If you asked ten people

What does it mean to be honest?

You would get ten, at least slightly different answers.

As Character Counts Trainers; we had a definition that we represented as the truth, that we taught to children. I personally taught the standard to thousands of students, community members and even a governor. I know what I am talking about.

If you are curious about this standard; a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct, you may first source here. It is well worth the read.


In any event, the leadership of the APS requires that students be held accountable to a very specific higher standard of conduct.

Despite the fact that they are the senior role models for almost a hundred thousand of our sons and daughters, the leaders of the APS will not hold themselves accountable to that same standard of conduct; they refuse to role model accountability to the student standard of conduct. The have methodically and deliberately abdicated as role models. And kept it all secret from stakeholders.

Submitted as proof;

The Journal and Everitt would have you believe that;

"She" (Everitt) also wants more public reporting from the police agency, as well as some type of public oversight of the department."

Yet the Journal and Everitt are still being less than honest about the lack of oversight which precipitated Lovato's firing, and Everitt's resignation. Their production of the truth, their "honesty",
falls below the student standard of honest production; far below.

Fortunately for them, the "leadership" of the APS is not accountable to the student standard of conduct. They are not accountable to any code of conduct that actually uses the word ethical. They are not accountable even to the law; as irrefutably proven by their record.

The Journal and Everitt would have you believe that;

the Journal and Everitt ""... want to make sure everything is as transparent as possible...".

All you have to do to believe in that transparency,
all you have to do to maintain your faith in
the character of the leadership of the APS,
all you have to do to defend your faith
in the journalistic integrity of the Journal (et al)

is to come up with a good reason why

the leadership of the APS
does not have to hold itself honestly accountable
to the student standard of conduct.

As the senior role models in the district, how can
they simply except themselves from accountability
to the same standards of conduct and honesty
that they establish and enforce upon students?

Come up with a good reason why the leadership of the APS should not be absolutely and honestly accountable to the student standard of conduct,
for eight measly hours a day.


And then please come up with a good reason why
the Journal and Everitt have not, and will never,
explain, defend, or even acknowledge that reason in the paper, and on the record.

APS Board Member Delores Griego Demands Drastic Measures, But Not An Audit Of Her Cronies

According to an article in the Trib, here; Board Member Delores Griego has alleged a prejudice in the leadership of the APS, against south valley schools; and that they have not been treated equally.

"What has happened the last seven years?" Griego asked. "This is not equality in a school system."

It is a serious allegation.

She has offered no facts to substantiate her allegation.


Oddly, an administrative accountability audit
would absolutely substantiate her claims.
And she is yet to join Board Member Marty Esquivel
in calling for that audit.


It is almost as if she is selling out
the interests of her constituents in favor of supporting
those who's interests are served by avoiding
an honest audit of the conduct and competence
of the leadership of the APS.

The Trib's Coverage of the Policy Committee Meeting

The Trib covered the policy committee meeting with two stories, here, and here.

Between the two articles, readers found out about the name of the new high school and about the fact that the committee gave a "do pass" recommendation on the motion to arm the APS police.

The article did not reveal the administration's plan to hold employees accountable for their conduct out of school and away from students.

The Trib chose not to inform union members that their unions have been left out of the decision making process; again. The Trib chose not to give employees the opportunity to protest the fact that they were denied meaningful participation in a decision that affects their interests; again; that their trust has been betrayed; again.

They have been denied a chance to protest the fact that the leadership of the APS is going hold employees accountable to a higher standard of conduct than their own. They have been denied the opportunity to protest the fact that, the leadership of the APS cannot demonstrate by their record, that they are accountable to any standard of conduct at all.

... bad Trib. bad.

Albuquerque Public Schools Names Police Director

He was the Division Commander of Field Services, and a Captain in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the APS website; Supt. Everitt said. “We believe Mr. Reed will help rebuild the respect and trust that the department deserves.”

Mr. Reed could go a long way toward "rebuilding the respect and trust the department deserves" by simply stating on the record that he had nothing to do with the criminal misuse of the BCSO criminal background checking privilege by the leadership of the APS; and that he had no, and has no, guilty knowledge of that alleged public corruption and conspiracy.

Which begs another question; if he didn't know about the repeated felony criminal abuse of the background check system; why didn't he? He was the division commander of field services, and a captain, right?


It is unfortunate that there is no reporter to ask him those questions, and no newspaper willing to print his response.

He could end the stonewalling; he could offer to comply with the spirit of the inspection of public records act.
He could answer a legitimate question by telling the truth; candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.


Or not;

and if not, then it will seem like the leadership of the APS has in fact bought his silence, and the APS Police Department is again, their Praetorian Guard. (link)

APS officers to be "armed and loaded"

according to an article in the Journal. (sub req)

This not going to sit well with Robert Lucero,
Delores Griego and Berna Facio;

who oppose even sober police officers carrying guns.

Darren White, Kari Brandenburg, Beth Everitt; Birds of a Feather

Open government laws were created in recognition of the right of the public to know the fate of the power and resources that they have entrusted to public servants.

Exceptions to the law were written to provide for the (rare) situation where the public interest is genuinely, honestly, legitimately served by secrecy. It is clear that exception was created only to serve the public interest.


A toe in the door, is what those legitimate exceptions represent to unscrupulous public servants. Those who want to keep more and more secrets about what they are doing with public power and resources. They hire lawyers to pry the crack wider and wider open; in order to hide more and more from voters and taxpayers.

The odd and particularly upsetting irony, is that those public servants and their lawyers are using public resources to keep their incompetence and corruption secret. Public power and resources are being used against the public interest, and in plain view.

It is in the public interest to know about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS; both in the leadership of the police force, and in their financial department.

It is information voters need in order to hold board members accountable at election. It is information they need to decide whether or not to support bond issues and mill levies.

It is the self interests of Darren White and Beth Everitt, which are being served by keeping the records of corruption and incompetence secret. Both are responsible (either directly, or indirectly through their lack of oversight over subordinates and resources) for felony criminal misconduct surrounding the illegal criminal background checks.

If Kari Brandenburg has a personal interest, some exposure of her character and competence, I am unaware of it. Never the less, she too refuses to inform the public as fully as the spirit of the Inspection of Public Records Act requires.

She has a lawyer, paid for by taxpayers, to litigate for herself, an exception to the law.

Darren White has a lawyer, paid for by taxpayers, to litigate for himself, an exception to the law.

The leadership of the APS has many, many lawyers, paid for by taxpayers, to litigate for themselves, an exception to the law.


Lawyers litigating, not in the public interest,
but in the interests of public servants who wish
to except themselves from the law.

Lawyers litigating to keep secret from public
knowledge, the fate of the power and resources
that have been entrusted to public servants.

What is the fate of the public trust and treasure?


... shouldn't someone do something?

New Standards for Employees, Same Disregard for Stakeholder Input

It was announced at the policy committee meeting this afternoon; that the administrative leadership of the APS would like to hold teachers and other employees accountable for their conduct outside of school and away from students.

The five other jaws dropped as one when Board Member
Marty Esquivel said, OK, but if we're going to do this
thing for employees; it should be for board members too.

Robert Lucero was so stunned that he didn't inform Mr. Esquivel that the board is not accountable to the employee code of conduct because they are not really "employees". Lawyer Melendrez from Modrall has offered his expert legal opinion that in fact, board members are not covered by the employee code of conduct because they are not really "employees".

Lucero did ask Superintendent Everitt if the board could hold principals accountable outside of their work and contact with students.

Everitt said that there was no "final agreement" with the principals; hoping people would assume that, that meant an agreement was near. Then she described the conversation as "very preliminary". That's APS spin-speak for, they haven't talked about it at all; an allegation easily verified by asking any principal.


