board questions

it will become a very efficient search tool to find the questionnaire.

Update; as of 10:30, I have made personal contact with all of the candidates, and or responsible adults who committed to passing the information along to the candidate.

70,000 years of teaching experience, and no seat at the table where decisions are made.

APS has a department called, Research, Deployment, & Accountability according to a business card I have in my hand. On the APS website it is called Research, "Development", and Accountability. The department employs at least 48 people from secretaries (3) up to directors. It would appear that of the 48, 10 (almost 1 in 5) are being paid as managers and directors. I have no idea what their annual budget is;
I asked, and the question was ignored.

• They are two years behind in publishing demographics.
• They are two years behind in publishing AYP results.
• They are three years behind in publishing SBA results.
• They are two years behind in publishing Quality of Education Survey results.
• They are three years behind in publishing N.M. High School Competency results.

All according to their website. link

They are more than 100 years behind in surveying the people who work in classrooms over what they need to succeed.

RDA does not survey teachers and educational assistants in an effort to quantify and qualify the data they can furnish, regarding life at the educational interface.

Nowhere for example, have they ever gathered data that describes the problems created by discipline problems in schools or in classrooms. No one outside the classroom has any idea of the width or depth of the problem. No where can you look to find out how much of a teacher's day is wasted trying to manage behavior instead of teaching.

No where will you find honest data on the number of teachers who feel unsupported by their principal when it comes to discipline problems.

There is one obvious explanation; all of the data would document problems that are owned by the administration, as opposed to ownership by those trying to do their job with the administrative leftovers when it comes to power and resources.

The leadership of the APS would rather hide the problem,
than fix it.

They will do anything to hide the truth; including having
a Praetorian Guard to run off anyone asking any questions about the data they refuse to compile.

There are only two kinds of APS administrators

I recently argued to a senior administrator that there are only two kinds of APS administrators;

1. the corrupt and the incompetent, and
2. those with guilty knowledge of the corruption and incompetence.

If there is a third, what is it?

And if there really are good and decent APS administrators,
if there really are some people of character and courage,
willing to be role models and set the example for students,
why has not one of them stood up for what they believe in?

There are only two kinds of administrators in the APS;

1. those who will hold themselves honestly accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct, if only for the few hours a day that they hold students accountable to that standard, and
   
2. those who who will not.

If there is a third, I cannot imagine it,
and there is no administrator in the entire APS
who can suggest it.

... and then, the Praetorian Guard rolled in.

I went to the Uptown Administrative Complex at 6400 Uptown Blvd. to get hard copy of some "public records". I use that term deliberately now, as the foundation for my absolute and incontrovertible right to be there asking for the documents I was chasing.

I deliberately did not use that term in the UAC. It would have triggered a months long battle with APS' Custodian of Public Records, Rigo Chavez and the legal weaselry they employ to secret public records from public knowledge.

The documents prove that the leadership of the APS does not give a rat's ass about the opinions of teachers or anyone else that actually works with kids.

The short version is that there are more than 70,000 years of teaching experience in the APS, and the leadership of the APS has never, and I repeat never, made any real effort to survey teachers, and ask them about the problems they face.

And I was looking for the public records that prove my case.
I was actually having some success, and then the Praetorian Guard rolled in to halt my search.

Let me begin by describing my behavior in the building. This is important because there is a deliberate effort being made to destroy the messenger in order to suppress the message. They are always trying to build a case that I am "dangerous".

I try very hard not to appear threatening.
I always sit when I can. I stand at some distance.
I keep my hands in my pockets.
I make every effort to have witnesses.
I follow the rules absolutely.
I am courteous. (Somewhat less courteous, in response to arrogance.)

I make every effort to make sure that any interaction is recorded on tape.

I have done nothing to justify the harassment I experience.

I stand proudly on my record. I would show any part of it,
I would do any of it again, in front of any one of the thousands of students whose character I sought to develop.

Never the less, my search for the public records, drew the attention of no less than three members of the APS Praetorian Guard.

I am justified in calling it a Praetorian Guard wikilink .
The APS Police Department is a publicly funded,
private police force.

The armed Police Force reports directly to the leadership of the APS. It reports only to the leadership of the APS. It is certificated by no one, it is accredited by no one, and it is overseen by no one, except the leadership of the APS.

It reports directly to the people it investigates. And, it is used to protect them from their "enemies". Ultimately, I left without records I came for, although I am certain that they were immediately available to the people who refused to surrender them.

