DA Kari Brandenburg; APS Rush Job

The Journal reports this morning, that a principal accused of rape, has seen the charges dropped. He is cleared to return to his position at a local elementary school. (link) sub req.

APS needed their principal cleared of rape charges in a hurry. And Kari Brandenburg put aside her dedication to clearing up problems with cookie recipes; (link) long enough to review all of the evidence and "clear" the principal.

On the other hand, the leadership of the APS wants to keep the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the APS Police Department secret for as long as they can. And Kari Brandenburg says she just can't find the time to examine that evidence. She'll get around to looking at that evidence when she finds the time. She hasn't found the time in almost a year now.

It is almost as if the 2nd Judicial District Attorney
Kari Brandenburg is part of the conspiracy herself.

A conspiracy including the leadership of the APS,
the Bernalillo County Sheriff and congressional hopeful
Darren White, and the District Attorney Brandenburg;

the purpose of which is to secret the details of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS, and in the BCSO, from public knowledge.

Linda Sink Has "no comment" on Audit

Asked for a candid, forthright, and honest response
to the question of an immediate
APS Administrative Accountability Audit.

Ms. Sink will (apparently) have "no comment".

Just like Beth Everitt.

Public Servants Who Stonewall Legitimate Questions Are Unfit for Public Service.

Yet "no comment" is an acceptable response from public servants,

who have usurped control over power and resources that are not their own,

and who now use public power and resources against the public interest;

with impunity.


What more proof could one need;
the public has lost their control
over power and resources that are fundamentally
their own?

APS Superintendent "Unfit". Proof Offered.

In circumstances such as these;
it is the responsibility of the Chief Administrative Officer of the APS, the Superintendent, to protect public power and resources from waste and misuse.

It is the responsibility of the CAO, to ferret out and eliminate incompetence, corruption, and the practices that enable them.

In circumstances such as these, it is the responsibility of the CAO, to commission an honest audit.

It is the responsibility of the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education to hire and employ a CAO who will protect the public trust and treasure with transparent accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.

With the exception of Marty Esquivel, who has asked
for APS' first Annual Administrative Accountability Audit;


Paula Maes and APS/Modrall oppose any audit that will hold individual administrators, "like Tom Savage" honestly accountable for their conduct and competence as public servants. She and the board members who follow her lead, are as unfit to serve as board members, as the unfitness that they tolerate from their only direct hire.

And local news media are unfit to be trusted with
the responsibility of telling stakeholders the truth.

An allegation that is proved prima facie;
evident without proof or reasoning; obvious.

Was Linda Sink Promoted to APS Superintendent, to Stonewall?

When the APS Board of Education was deciding who to promote to Superintendent, did they ask the prospective superintendents about their intentions with respect to an honest administrative accountability audit?

If not, then why not?


If they did, then why did they promote one who was willing to stonewall?

Unless that is their intention as well?

stonewall; to refuse to answer or cooperate,
to resist or rebuff, to engage in delaying tactics

fyi; The leadership of the APS enforces a code of ethical conduct upon students. Students are taught that stonewalling is unethical, and therefore unacceptable.

The leadership's example stands in diametric opposition, and in blatant disregard of the contrary message they are sending.

The leadership of the APS have simply abdicated as the senior role models for 89,000 students in the APS.

How can they simply except themselves from accountability as role models?

"... APS, which depends on taxpayer support

for multi-million-dollar bond issues, can't afford continued public skepticism about the way the district handles public money."

That's what Trib editors wrote about problems with APS finances almost a month ago. Phill Casaus and his crew understand the problem and the potential impact on taxpayer support of the APS.

"... Albuquerque Public Schools officials ... don't seem as exigent about the disarray (in APS' accounting department) as they ought." the editors added.



The refusal of the leadership of the APS to conduct an audit, in the context of their declination to explain, defend, or even acknowledge their refusal, illustrates the absolute necessity of an audit.


Why won't Phill Casaus and company, ask the leadership of the APS to explain, to defend, or even to acknowledge that they are dedicated to escaping an honest and impartial accountability audit of the administration of the APS?

Except that they are themselves, corrupt?

And that there really is a conspiracy to cover up
an ethics and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS?

The New Mexico Broadcasters Association President and CEO

Paula Maes, would like to thank her many friends
at KOB, KOAT, KRQE, and KKOB, for their help in keeping secret, the demand for an honest and impartial accountability audit of the administration of the APS.


I would suppose.

APS' "Iron Lady", Lillian Barna

(As best I am able to recollect)

Lillian Barna was the APS' Superintendent from 1985 to 1988. She was hired to deal with the issue of APS administrative sprawl.

She fired around 55 administrators before she
was herself, fired. Fired I would suppose,
by the remaining good ole boys; in their own
self defense.

Upon her departure, the slots grew back of course
and with a vengeance.

Whole new buildings became necessary to house them all.

The APS edifice of corruption and incompetence,

the Uptown Administrative Complex, stands in plain view.

The lesson is; pruning a weed does not kill it.
Treating symptoms does not cure disease.

