Does Character Count in APS? More importantly, do you care one way or the other?

If you ask the leadership of the APS if character counts in classrooms, school campuses and school board rooms, they won't answer.

Any answer except yes, means no.  "No comment" means no.

The leadership of the APS and their media friends would like stake and interest holders to believe that character counts in the APS.  For this post, character means actual, honest accountability to any standards of conduct higher that the law.

There is more talk about being accountable to higher standards of conduct than there is actual honest accountability; clear and unequivocal standards and, due process for complaints.

Within the standards of conduct that the school board established and has enforced upon students for two decades, one can find the following;

Sincerity. Sincerity is genuineness, being without trickery or duplicity. It precludes all acts, including half-truths, out-of-context statements, and even silence, that are intended to create beliefs or leave impressions that are untrue or misleading. (here copied and pasted verbatim from the Character Counts! website, link and emphasis added)

Stonewalling is dishonest.  Half truths are whole lies.

There is an ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

The Journal, KRQE, KOAT, and KOB TV are manifestly unwilling to expose it.

It can be exposed in a public meeting.

The leadership of the APS doesn't want to have that meeting.

Who cares what they want?

Stand up at the public forum. Tell them you want a public 
meeting wherein the topic of character education; past, 
present and future will be discussed openly and honestly.

The public forum at APS School Board meetings is hard to get to. The APS School Board makes it as difficult as they can, for the public to do anything but watch the meetings three days later on APS' award winning website. 

Not the least of the barriers they have built is their utterly unjustifiable insistence that you sign up for public forum before 5pm.  They've effectively eliminated anyone with a 9-5 job from exercising their Constitutionally protected human right to speak freely and petition their government during a public forum in a public meeting.

And that's the whole idea really; effective eliminate meaningful public participation in school board meetings.

Are you going to just sit there and take it?

It is for us the living ... (to continuously) ... resolve that
(service and sacrifice have not been) in vain ...
that government of the people, by the people, for the
people, shall not perish from the earth.  Abraham Lincoln (derived)

The bass-ackwardness that enables them to obstruct access to their meetings, allows politicians and public servants the prerogative of letting the people know;

• where it is convenient for them to meet,
• when it is convenient for them to meet, and
• what it is convenient for them, to allow the people to do during their meetings.

If their spending were justifiable, they wouldn't be hiding the records.

There was a time when board meetings were held in the evening in high schools around the city.  The board met in every high school a couple times at least, every year.  They rotated among the high schools so the every school community had the opportunity to go to a board meeting in their neighborhood.  They met in the evening when stake and interest holders could more easily attend meetings.  Attendance was greater, far greater that it is now.

All they accomplished with spending a million dollars on a fancy new boardroom, was to make it easier for administrators to attend.

The terms of public in-servitude are the prerogative of the people,
not of the politicians and public servants who serve them.

If it is too inconvenient for them to meet in times and places that are convenient for the people, maybe they should consider not running for the school board.

I cannot think of a better flag to gather around than higher standards of conduct and competence in politicians and public servants.  Honest accountability to higher standards of conduct than the law.

The best way to defend the free exercise of your Constitutionally protected human rights is use it freely and frequently.

If you don't, don't be surprised when you finally do go to a School Board meeting public forum to talk about whatever it is you have found that was worth standing up for, and find that free exercise is no longer available.




photo Mark Bralley