APS Executive Director of Human Resources Trybus was there to run a few ideas for changes in the employee code of conduct, by the board;

• The Administration would like to hold teachers and other employees accountable for misconduct outside of school and away from students.
• They would like to do random background checks on employees.
• They would like to require employees to inform supervisors if they have been arrested, and not yet convicted of a crime.
• When asked, lawyer Melendrez informed the board that they could get away with it "legally".

All of this will be news to the employee unions.

When (I think it was Mr. Esquivel who) asked what the employee unions thought about all of this; Trybus informed the board that union representatives have not participated in the policy development so far.

I think it was Robert Lucero who offered that teachers and other employees could have input into the policies after they were implemented and during contract negotiations.

You see, it's not really about whether or not employees should be accountable to their employer for what they do when they are not at work;

it is about the leadership of the APS saying that they intend change with regard to communication and stakeholder participation, only to betray the trust of stakeholders, over and over again.

Fool me once, shame on you;
fool me twice, shame on me.


How can anyone possibly believe APS leadership?

How many times will they look us in the eye,
promise to improve communication,
and then betray our trust;

before we finally concede that they can not be trusted?

And that there is a reason that they have
excepted themselves from accountability to any
standard of conduct that prohibits a betrayal of trust?

Darren White Can Hide the Public Record

According to your lawyer,
Bernalillo County Attorney Jeffery Landers;

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White can hide the public records of investigations into the criminal misuse of the criminal background check system under his oversight.

Despite the fact that the public records might demonstrate that White has some culpability in the public corruption and criminal conspiracy, Sheriff White can continue to secret the record from public knowledge because the investigations of the criminal misconduct fall under the "self-critical" analysis privilege. The privilege allows members of the privileged class to investigate their own misconduct and then claim exception to the public records act based on the fact that they investigated the misconduct themselves. (?)

In the language of legal weaselry, is sounds thus;

You cannot have the public records because they are excepted from the NMIPRA under the self-critical examination privilege, and

"... courts decline to require the production of these documents absent an en camera inspection and some sort of protective order. In addition, reports or other documents related to investigations conducted by governmental entities also contain information that is protected by “deliberative process privilege.”

At this point we continue to maintain that the documents are exempt from production.

You may treat this email as a denial."

"we" meaning the bad guys and their lawyers;

all of whom are public servants, and all of whom are
supposedly serving the public interest.


... like hell they are.

Discussion/Action

Where character counts, when an agenda item reads discussion/action, it means that stakeholders will participate meaningfully in the discussion of an issue and in deciding whether or not an action will be taken.

In the APS, discussion/action means that a very few administrators and board members will get together to discuss an issue and then take action; both, without any meaningful stakeholder participation.

Despite their often iterated claims of an interest in improving communication between the APS leadership and stakeholders; there is a discussion/action item on the agenda today, and the community knows nothing about it.

III. Code of Conduct for APS Employees (Discussion/Action)

They have complied with the minimum requirements of open government laws by posting the agenda in a "public place" at least 24 hours before the meeting. Never mind that the "public place" isn't public at all. A half million dollar a year "communication" department, and the best they can do is an obscure post on an unusable website.

Consider please the following points having to do with the Code of Conduct for APS Employees, and what happens when the leadership of the APS gets together to discuss and take action on their accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct;

• Robert Lucero and the board disposed of a motion which would have required, as a matter of enforceable policy, that administrators and board members would have to answer legitimate questions (honestly).
• Mary Lee Martin disposed of a motion which would have held administrators and board members honestly accountable to the student standard of conduct.
• They created a whistle blower policy the deliberately denied protection to those who exposed administrative misconduct, unless the misconduct actually broke the law. They denied protection to those who expose ethical misconduct.
• They excepted themselves from any accountability to the student standard of conduct; they abdicated their responsibilities and obligations as role models for students.
• They removed the following statement from their own code of conduct; in no case shall the standard of conduct for an adult be lower than the standard for students.
• They then lowered their own standard of conduct; it no longer contains the word “ethical”.
• Robert Lucero and Modrall claim that the board is not accountable even to the lowered standard of conduct, because; they are not “really” employees.
• The board then adopted its own code of ethics. Compared to the student standard of conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts, the board standard is meaningless.
• Their new code of “ethics” does not include the word ethics, except in the title.
• By their own admission, the board’s new code of “ethics” is absolutely unenforceable.
• Robert Lucero offered that maybe the board could get the legislature to legislate a code of ethics that included "real" accountability.
• They have refused, with the exception of Mr. Marty Esquivel, to allow an independent audit of accountability in the administration of the APS.
• They spend a half a million dollars a year to spin the truth to stakeholders.
  
• They are hiding public records of felony criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS.
• They are violating the spirit and intent of the Inspection of Public Records Act.
• They have removed the public forum from the public record.
  
• They pay their Board President Paula Maes/Modrall law firm millions of dollars a year to litigate exception to the law for the leadership of the APS.

The truth in the above can be easily verified. If you can get Monica Armenta, or anyone else in the "communications" department to communicate; ask them to deny even a single point.

They will not because they can not.

Where character counts; there are newspapers and news media who investigate and report upon the truth.

The leadership of the media know about each of the points listed above. They know them to be true. They have known, through at least three election cycles, and refused to inform stakeholder taxpayers and voters.

Where character counts; there are role models who will demonstrate before children, honor, and courage, and character.

Policy Committee Meeting Today

The policy committee is supposed to meet at 5pm today.

There are at least two items on the agenda which warrant attention;

• Code of Conduct for APS Employees (Discussion/Action) and
• Board of Education Policy and Procedural Directive on APS Police and Fire Arms (Discussion/Action)

The Employee Code of Conduct discussion/action comes as a surprise. There has been no previous mention of another change in the already pathetically inadequate policy. It is hard to believe that it could be watered down any more than it already is.

Employees are no longer accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct; and administrators are no longer accountable to any code of conduct which uses the word "ethical".

The discussion/action on firearms policy and directives (the issue of whether or not APS Police Officers will be allowed to arm themselves 24/7) is again on the agenda.

If board members Lucero and Griego are able to derail the process again, it will be at least another month before officers are armed.

Worth noting; a gun was recently taken from a student at West Mesa High School amid heightening gang tensions.

Tip of the hat to the brave APS officers who confront armed students; themselves woefully unarmed.

School board meeting last night

There was no discussion of either the accountability audit or of the arming of APS Police on the agenda.

I went to listen to the public forum and Matters of Information.

A number of parents spoke at the public forum about the home hospital program for students who have medical problems which keep them from attending school.

The parents were upset that the program is apparently underfunded and cannot provide textbooks or testing space for students. They were also upset that a teacher had been removed from the (already stretched thin) line up and replaced with yet another administrator.

Beth Everitt defended the program and insisted it has her support.

I can find nothing about the program on the district website.

Wilson Middle School Locked Down Briefly Today

According to the APS website, the spin goes like this;

Wilson Middle School went into lockdown at around 9:45 a.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 17 due to a small amount of an unknown liquid a student brought to school grounds. APS and city officials investigated and determined the substance was harmless. The lockdown was lifted at about 10:15 a.m. All students are safe.

Is it just me, or does this seem to you
like only part of the whole story?

Sacrifice is the Currency of Commitment

When one decides not to stand in defense
of their principles,

they have taken the first and the final step
in abandoning their principles altogether.

Beth Everitt, Kari Brandenburg, and Darren White are hiding something

Does it not follow that, there must be something to hide?

the Self-critical Analysis Privilege

It turns out that there is a very good reason why there are departments of Internal Affairs who investigate allegations of misconduct.

If a public agency, say Darren White's Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, investigates itself; the results of the investigation can be kept secret from the public, through loopholes and technicalities in the Inspection of Public Records Act such as the "self-critical" analysis privilege.