The power to control and conceal the truth is manifest in the current secrecy surrounding public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS Police Department circa 2006/2007. They are powerful enough that they can allow statutes of limitation to expire, rather than turn over evidence of felony criminal misconduct to District Attorney Kari Brandenburg.

And here I am, in a small hallway with three of them, at least one armed, encouraging me to leave the building. It was the Praetorian Guard who ran me out of Risk Management when I was trying to get copies of public records that demonstrated that my principal had falsified public records in order to cover up the fact that he was not conducting the fire drills required by board policy, state fire codes, and the law.

I was encourage to leave, not because I was bowing up and
getting in people's faces,
but because I am looking them in the eye and demanding that
they tell the truth.

I demand that they respond to legitimate questions, and candidly, and forthrightly, and honestly.

I demand that they surrender public records in accordance with the law.

I demand that they hold themselves honestly accountable as role models, or explain to us why they will not.


And they think that they intimidate me to the point
that I will give up.


At this point, I am compelled to reiterate;

I do not hold any of the rank and file of the APS accountable for the actions they are ordered to take against me. Nor do I hold accountable (except for guilty knowledge) anyone except the person who's fist pounds on the table last, in a meeting of the "leadership" of the APS.
I suspect that it is Paula Maes and the Modrall law firm.
Whomever it is, everyone else is just "following orders".

In fairness, they are following orders in what the Council of the Great City Schools, described as a "culture of fear of retribution and retaliation ..."

The Praetorian Guards have arrested me on at least six separate occasions for no reason except to deny me the freedom to exercise my rights. I have never been charged with anything. I am only detained until the period of time that I can claim a right to, has expired. This is so absolutely wrong.

The very worst part of this whole thing is; there is a school board election in less than two months. Voters will elect a majority of the school board with no knowledge about the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

Voters depend upon the media for the truth.
They need the truth in order to vote for the candidate who will admit to the problem and commit to the solution.

The Journal will not tell voters the truth. KRQE and Larry Barker won't touch it. KOAT, KOB. KKOB have all taken a pass.

As I have often mentioned; Paula Maes in the President of the good ol' boys club they call; the New Mexico Broadcasters Association.

I think that there is a privileged class here in River City. They are accountable only to each other, and I think that they cover each others asses.

I am open to any alternative explanation for their apparent license to self except themselves from accountability even to the law.

Except that they are privileged and we are not.

We are the great unwashed. There is not one of us with
"standing" enough to complain against their misconduct.

The analogy continues to the solution;
there is no way out of this,
except the only way it has ever been done before,
and the only way it will ever be done.

More of us have to show up somewhere than them.
Any then we take back control over what is ours.

We seize back control over power and resources that are
fundamentally our own. This is our power, and our resources.
Control over that power will not be given back.
It will not be legislated back.
It will not be ordered back in a court.
It will not be taken back in an election.

It will be taken back in a revolution.

The smallest band of good ol' boys in the smallest castle,
is the leadership of the APS. They are the Achilles Heel of
public corruption and incompetence.

All that stands between us and them is their Praetorian Guard.

And their cronies in the media.




This must change. It cannot be allowed to continue.

It is time for us to act.


how?
torches and pitchforks

where?
any board meeting

why?

• to demand the truth from our servants; to demand that they name a time, and a day, and a place where they will sit and answer legitimate questions, candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.
• to demand honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence;
• to demand absolute transparency in the administration of the public trust and treasure, and
• to demand honest accountability as role models of the student standard of conduct.

who?
everyone, all of us.

Sacrifice is the currency of commitment.
There is no equivalent gesture.
You have to show up.

"Access Investigations" investigated APS PD

Finally, APS Custodian of Public Records, Rigo Chavez,
has released the truth.

In January of 2007, the Journal published details of a scandal
in the leadership of the APS Police Department. link

Former, APS Chief of Police, Gil Lovato said at the time;

If the truth ever gets out, there won't be a single senior
APS administrator left standing.

At the time, a private investigator was hired to look into improprieties in the APS PD. According to a record surrendered by Rigo Chavez, the investigation took place between February 12 and March 12 of 2007.

I suspect that the results of the investigation reveal felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators. No one in the leadership of the APS has ever refuted that contention, despite many, many opportunities.

I have been trying to find out the name of the private investigator since early 2007. I filed a request for public records on September 9th of this year. In the interim, there have been many simple requests for the truth, and another formal request for public records, the latest on November 14 of this year.