So if Darren White investigated his own involvement in permitting the leadership of the APS, the criminal misuse of the the criminal background check system under his oversight, he can hide the truth under the guise of self-critical analysis; and prevent the disclosure of public records that prove he betrayed the public trust.

The same is true with the leadership of the APS, which also investigates itself when an allegation of misconduct is leveled.

It is interesting that they actually call it a "privilege".
Usually the privileged class is a little more discreet
when exercising their "privilege"
of self exception to the law.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg would like you to believe that your interests are her interests.

But they aren't.

Your interests are served by finding the truth about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

Kari Brandenburg is serving someone other than you. She is serving the interests of those who do not want the truth to be made public. In this case; that would be Beth Everitt and Darren White. Neither of them want you to know the truth about how members of the leadership of the APS and the BCSO conducted illegal background searches; felony criminal misconduct.

Darren White in particular, does not want the truth to be part of his campaign for congress.

Evidence of the misconduct was supposedly turned over to Kari Brandenburg. She was to determine if criminal misconduct had taken place; and whether or not criminal charges would be filed. That was months and months ago.

I would like to know if she has done anything at all. I would like to know if she is just sitting on the evidence; waiting until I am the only one who cares anymore.

I would like to know if she has betrayed the public trust.

So I made a request for the public record. I requested a "billing statement" or other public record, that shows that the DA's office has spent even one hour investigating the public interests in this scandal.

In response to the request; Kari Brandenburg wrote;

"Records from ongoing investigations and pending prosecutions are not subject to the Public Record Act."

Kari Brandenburg, unless she is the Custodian of Public Records for the District Attorney's Office; had no business responding to the request. Her responsibility under the law, if she is not the rightful Custodian of Public Records, was to immediately forward the request to the rightful custodian of records.

There are two kinds of public records in the custody of the District Attorney; those that are related to the scandal in the APS police department; and every other record they hold. There is one record in common to both groups; the record that shows whether or not the investigation has even taken place.

Brandenburg claims that record is so much a part of the investigation of public corruption in the APS/BCSO scandal; that it cannot be made public in the public interest.



Sounds like legal weaselry to me.

Apparently, DA Brandenburg has no intention of investigating the leadership of the APS

What do you think?

DA Kari Brandenburg took receipt of a request for public records on Monday the 8th of October, 2007.

The request was for the public records which would document that her office had spent even one hour investigating the evidence of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS.

She refuses to surrender those records. I believe that she will not surrender them because they are evidence of my suspicion that she has not investigated the issue at all.

I suspect that she has not spent even one hour examining the evidence. She has not, because the evidence is evidence of public corruption, including felony criminal misconduct; that she has no intention of prosecuting.

And now she is apparently refusing to identify by name, the Custodian of Public Records for the Office of the 2nd Judicial District Attorney's Office. I asked her straight out for the name and contact information. She responded without revealing the name, and apparently in the capacity of, the rightful custodian of public records.


In general, the public records in question, are of the same public corruption and criminal conspiracy that Darren White is hiding at the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, and that the leadership of the APS/Modrall is hiding in the APS.


... just thought you'd like to know.

The willingness to do more than the law requires, and less than the law allows

APS school board policy requires that children be taught that their character counts. Board policy requires teachers to teach students that their character is important and worthy of protection even at some sacrifice.

Students are taught; if you are a public servant and you have in your possession public records; and if you are a public servant of character, you will surrender to public knowledge more documents than the law requires; and you will keep secret, fewer records than the law allows.

In particular, if you are a public servant of character; you will surrender even those records of your own incompetence or corruption.

Yet by our example;

We teach children that self exception from accountability is an accoutrement of power. If you are powerful enough, you can ignore any rule; even the law.

Upton Sinclair pointed out that; we should not be so worried that our children are not listening to us; as we should be worried that they are watching us.



Go APS leadership (senior role models for 99,000 kids).

go Darren White (senior role model for the BCSO).

go Kari Brandenburg (senior role model for law enforcement).

go local "news".


Go y'all.

If you scour the Journal today

for information about your interests in the public schools, you can read about what students will be eating this week in the APS.

You will not read about a board meeting scheduled for tomorrow night. Nor will you read about a policy committee meeting the following night.

Consider the number of people who care what kids will be eating. Consider the number of people who care about the issue of arming school police 24 hrs a day; and the number of people who care about the issue of an administrative accountability audit.

Consider how deeply interested are the stakeholders.

If you were a newspaper person; which issues would you investigate and report upon, and which issues would you ignore?


Go Journal.

Darrm White is waiting, and hoping

He hopes that he will not have to tell the truth about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy that made use of public resources under his oversight.

He is stonewalling.

Stonewalling is the only defense of an indefensible position.

He cannot explain how the leadership of the APS did illegal criminal background checks on his computers.

So he will stonewall; and hope it never makes the papers.

Getting a handle on the scope of the scandal

Suppose that an honest APS administrative accountability audit is done.

It will reveal that the administration of the APS has weak and/or non-existent standards of conduct and competence for administrators or board members.

It will reveal that there is no system under which complaints against administrators or board members will receive a fair and impartial adjudication.

It will reveal that as a result of lax standards and weak accountability, that there are a number of administrators who are unqualified for their positions by virtue of their incompetence and/or their lack of character.

How many? That is the really tough question. It depends of course, on exactly how incompetence and corruption are defined for the purpose of the audit.

There are enough that their removal and/or remediation will be felt; a significant, appreciable, and positive change will take place in the leadership of the APS.


An indication of how widespread the corruption and incompetence is, is the fact that there is not a single APS administrator advocating for an immediate and impartial audit; despite the fact that such an audit is not a threat except to the corrupt and the incompetent.

Another indicator, is the effort that is being made to keep the subject of an audit from public knowledge. The local media would not have forfeited their credibility and reputations were there not a lot powerful people using their influence over the media to cover up the scandal;

powerful people who's record of public service will not survive an audit.

... forget about it? ??

If there is a common thread among APS plans for reform; it is that they are all prefaced by; let's forget about the past. Let's focus instead upon the future.

The flaw in that plan is that you bring into your future;
all of the same corrupt and incompetent people
who screwed up the past. They bring with them,
no meaningful standards of conduct or competence,
and no system by which they can be held accountable
to any standards at all. Not one will bring with them
a reason to behave any differently than before.

Some elephants are too big to ignore.

Consider for example the plight of the new superintendent. Assume that the result of the search is that we have the selected and hired the absolute best superintendent on the planet.

S/he will inherit:

• An administration that is wracked with incompetence and corruption.
• Those who are not corrupt and/or incompetent, have guilty knowledge of those who are.
• There are no meaningful standards of conduct or competence.
• There is no system under which any administrator or board member is accountable even to the law.
• The entire institution, with the exception of one board member, is on record as opposing any effort to expose and eliminate corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.
• There will have been no audit of accountability in the administration of the public trust and treasure in the APS.
• Not one single administrator will be identified as holding a position for which they are unqualified by their lack of competence, or of character.
• And the local newspapers and media are covering up.
  

These allegations could be absolutely and completely rebutted by the identification of even a single meaningful standard of conduct or competence to which anyone in the leadership of the APS is honestly accountable.




Not even a hundred thousand dollar a year spin doctor
can spin nonexistent standards and accountability
out of thin air.

Not in response to me; not even to restore the credibility and reputation of the leadership of the APS.

She, like those hiding behind her, is reduced to stonewalling.

All they can do is stonewall.



Now tell me that even the world's best superintendent
has a snowball's chance in hell
of accomplishing anything at all.

The first APS Annual Administrative Accountability Audit

will be commissioned in order to expose corruption, incompetence, and their underlying enablers; equivocal, weak, or absent standards of conduct and competence, and a lack of accountability to standards of conduct and competence.

If it is such a bad idea;
why will no one speak out against it?

If it is such a good idea;
why will no one speak out in favor?


Why is Mr. Marty Esquivel still standing alone?

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

The leadership of the local media have picked a side.

On the overall issue of; should public servants be transparently accountable for their conduct and competence by means of annual accountability audits?;

and on the more specific issue of; whether or not the leadership of the APS should be immediately accountable to such an audit;

The Journal, the Trib, KOB, KOAT, KRQE, KKOB, the Alibi, ..., have all picked a side on the issue.

They stand together, and they stand against transparent accountability in public service by means of annual, impartial, accountability audits.


They can refute that allegation by spinning the truth.

"We not taken a side against audits, nor in favor; we have taken no stand at all."

I would rebut without hesitation.

... exactly.

Proof that you no longer have any control over the power and resources that you entrust to public servants

comes in the form of public servants who refuse to answer questions about what they are doing with that power and those resources.

Darren White, for example, refuses to answer questions about the (abuse of) power and resources entrusted to him.


So if he is elected to congress, will he continue to refuse to answer questions about what he is doing with the power and resources that have been entrusted to him?

I think he will.

And for that reason alone, you should not vote for him.

Shhh ...can you keep a secret?

In an apparently exclusive report, KOB TV (link) reports escalating tensions between rival gangs at West Mesa High School. In a related incident, a WMHS student was arrested for felony possession of a semi-automatic pistol with a semi full magazine, on school grounds.

The story begs a few questions. The first is; the district decided not to make the truth about escalating gang tension at WMHS available to stakeholders. Is the district correct in hiding the truth from stakeholders? Is it in the best interests of stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, community) to keep them in the dark about the situation at West Mesa High School?

Many would argue that it is not. Stakeholders have a right to make their decisions based on the (whole) truth. Perhaps if parents knew that their child was increasingly likely to become the victim of gang violence at school, they might make a decision to mitigate that risk; up to and including enrolling their child in a different school.

Another question; who is in charge at West Mesa High School; adults or gangsters?

If the gangsters are in charge; the truth is self evident; they are wearing their gangster uniforms in school, in open defiance of the rules. If they are sagging, they are in charge at West Mesa High School.

This in not about sagging; it is about the permission of prohibited behavior.

It is about who is in charge in school.

This essay is not an indictment of West Mesa High School. That the gun was found as WMHS, is mostly their bad luck. There are deadly weapons in close proximity to every high school in Albuquerque.

Nor is it an indictment even of WMHS administration.

The responsibility for the situation at WMHS, and at every other school in the APS; the responsibility for the fact that students are in charge in schools, falls squarely on the shoulders of the leadership of the APS. It is they, who have failed to generate even one plan to regain control over children in schools. Their response to date, is to leave thugs in place and ig nored.

Major gang violence in a high school is only a heartbeat away. While the tension does build perceptibly and over time; the climax will be precipitous. Some day, some kid is going to "look" at another in the wrong way. Dozens of adult sized children will be fighting. There will be weapons used. There will be injuries; maybe there will be a death.

It is not a matter of "if" it will happen.
it is a matter only of, when will it happen.

In preparation for that day;

should we be arming ourselves with the truth, and with candid and forthright discussions of the truth?


Or should we be hiring more executive directors of communication to keep the problem from being discussed at all?



We need to do something soon, or a child is going to die.


Do we look at the truth in the light of day,
or do continue to hide the truth and hope nothing happens?


... your call.

Darren White; warrior, cop, politician ...scofflaw?

The intention of the law is clear;
Darren White is to surrender the public record.
He refuses; in violation of (at least the spirit of) the law.

There is what a law is supposed to mean, and then there is what unscrupulous lawyers can litigate it into meaning.

Those who wrote, and voted for the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act (link) meant;

"The law requires public access to virtually all public records. ... with "a few legitimate exceptions..."

Those who seek to except themselves from accountability to the law, will litigate anything into falling under those few exceptions.

They do not do so legitimately; mostly they do it with loopholes, technicalities and legal weaselry. All of which are paid for with public resources.

Darren White has an obligation to tell the truth about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS, that lead to the criminal misuse of computers systems under his oversight.

Instead, his lawyers (who's salaries you pay,) will delay the surrender of public records for as long as they can
which is a very, very long time.

Taxpayers are underwriting the cost of corrupt public official's efforts to except themselves from accountability to the law.

There is only one reason to hide the truth; the truth hurts.

In this affair, those who sit at the desk where the buck stops have a reason to suppress public records; they are covering their asses.

Less clear, is why District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is suppressing the truth. Perhaps it is just a courtesy being extended among members of the privileged class.

Less clear still, why the media will not ask Darren White, Beth Everitt, or Kari Brandenburg to explain, defend, or even acknowledge the public records that are being suppressed unethically.


Perhaps that too is simply privilege being extended among members of the privileged class.

Déjà vu all over again

"The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eeriness", "strangeness", or "weirdness". ..."

According to the Journal; (link) (sub req.)

APS has purchased another multi million dollar software package that doesn't work. And they have a million dollar "maintenance" contract with a company that doesn't return phone calls.

Those who are trying to use the system at the educational interface, say, "What used to take me fifteen or twenty minutes ...now can take up to two hours."

Teachers and counselors think the program is a piece of crap.

District officials think the problem comes from the program's use by the great unwashed,

who are dumbfounded by more powerful programs,
and who have inherent difficulty with change.


Will it happen again?

• According to the Council of the Great City Schools audit; the administrator who spent 233.3 teacher salaries on the system, did not have to demonstrate by any objective means, that s/he had the education, experience, or skill set necessary to purchase multi million dollar software packages. The administrator who has not, and will not be identified, was promoted to his or her position according to an evaluation system that is "subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placement."
• Further, the purchase of the software was not supported by any stakeholder participation in the selection process. It was selected to address the needs of administrators. Teachers and counselors, those who would end up using the software, were never asked what they wanted/needed from a software package.
• Finally, the system is not going to change as a result of this most recent calamity. The district cannot produce any record that indicates a change in the evaluation of administrators, since the CotGCS audit.
  

Is it going to happen again? At some time in the future will more millions of dollars be wasted by ill-advised decision making in the leadership of the APS?

We will consult my Magic 8-Ball


... it says ... ... ...


duh ! !!

APS Hypocrisy on Parade

The leadership of the APS does not call it a hypocrisy parade of course, they are calling it a Character Counts Parade. It will be held on October 19th at Tiquex Park.

The activity is for the only stakeholders that the leadership of the APS, still expects to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts; elementary school students.

They have given up a middle and high school because parades don't work any more. Students are old enough and sophisticated enough that parades are no longer enough to get a them to commit to lead a life of accountability to a higher standard of conduct; to lead lives of courage and character and honor.

At this point in their lives they need examples to follow; they have seen too many adults who say one thing and then do another, to follow someone who isn't walking the talk.

Teachers are no longer required to walk the talk. They are required, by board policy, to teach students that their character counts. They are not required by board policy to show students what that looks like.

In their defense; most teachers don't know that their standard of conduct has been lowered. Most probably assume that board policy still says; in no case shall the standard of conduct for adults be lower than the standard for students. It doesn't.

That language was removed by the leadership of the APS in order to except themselves from accountability as role models of the student standard of conduct. They are no longer accountable to a standard of conduct that has the word ethical in it.

The leadership of the APS will not model accountability to the student standard of conduct. They cannot expect middle and high schools students to ignore their hypocrisy; so character no longer counts except for the youngest of students.