Almost two years after the first request, Rigo Chavez has finally told the truth; the investigation was done by Access Investigations. link (top of the list when googled) Rigo Chavez is still refusing to surrender any pages in the contract which have to deal with confidentiality agreements.

Confidentiality is important. It is important, because according to Rigo Chavez, the results of the investigation are still secret from law enforcement.

Statutes of limitation expire within weeks, and APS good ol' boys will escape the consequences of their criminal misconduct.

I have written to District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, to request that she do something about this blatant miscarriage of justice.

12/18/2008

Ms.Brandenburg,

In late 2006, early 2007, there was some criminal misconduct involving
the APS Police Department and some APS employees.

APS' Custodian of Public Records, Rigo Chavez has informed me that APS
is "still investigating" and has not turned any of the evidence of even felony
criminal misconduct, to your office.

Statutes of limitation are about to expire.

I am wondering if I can count on your office to interfere in their plan to withhold evidence of felony criminal misconduct, until after statutes of limitation expire?

...

As usual, she has ignored my email.

So what do you do when the leadership of the APS is hiding evidence of felony criminal misconduct, and the DA won't do anything about it?

Worse still, the media won't tell stakeholders the truth about the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, even though a majority of the board of education is being (re)elected in less than two months.

Larry Barker's battle with APS

The following is a chronology of Larry Barker's efforts to get
APS to surrender public records that APS did not want to make public.

The records were the basis of a report that Larry Barker, KRQE,
did on the scandal involving APS Director of Internal Audits,
Michael Kimbrell. link

On October 7, 2008, Barker made his request for public records.
He asked for "reports, surveillance photos, videotape, notes, emails and letters: of the investigation of Internal Audit Director, Michael Kimbrell.

He couched his request by pointing out that the NMIPRA allows
certain parts of records to be redacted, but does not allow the
redaction of the entire record just because some parts of it
warrant redaction. He also specifically excepted "letters or
memorandums which are matters of opinion in personnel files";
another favorite dodge that the leadership of the APS uses
to secret the truth from stakeholders.

Barker wrote;

"As you know, the Act provides that if portions of a document are exempt from release, the remainder must be segregated and disclosed. Therefore, I will expect you to give me access to all nonexempt portions or the records I have requested, and ask you to justify any deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act."

Note; If there are any inaccuracies in the transcription, it is because I cannot read my copy of the record released by to me by the APS. It appears to be a copy of a copy, of a copy, of a copy, and is nearly illegible in places. This is another favorite antic of the public servants in the APS whose job it is to secret the truth from public knowledge.

Apparently, Barker has had the same experience with APS as
others; APS claims entire bodies of records are exempt,
because some parts may actually be exempt.

APS Custodian of Public Records, Rigo Chavez replied to Barker the following day. (This is highly unusual and frankly surprises me.)

I am not surprised though, that Chavez went ahead and tried to illegally redact all of the evidence. He wrote;

"The information you are requesting is exempt from the NM Inspection of Public records Act because it contains "law enforcement records that reveal confidential sources, methods or information on individuals accused but not charged with a crime"

Chavez went on to add;

"Therefore, your request is denied by Bill Reed, director of APS Police, and Andrea Trybus, executive director of APS Human Resources."

This dodge is used every time APS wants to add an exchange of letters to an already cumbersome and deathly slow process.

You pay them $3C an hour, I'm guessing,
to pretend that they don't understand the law.
This not the first time. It could be the hundredth.

Consider how long it took them to finally obey the law
and tell the truth on this one.

Everything that Larry Barker got, should have been surrendered
to public knowledge within three days.

Every day after that used unwitting taxpayer support for "education"
to fund instead;
self exception to the law, for the leadership of the APS.

Further, neither Reed, nor Trybus, has the authority to deny a request. That responsibility falls exclusively upon the Custodian of Public Records. (I am not an expert on the NMIPRA, I will bow to controverting fact on this particular assertion.)

Barker and KRQE hired an attorney to press the issue.
At some point, APS has to pay attorney's fees for anyone who
successfully presses a request in court. I don't know whether
or not APS (you, as a taxpayer) paid for Barker's lawyer or not.