The salary equivalent of two or three teachers is paid to an administrator in charge of APS Character Counts. (link) I invite you to visit the site. Click on a few of the links and see what has been going on lately. Judge for yourself whether the person in charge would survive an honest accountability audit of the conduct and competence of the leadership of the APS.

Darren White's Desk

That's where the buck stops on accountability for criminal misuse of the Bernalillo County computer system for criminal background checks.
background link.

Some members of the leadership of the APS ran illegal criminal background checks on computers under Darren White's oversight; allegedly. They ran a background check on the man who blew the whistle on the fraud at the vocational high school; allegedly. They ran a background check on Tom Savage's girl friend; allegedly.

The truth about what happened; the truth about public corruption and criminal conspiracy is fairly represented by public records; public records that you have a right to see.

The public does not know the truth about public resources, public servants, and public service in the leadership of the APS, or in the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, because the public record is being suppressed.

Between the leadership of the APS, the BCSO, and District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, the truth about public corruption and criminal conspiracy is being kept from public knowledge.

They are using technicalities and loopholes in the NMIPRA to suppress the truth. Tax dollars are paying the salaries of lawyers whose job it is to litigate exception to the law for powerful public servants.

They are not suppressing the truth in the public interest.

They are suppressing the truth out of self interest.
They do not want to be held accountable
for their conduct and competence as public servants.



It is against the public interest.
It is not an appropriate use of public resources.
It is a betrayal of the public trust.


The Journal, and the Trib, and KOB, KOAT, and KRQE
have a responsibility to the community.

Unfortunately that responsibility is completely unenforceable.

There is no way to get them in investigate and report upon public corruption in the leadership of the APS, BCSO, and DA's office, if they don't want to;

... and apparently, they don't want to.

Against The Public Interest; and On The Public Dime

Your lawyer's name is Jeffrey Landers.
His title is Bernalillo County Attorney.

Like anyone whose salary is paid in tax dollars;
he is a public servant; your servant.

You would expect that his job
would be to protect public (your) interests.


It is in your interest, to know the truth about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS; and in the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

It is in your interest, that the public records of that corruption become public knowledge.

Your lawyer, Landers is writing letters on your behalf
to the New Mexico Attorney General's Office;
letters whose purpose is to forestall the release
of public records.

He is writing those letters against the public interest


... and on the public dime.

NMIPRA tested

I am still trying to find out what really happened as a result of the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department).

I am trying to get Darren White to surrender public records. Bernalillo County Attorney Jeffrey Landers is the lawyer who is supposed to be representing for the public interests; but instead is the point man for the effort to keep public records from public knowledge.

This is a letter in response to a letter he sent to the Attorney General's Office. In that letter, he defended the legal weaselry that allowed him to deny my request for public records.

Dear Ms. Valicenti,

I write to you in response to a letter sent to you,
dated June 26, 2007, and from Bernalillo County Attorney Jeffrey Landers.

From the rules of civil procedure;

These rules shall be construed and administered to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action.

There are lawyers more expert than this old shop teacher, at using the law to delay justice. I am relying upon your office to protect my right to a just, speedy and inexpensive determination on my complaint; which is that I am being denied my right in inspect and or copy public records.

The public records in question relate to criminal misconduct by public officials. Specifically, public resources were used to do illegal criminal background checks. Those involved include; public employees in the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, and the board and administration of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

I want to inspect and or copy those public records. If they are to be redacted; I would have them redacted honestly and ethically.

The leadership of the sheriff’s department and the Albuquerque Public Schools know exactly what public records are involved. Lawyer Landers would have me produce specifics about those records that I don’t have. I have no idea, for example, when the criminal behavior took place; because he and those he represents, are keeping it secret.

I cannot frame this complaint in words that lawyer Landers cannot twist to his advantage.

This complaint will or will not receive a principled resolution at the hands of the Attorney General’s Office;

If in order to achieve that result, I have to out legal weasel, the legal weasels; this whole exercise is a waste of time.

Please forward this letter to Attorney General King; not by way of any complaint about you, but because he has, I believe indicated his personal interest in this case.

I am grateful for your time and attention.

Charles “Ched” MacQuigg

c.c Landers and Diogenes’six

These are the same public records that APS/Modrall
and District Attorney Kari Brandenburg are secreting from public knowledge by use of the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act's loopholes and technicalities.

The Inconvenient Truth Can Be Avoided

by ignoring the inconvenient question.

The inconvenient question for the candidates for superintendent is;

As the senior administrative role model for students;
are you willing to hold yourself honestly accountable
as a role model of the student standard of conduct;
the Pillars of Character Counts?

We know that the question will not be allowed because
the current leadership will not allow it to be asked either.

I'll prove it.



Ms. Armenta,

At your earliest convenience;

please communicate to stakeholders; the truth
about APS leaders, and their actual accountability
as role models of the student standard of conduct.

A link to this post will be provided to Armenta who will either respond or not. If she does not; it means that there is something to hide.

And it means that no venue will be provided where the question can be asked of a prospective superintendent either.

Students Get a Say on School Boss

according to the Journal. (sub req)

Not only that, but

"I think you guys could sway the input," board president Paula Maes said at the sight of the stack of comments. "I think who you want to be the superintendent is going to be the superintendent."

Does anyone seriously believe that the person that
students want, is going to be the next superintendent?

Is Paula Maes so accustomed to "spinning" the truth
that this crap comes out without even thinking?

At the very least,

no one will be selected to be the next superintendent
who will commission an immediate and honest audit
of the relationship between APS, Maes, and Modrall;

a relationship that spends two million dollars a year
insulating the leadership of the APS from honest
accountability for their conduct and competence
as public servants.

Darren White for Congress

Darren White is the Bernalillo County Sheriff.

As such, over sight of the most extensive of criminal background check systems was entrusted to his supervision.

On his watch, apparently, the leadership of the APS made felony criminal misuse of those computer resources.

There are public records of felony criminal misuse of the criminal background check system.

Darren White broke the law, rather than surrender those public records.

I would suggest that a man with a manifest
criminal disrespect for open government laws


is poor choice for election to congress.

confront, cajole, or ignore

For the sake of this argument

cajole; to persuade with flattery or gentle urging especially in the face of reluctance

confront; to come face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility

ignore; to refuse to pay attention to; disregard

Within moments of arriving at school; authority figures will witness misbehavior. Let us assume that the misbehavior, if continued, will adversely affect the safety and/or well being of other students. And therefore cannot be ignored.

This argument concerns a specific type of student; not all students. This type of student, when asked to stop the misbehavior, and then accompany the adult to the place where appropriate consequences will occur, will say, no.

What does the adult do then?

The administration will say, cajole, don't confront.

So the adult tries to persuade the hoodlum with flattery and/or gentle urging to come along to get punished; with the same inevitable result.

The teacher now has two choices; confront or ignore.

If the teacher chooses to "confront", to stand their ground as a matter of principle; their future becomes uncertain. There is at least some possibility that a physical confrontation may be required to carry the thug to his/her consequences. It is possible that at any point in the process they will find themselves "on their own"; abandoned by the leadership of the APS.

The leadership of the APS refuses to state on the record; their expected reaction by the adult authority figure. The teacher, or whomever, is entirely on their own.

There is not even a district wide discipline philosophy,
to which the teacher might look for some kind of guidance.

The teacher's choice at this point is to embark upon a defense of the rule of law in a civilized society, with uncertain, but certainly far reaching, consequences;

or they can ignore the misbehavior.


I reported to you that Rio Grande High School had three students arrested for assaults and interference with adult authority at school.

I reported to you that the leadership of the APS, Delores Griego and others are concerned that the adults involved should have handled the matter differently; that they had behaved inappropriately when they "confronted" student misconduct.

I have reported that the teachers at West Mesa High School (and others) have chosen to ignore misconduct rather than confront it; and that as a result, students unsafe/less safe at WMHS. They are kept safe by as few as seven adults during lunch and passing periods.

I wrote that Manzano High School's administration has commissioned a student militia in order to address student violence issues.

Monica Armenta has had more than enough time to respond, refute, or rebut any of these allegations.

She chose to ignore them.


The leadership of the APS is absolutely responsible for establishing and maintaining the authority of adults over children in schools.

They have chosen to ignore that responsibility.

They have chosen to ignore questions about that failure.


In the Journal this morning, you will find no stories about student and campus safety and discipline.

You will find reporting about what's for lunch in the public schools this week.



If your kid makes it to lunch this week.

Albuquerque Teachers Federation members, your attention please

The new superintendent will either be an advocate of teacher empowerment and site based management;
or s/he will not.

The union used to be an advocate of both.

It is now advocating for neither.

on Looking for Leadership

Your time and attention to an essay on this subject
at Eye on APS would be greatly appreciated.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg Is "Too Busy" To Do Her Job

Kari Brandenburg is not too busy at work that she can't give out her work number to listeners to her radio talk show. She has time during her work day to clear up their boggle on the amount of sugar to put in a recipe.

Though when it comes to doing the people's business,
she says she is too busy to keep up with her caseload.

She has not found time so far to look at the evidence that has already been collected. She just cannot make the time to make a determination whether or not criminal misconduct had taken place in the public corruption and conspiracy scandal in the leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools (Police Department).

There should be no further investigating to do. If the APS internal audit, and the independent private investigation of the scandal were at all competent; there should be no further investigation necessary.

It is simply a matter of reading the two reports and making a decision.

Yet Brandenburg is so overwhelmed with calls from people who cannot keep up with her fast paced delivery of cookie recipes, that she just can't find time to read the reports on what will be the largest public corruption scandal in the history of the APS.


Coincidently, the delay works to the advantage of the leadership of the APS, who would like very much to sweep the situation under the rug forever.

It works well for Darren White as well.

White is reportedly interested in running for congress;
but he is not interested in surrendering the public record of the (felony) criminal use, by the leadership of the APS, of computers and data bases entrusted to his supervision.

Brandenburg says she is too busy to complete the investigation.

She is too busy to determine if the leadership of the APS and the BCSO have betrayed the public interest and the public trust.

But if you want to chat about her favorite recipes,
you may call her at work, and she will be simply
delighted to spend some time chatting
on the company dime.


And finally; no report on public corruption in the city
is complete without citing the complicity of the Journal
in keeping it all from public knowledge.

(as is my custom, a link to this post has been sent to DA Brandenburg, and to Sheriff White, allowing them the opportunity to respond, refute, or rebut.)

The Albuquerque Journal Has Joined Forces with APS/Modrall

Consider their headline in this morning's Journal. (sub req)

APS Exec Has Sued Past Employers

Now consider your feelings about the former APS executive and her lawsuit against the leadership of the APS. Does her complaint feel less credible?

It does if Charlie Moore and the Journal got the effect they were looking for. The wording is not accidental. The purpose of the article is too discredit Boothe. There is nothing in the article that is "news".

If you are honest, after reading the report, you will have to admit that you feel differently about Lou Anne Booth and her complaint. This despite the fact that there in not one word in the article related to any of the issues of the complaint.

She sues people all the time, you are thinking; she must be less credible; her complaint must be less credible.

APS/Modrall will not be allowed to enter her previous lawsuits as evidence during a trial.

No judge will allow them to enter the record as evidence, because it is irrelevant.

So APS/Modrall needs to enter her record into the mind of the jury (pool) now; before a judge can prevent them from bringing it up.

And the Journal has stepped up to help. The "news" story did not mention, for instance, that the person against which Boothe made her complaint; APS CBO Bill Moffatt, also has a record of a previous lawsuit;
over similar allegations, and one which he lost.



Shame on the Journal for a flagrant, a blatant, and an absolutely egregious disregard for the ethics of journalism.

And for its continued complicity in the cover up of a widespread ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

I have been told

There has been some trouble at Rio Grande High School.

Three students have been arrested.

One for battery on school personnel, one for interfering with a police officer, and one for carrying a knife to school.

It appears that School Board Member Delores Griego thinks the police have over reacted in arresting these students. She sees students who are arrested, as victims of over zealous police officers.

She thinks arming police will cause turmoil in valley schools.

Tell us Ms. Griego, what is a police officer supposed to do
when they ask two students to stop blocking traffic,
and the students say, "fuck you"
and mean it?

The leadership of the APS is directly responsible for
the fact that students are in control of schools.

It is they who permit; prohibited behavior.

What do they expect staff members to do when students refuse acknowledge the authority of adults; when they refuse to obey legitimate commands?

I have also been told that students at RGHS often sit in classrooms without teachers because of the number of subs who refuse to substitute teach at Rio.

Maybe West Mesa needs a student militia like the one at Manzano High School.

I have been told that the staff at West Mesa High School no longer assumes the burden of enforcing campus discipline; that during passing periods and lunches, one sergeant and six campus carry the burden of enforcing discipline on the entire campus exclusive of classrooms.

It would be great if that which I have heard, was not true. If anyone cares to refute or rebut the allegations; I will publish their refutation or rebuttal.

I will copy this post to Monica Armenta in order that you will know that she has the opportunity to communicate with the community on these issues; and to set the record straight as necessary.


Not that she will of course.

Albuquerque school board wants closer look at alcohol use on field trip

According to Susie Gran and the Trib; "... Albuquerque Board of Education members Robert Lucero and Dolores Griego said Wednesday they want a closer look at the investigation.

"These people need to set an example for our kids," Lucero said of the teachers. "Our teachers and our principals have to have higher standards."

Robert Lucero himself does not have to have higher standards. He voted to except himself from accountability to the higher student standards of conduct, when he voted to remove the following statement from the employee code of conduct.

In no case shall the standard of conduct for adults be lower than the standard of conduct for students.

After excepting themselves from accountability to the student standard of conduct, he and the rest of the board just voted to hold themselves "accountable" to a comparatively meaningless and completely unenforceable "code of ethics".

Robert Lucero, by his own deliberate choice,
is unaccountable to any meaningful standard of conduct at all; much less any "higher standard" of conduct.

The Trib knows about the whole truth.

They will not give a column inch to an investigation and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS. Yet they will give Robert Lucero all the ink he wants to bray about higher standards of conduct (for his subordinates, but not for himself) .

Robert Lucero is a hypocrite.

And the Trib should be telling its reader stakeholders
the truth.

APS police officers, forget about carrying guns for a long time

The policy change didn't make it past Robert Lucero and Delores Griego. Additional language will be added to the suggested policy change and run by the policy committee yet another time. The next policy committee meeting is two weeks off; the next board meeting two weeks after that.

It has been a month since the board passed a motion that would arm APS Police. It will now be at least another month before a motion can pass through the policy committee and full board.

All the leadership of the APS had to do to arm police officers 24/7 was to write the policy changes and the pass the policy changes by the policy committee and then by the full board.

The entire change in board policy amounted to striking one sentence.

The entire change in procedural directives added one paragraph.

It could have been done already;
it would have been done already;

if that were really the will of the leadership of the APS.

All they have to do to refute the allegation is to tell the truth.

Heather Wilson
Bill Richardson
Marty Chavez
Terri Coles
Darren White
Kari Brandenburg
Don Harris
Craig Loy
Sally Mayer
Martin Heinrich
Michael J. Cadigan
Brad Winter
Isaac Benton
Debbie O'Malley
Ken Sanchez
Elizabeth Everitt
Tom Savage
Linda Sink
Rachel Reedy
Eduarto Soto
Monica Armenta
Diego Garcia
Paula Maes
Robert Lucero
Berna Facio
Delores Griego
Mary Lee Martin
Gordon Rowe
the Modrall
the Journal
the Trib
KOB TV
KOAT TV
or KRQE TV

It is alleged that they are part of a conspiracy
to prevent stakeholders from meaningful participation
in the decision over the scope of the upcoming administrative accountability audit.