Their lawyer, Jim Dines, of Dines and Gross, PC wrote;

"Mr. Chavez's denial is improper in this matter pursuant to the requirements of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act )"IPRA"). Mr. Chavez's letter is a blanket denial and does not even attempt to provide information in a redacted format. The IPRA "law enforcement" exception, NMSA 14-2-1 (4) does not allow a complete sealing of a file. This exception is intended to protect specific materials and procedures and not entire files. The New Mexico Attorney General's Compliance Guide's commentary adn examples support the position that the exception is to be used cautiously.

At this time I would request that Albuquerque Public Schools conduct the correct review of those materials and provide to me, on behalf of Mr. Barker, an invesntor of those materials to which the exception is being applied, along with providing me those materials that are either not covered by the exception or can be redacted in order to maintain the exception."

On October 31st, APS received another letter from Barker's
attorneys. They wrote;

"... APS has made certain materials available to Mr. Barker pursuant to the Inspection of Public Records Act. However, additional materials are still being withheld, according to a letter from Rigo Chavez dated October 27, 2008. Mr. Chavez confirmed in phone conversation with Mr. Barker today that certain portions of the file have been withheld."

As a side note; Rigo Chavez failed to surrender a copy of the Oct. 27 letter in the materials he surrendered to me, although he represented that he had surrendered all public records for which I had asked.

Mr. Chavez specifically referenced photographs, but declined to give Mr. Barker details regarding those photographs. He did not disclose, for example, the number of the photographs being withheld, their subject matter, the dates and times of the photographs, or the identity of the photographer. Without this information, we cannot determine whether or not these photographs may in fact be properly shielded from disclosure under the IPRA.

These photographs were of Kimbrell exiting a porn shop while he was on the clock, were incredibly damning, and were central to Barker's finished piece.

"Please immediately provide this information regarding the photographs. Furthermore, if additional materials other than photographs have been withheld, please identify them with sufficient description so that we may determine if they may be properly withheld."

The photos were eventually surrendered and the story that the leadership of the APS was trying to keep secret from stakeholders was finally told; but only after taxpayers underwrote what must be considerable expense to keep them secret.

Taxpayers paid through the nose to enable legal weaselry, and mis, mal, and non-feasance of public servants who tried very deliberately to keep the truth from stakeholders.

We will never know how much exactly.

You could ask for the records that report the expense,
but they won't give them to you; not without a fight.

The worst part;
you have no reason to expect that any of this will ever change.



end note;
Michael Kimbrell was fired three days after evidence
was collected by the APS Police Department
who apparently did a good job of collecting evidence and
documenting the misconduct.
The ball, with respect to fully informing stakeholders,
was dropped by the leadership of the APS,
not by the APS Police Department.

If you google "student misbehavior", you'll get 127,000 hits

"Student misconduct" will get 301,000.
"Student discipline" will net 845,000.

If the subject is not important, it is at least interesting
to a number of people.

What do you know about APS student discipline?

I would bet nothing, unless you have worked in an APS school.

The reason nobody knows about student discipline in APS schools, is because it is bad. It is very, very bad. It is so bad that the leadership of the APS will not answer legitimate questions about how bad it is.


As an indication of how bad it really is, I submit the following fact;

Nowhere in the leadership of the APS, is there a written district wide discipline philosophy. Nowhere has anyone written down the most basic and fundamental commonly shared assumptions about student behavior in classrooms.

Philosophy is the foundation for policy. Policies that are not built upon a shared philosophy are ineffective and often contradictory. They are unenforceable.

Nowhere is anything written about the depth and breadth of
the problem, or its causes and its effects, or of
any plan for making things any better.

If you ask a teacher or educational assistant;

How big of a problem are students who misbehave?

you would find that they believe it is a huge problem.

If you ask the same question of the leadership of the APS
they just won't answer.

Because the responsibility for the problem is theirs, and
they are hiding from accountability.

When a student is disrupting class,
it is the teacher's responsibility to tell them to stop.

When the student says; no,
the problem becomes the responsibility of an administrator.

It is preposterous to leave the responsibility for chronically disruptive students on the shoulders of those who have the least amount of power and resources to deal with the problem.

Not to mention that it is a blatant violation of the negotiated agreement between teachers and the district, which clearly states that it is the responsibility of the administration, to enforce school and district discipline policies.

A problem cannot be solved in secret.
A problem cannot be solved by those who refuse to admit
that a problem exists.

The leadership of the APS is failing the community on the issue of student discipline, and they are hiding the problem from everyone.

With the aide and abet of the media, chiefly the Journal.