The allegation is refuted by their conspicuous support of; fully informed stakeholders deciding on the scope of the administrative accountability audit;

or by their public counter argument in support of widespread stakeholder disenfranchisement.


Any other response would seem to cement the validity
of the allegation.

...or their individual cowardice.

It cannot be overlooked; there is one public servant
who is standing on the record for meaningful participation
by stakeholders in determining the scope of the audit.


Let's hear it for Mr. Marty Esquivel.


I mean really, let's hear it for Marty Esquivel.


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

"You can't just tell the truth; you never know how someone might want to use it"

I will tell you in a moment, who said that.

It was more than a decade ago. I was fresh out of Character Counts training, and a member of the teachers union team that was negotiating contract language.

I had managed to get a plank into the union platform.

I was there to see that the new contract contained language that respected and recognized the right of stakeholders to know the truth.

It was during that negotiation that Tom Savage said, "If I told (stakeholders) the truth about what was going on at my school, the realtors in my neighborhood would have my neck".

It was outside of negotiations where I met face to face with then APS Superintendent and West Point graduate, Peter Horoscak.

And when I argued that teachers (and other stakeholders) had a right to know what was going on in their schools; Peter Horoscak said; "You can't just tell the truth; you never know how someone might want to use it."

The truth is, the leadership of the APS treats the truth as a commodity that they distribute according their interests. They are not compelled by any standard of conduct to distribute the truth ethically.

The truth is, the leadership of the APS has a full staff of professional prevaricators whose absolute priority is to distribute the truth in a manner that does the least harm to the leadership of the APS.

That fact is indisputable.

The public interest is not served by this arrangement.

In fact, the interests that are served are diametrically opposite to the public interest.

They are milking a billion dollar a year bureaucracy;
for all that its worth.

They could not have established their exception to accountability if the public were aware of what they are doing. If stakeholders knew that the leadership of the APS has methodically and deliberately excepted itself from accountability even to the law; they would be outraged.

They would show up at a board meeting carrying their pitchforks and torches and demand;

honest accountability to meaningful standards, for public servants within their public service; for eight measly hours a day;

transparently accountability under a system over which they have no control; and even against their will.


There are those who do not want the public to start talking about accountability in public service. Their position; that they are excepted from honest accountability, is indefensible in open discourse. They are conspiring together to keep the subject from public discourse.

The media in Albuquerque, the "leadership" of the Journal, the Trib, KOB, KOAT, and KRQE, are involved in the effort to keep the public from considering honest accountability for public servants.

That fact is indisputable.


One of the privileges of membership in the privileged class is that if you are to be held accountable at all;
you are accountable only to others of the privileged class;

... and certainly not to the great unwashed
or to any of their silly rules.

As predicted

The Journal's coverage of the school board meeting last night does not include the board's unanimous approval of a deceitful and misleading goal to address the board's communications problem with stakeholders.

Communications has long been regarded as a major problem in the district's relationship with the community.

The adopted goal is to increase "efficiency" in communication;

a meaningless and completely unenforceable standard
that manifests the complete lack of respect that
the leadership of the APS has for stakeholders.


Shame on Paula Maes, Robert Lucero, Berna Facio,
Mary Lee Martin, Delores Griego, and Gordy Rowe.

Mostly though, shame on the Journal for betraying
the trust of reader stakeholders again, and again,
and again.

By Unanimous Decision* The Board of Educations Proclaims its Goals for SY 07-08

*Marty Esquivel was absent.

There are four goals.

None has anything to do with being better role models.

One says; their goal is to increase efficiency of all communication processes between the Board of Education and all stakeholders.

At the same time they steadfastly refuse to answer legitimate questions.

Questions like;

why won't you explain why you are no longer accountable as role models for the student standard of conduct?

It is a legitimate question.

The board has excepted itself from accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct. They are no longer accountable as role models. I would like to know why they have abdicated as the senior role models for 99,000 students in the APS; and they won't answer the question.

But by unanimous vote tonight, they have just promised the community that their goal is to increase communication "efficiency". What the hell kind of word is efficiency to use to describe communication?

My bet is that it is the word that a group of Modrall lawyers decided upon, as the standard that they could most easily except themselves from, in a court of law.

What would the community think if they knew that the board just set a meaningless and misleading goal as their standard of communication with stakeholders?

The question is moot. It is moot because the community will never find out what happened.

They will never know; because the newspapers won't report it.

The TV news wasn't even there.


And Monica Armenta sure isn't going to try to explain it.


And so there we are. The leadership of the APS has systematically, methodically, and deliberately excepted itself from accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct at all.

• They are no longer accountable as the senior role models for employees and students in the APS.
• They are not accountable as role models, nor as stewards of a billion tax dollars a year, nor as public servants.
• They have used the Modrall law firm to except themselves from accountability even to the law.
• Sherriff Darren White is covering for them.
• District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is covering for them.
• The Journal and the Trib are covering for them.
• and, KOB, KOAT, and KRQE are covering for them.
  

If this were some crazy conspiracy theory; wouldn't you expect that at least one of them would deny the allegation and offer controverting proof;
if any such proof existed; any proof at all?

Not one of them will,
because not one of them can,
because no such proof exists;

... not even in its smallest measure.

Trib editor Bill Slakey proves me wrong

I would have bet my house that the Trib didn't have the grapes to write about a real controversy in the APS.

And then there it is, right on tonight's front page.

It seems that there is a controversy over the name of the new high school.


According to Susie Gran and the Trib; after taking seven calls objecting to the name Tuesday, state Sen. James Taylor called Albuquerque Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Tom Savage to voice his objections.

"I've got people raising hell," said Taylor...
"There are a lot of names they could have chosen that would be better," ...

South Valley school board member Dolores Griego stood her ground saying, she thought Vista del Rio was beautiful. Adding ... you can see the river ....

The pressure from the powerful politico might be enough to make Savage and the rest of the senior APS administrators roll over on the naming committee; who probably thought they were actually naming the new high school, when they invested their time and effort.

What next Trib? an expose of corruption and incompetence?

The board will approve it's goals for the current school year tonight

Board Goals 2007-08

Goal 1: The Board of Education will lead and support improved student achievement and improved instructional practices by developing and monitoring effective and targeted policies during school year 2007-08.

Goal 2: The Board of Education will lead, model, select, and support effective and culturally-sensitive leadership in Albuquerque Public Schools by strengthening positive relationships with its community and governmental partners and celebrating our diversity.

Goal 3: Increase efficiency of all communication processes between the Board of Education and all stakeholders.

Goal 4: Use continuous improvement processes to enhance the Board of Education’s leadership role in day-to-day Board work.

Does this mean the public forum will be returned to the public record?

Does it mean someone in the leadership of the APS will finally stand for legitimate questions?

Well no, it doesn't.

Which makes a goal which reads;

Increase efficiency of all communication processes between the Board of Education and all stakeholders,

a lie. Does it not?

What kind of efficient communication involves
hiring an executive director of communications
whose job is not, to tell the truth, but
whose job is, not to tell the truth?

Reflect please, upon their recent adoption of, as their own standard of conduct, a comparatively meaningless and completely unenforceable code of ethics.

A decision which was not communicated to stakeholders; despite the personal witness of reporters.

If ever there was an eye into the sole of an organization;
it is a policy statement.

And tomorrow, despite the fact that reporters will be at the board meeting tonight; it will not be reported to the community which board members vote for and against a deliberately dishonest policy statement, from the board and for the community.

Bregman/Lovato Settlement Nearing

Gil Lovato, the disgraced former APS administrator, and his lawyer Sam Bregman, have some unfinished business.

They still need to pry a bunch of tax dollars out of the hands of the leadership of the APS.


In their favor, they have Lovato's body map.

According to Bregman; when the body map is made public, there won't be a senior APS administrator left standing.

Those in the leadership of the APS who want the map to disappear, are looking for a way to help Bregman and Lovato get their hush money. Bregman and Lovato can count on the deliberate intention of some in the leadership of the APS, to trade public resourses for immunity.

In their corner, apparently, the leadership
of the local newspapers and media.


Working against Bregman and Lovato; the clock.

If, by some happenstance, there is an honest audit of administrative accountability; Lovato's body map becomes worthless.

Who wants a map to where the treasure used to be buried?

Also a big problem, the body map has no intrinsic value; it is worthless in their lawsuit. Worse than worthless, the body map cannot actually be used in court, because it would prove guilty knowledge of public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

Body maps, like treasure maps, are only valuable if the information that the contain is still secret from everyone else.

Finally, District Attorney Kari Brandenburg cannot sit on her evidence forever. Sooner or later, she is going to have to reveal that the evidence turned over to her by APS/Modrall, is in fact, evidence of criminal misconduct.

When (if) that finally happens, Lovato's map declines in value.




I predict that announcement will be made soon.
Monica Armenta will communicate that APS has settled
with Lovato and Bregman for an amount less than it
would cost to defend a principle; with the specifics to be kept "confidential for personnel protections".

She will not stand for follow up questions;



which will be OK with Charlie Moore, Bill Slakey,
and the folks who run the TV stations;

because they won't be asking any.

Struggling to find a story

and unable to write about anything substantive;
the Journal's "education reporter" Andra Schoellkopf,
reported this morning (sub req) that:

Next year's fall break would be moved from a Monday to a Friday under a plan being recommended by an Albuquerque Public Schools calendar committee.

In the same number of column inches, she could have informed the community of the possibility of an impartial audit that would eliminate corruption and incompetence from the leadership of the APS, and profoundly change APS' future.

She (Charlie Moore) chose instead, to break the story about a far distance, and basically "so what; who cares?" change in a school holiday.

Is that a Pulitzer I smell?

"APS seeks help for finance departments"

Susie Gran wrote (a linkless) report by that name, for the Trib tonight.

She reports;

• the district's annual audit is ten months late, and still not completed,
• special auditors have been called in,
• the district's only CPA has been suspended and is suing the district,
• the last Chief Business Officer resigned in disgrace ( a secret kept from stakeholders for months),
• his position remains unfilled,
• and oh yes; there is going to be a bond sale in three weeks.

The last point, a point that the leadership of the APS choose not to "communicate" to the community.

Voters gave permission for the district to sell bonds at election. Now the district needs to actually sell the bonds. The people who buy bonds are disinclined to by bonds backed by institutions that are run by asshats.

Apparently the sale will be a "stealth" sale
of bonds approved in the "stealth" election.

Made possible by the cooperation of the Journal and the Trib.

It has been over a month now

since I asked Monica Armenta to communicate the board's reasoning behind removing the public forum from the public record of board meetings.

She replied that she was too busy to answer the question at the time; and that she was in fact two weeks behind in her emails.

I am still waiting for an answer.

While voting today

I had the opportunity to observe the permission of prohibited behavior in a high school.

Although I saw a half a dozen signs reminding students that they were required to wear their student ID in plain site; I saw a number of students who were not.

If its a rule, it should be enforced.

If its not worth enforcing; it shouldn't be the rule.

Apparently students are expected, but not required
to obey the rules.

A question for candidates for the APS superintendency

Will you establish an unequivocal standard of conduct for students;

and will you hold yourself,
and every other adult role model
in your administration, honestly accountable
to that same standard of conduct;

under a system over which you have no control;

and even against your will?

Your answer of course, will be on the record.

As certainly as night follows day

there will be a spate of allegations of inappropriate behavior between adults and children in the APS.

At least some percentage of those accused; will be innocent. And not innocent in a legal loophole/weaselry kind of way. But in a little person is upset because they were required to spend their recess finishing an incomplete assignment, "So I'm going to say the teacher touched me", kind of a way.

The lives of those so accused, will be largely destroyed; irretrievably destroyed.

In particular if the media publicizes the adult's identity.

Adults don't get over accusations of inappropriate behavior with children.


On the other hand, you can't trust the leadership of the APS to keep the secret appropriately.


I would suggest a panel of trusted journalists, law enforcement, administration, and child advocates, who will decide on a case by case basis, what constitutes fair consideration of the interests of all stakeholders, in the release of information.

It isn't just that the Journal is protecting a comparative handful the leadership of the APS

When the Journal (Trib, and TV stations) collaborated in deciding not to lay the accountability audit controversy on the table for voters and other stakeholders to digest;

they didn't just protect a handful of corrupt and incompetent administrators and board members from exposure by the audit. That, in comparison, would be a small thing.

More important is the betrayal of the trust of their readers and viewers.

More important still, is the betrayal of the interests
of 98,000 of our sons and daughters;

at least if you believe in the importance of role models
in the development of the character of children.

Credibility Points, or, Monica Math

When the Trib editors suggested that the leadership of the APS had accumulated some credibility points for calling for an outside audit of (just) their accounting department, and accumulated some more credibility points for finally arming the school police;

they painted the credibility picture as one where you can gain or loose points based on your actions. Presumably if you gain enough points your credibility is restored; if you loose enough points your credibility is again lost.

I don't think their picture is correct. But for the sake of argument I will go in that direction briefly.

The leadership, according to the Trib, gained some points for the audit and the guns decision.

They lost points then, when they refused to produce an honest accounting of the money squandered at the Uptown Administrative Complex, and for Gradegate, and for the Principal Shuffle, and for hiding the public record of the corruption in the leadership of the APS police department.

Only the Trib editors know the system by which the number of points is assigned to each action, and they have not laid it out for scrutiny. Although, they have conceded that the leadership is way down on points.


They haven't figured the number of points lost by hiring another full time spin doctress to keep the community confused about the truth.


I would say it should count 104,500 points, each year;


on the "loose credibility" tally.

"Editorial: APS has long way to go to restore credibility"

According to the editorial in this evening's Trib,
editors believe that the leadership of the APS
lacks credibility.

In suggesting that the leadership of the APS has a long way to go in restoring it's credibility; the editor implies that there is a happenstance that will in and of itself, by itself, restore the credibility of the leadership.. The leadership of the APS will do some one thing right, after which public, staff and faculty confidence will be restored.

The editors did not suggest what that would be. They implied it would be something like;

"... took the right action Wednesday by announcing that the district has hired outside auditors to examine... the main concern... raised by Boothe, a certified public accountant.

Also in the APS board's favor: ...it improved morale in the APS security...

A hundred such actions will not restore credibility.

There is one thing that will restore credibility'
there will be an announcement of audit results
by a respected and impartial auditor, stating that;

the leadership of the APS has been thoroughly, impartially competently audited.

It has been found that APS leadership is honestly accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence, as public servants.

And that corruption and incompetence
do not exist in the leadership of the APS.

Such a report would restore credibility rather immediately.

That will not be the report from the first audit.

It could very well be the report from the second.

Especially, if the new superintendent's job depended it.



If there is no first audit, there will never be a clean audit.

The Journal and Trib can begin to restore their own credibility by beginning to report credibly on the controversy over the scope of the audit.

It will not be fully restored; until they report credibly on their heretofore failure to report credibly on the audit.