As late as their latest audit by the Council of the Great City Schools, the leadership of the APS is composed of individuals who are not required to demonstrate by any objective means, that they are in any way qualified to hold the positions they hold.

The CotGCS wrote that the good ole boys in the APS are evaluated according to a system that is "subjective and unrelated to promotions or step placement."

The CotGCS wrote that the good ole boys except themselves from accountability by maintaining a "culture of retribution and retaliation."


You have to take out the good ole boys if you want to solve the problem.

The good ole boys will be taken out by an immediate and impartial forensic audit. They are damned by their records of public corruption and incompetence.


Every lousy stinking one of them.



They win if, and only if, they can avoid an audit.


The Journal and Trib will continue
to do what ever they can to help of course.

APS Supt. Sink; betwixt a rock and a hard place

The rock; the undisputed need for a full scale audit of the administration of the public schools.

The hard place; APS' "culture of retribution and retaliation"

and the threat posed by those in the APS who's careers will end with the audit.




If you believe the Council of the Great City Schools audit; the person who begins the audit will feel the wrath of the good ole boys faster than you can say Lillian Barna.

The auditors did not use the word lightly when they described APS' "culture of retribution and retaliation".


Linda Sinks best choice at this point would be to become the superintendent who started the audit, before the new supt. gets here; and then left town.


We would name a community board room after her.

What's the worst thing Marty Chavez ever did?

Jim Villanucci was talking about Marty Chavez' political future today.

At one point he wondered, what the worst thing that Marty Chavez did as mayor?


Without question;

it was his betrayal of Character Counts.
A widely recognized, accepted and respected
code of ethical conduct.

The standard of conduct for students in the APS.

Proactive, and the single best approach
that has ever been offered,
for growing children into adults
who embrace honor and courage and character.


Marty Chavez, when it was convenient,
embraced Character Counts and called himself
one of its founding fathers.

He taught children;

Stand up for what you believe in;
even if you are standing alone.

And then he let them.


He betrayed Character Counts in deference
to the leadership of the APS
who have themselves have betrayed its principles.


And that is the single worst thing Marty Chavez
has done as mayor.

in my humble opinion

APS Supt. Sink's mettle to be tested.

"mettle n. [Variant of metal.]
Courage,fortitude, spirit;
inherent quality of character"

Linda Sink's test;

yes or no;

will she provide a candid, forthright and honest answer to the following question?

Are you prepared to begin an honest and impartial
accountability audit of the administration of the APS?



To date;
every single member of the leadership the APS, *
has refused, tacitly or implicitly, to answer the question.
Linda Sink has tacitly refused to answer the question already.


The mettle of the leadership of the APS has been tested.

With one exception; their record is;


they lack the "mettle" to be the senior administrative role
models for 98,000 of this community's sons and daughters.



* except Mr. Marty Esquivel; the first public servant in the history of the APS to propose an honest and impartial accountability audit of the administration of the APS.

endnote; Mr. Esquivel was then abandoned by every
APS stakeholder who ever thought, said or wrote;

somebody should do something.


And there has not been,
nor will there ever be, an audit.


cc. Interim Superintendent Linda Sink.
c/o M Armenta, Sink's email address is not available.

and by the same test, the mettle of the media is found wanting, as well.

No news media in Albuquerque will ask
any member of the leadership of the APS, for
a candid, forthright and honest response to this question;

Are you prepared to begin an honest and impartial
accountability audit of the administration of the APS?

and then report upon their answers.

Phill Casaus sees the light; finally.

In an editorial tonight (link), Trib editor Phill Casaus has finally come out and said that you cannot take the APS Board of Education at their word.

Not straight out of course.

After the board voted to install Linda Sink as the interim APS superintendent; each and every board member went to great lengths to explain that Sink was the best interim choice and that, that choice would have no effect on their final decision.

They gave their word; they all but swore a blood oath.

Never the less, Casaus wrote;

"... the board has... raised ... questions about the impartiality of its search ..."

That allegation is substantiated only by the belief
that what board members say, cannot be believed.

That their word means nothing.


Finally.

Go Phill.

APS' Taskforce on background checking.

From the Journal this morning, (link)

"All New Mexico school districts now screen new hires for criminal background, as required by a 1997 state law."

According to NM State Senator Joe Carraro, in an interview with KRQE's Jessica Garate (link) under "background checks",

The intention of the law was that all employees be checked for a criminal background.

Rather than answer the question;

Why is APS using legal weaselry to escape the intention of the law?

Everitt, according to Garate, refused to be interviewed.



On the issue of teacher involvement in the decision making process;

"The district "intends" to work with the local teachers union to develop the details." (emphasis added)

(The article implies I think, that this position was articulated by Andrea Trybus, APS' Director of Human Resources. I will bow to controverting fact.)

It would be consistent with previous statements I have heard from her, indicating that the involvement of teachers in the decisions that affect them will always be the district's "intention". And nothing more, unfortunately.

Never one to make waves, local Union President Ellen Bernstein is apparently content to wait and see what Trybus will determine in the best interests of teachers, students, and administrators.

The task force recommends the board adopt a new policy mandating that employees arrested of any ... "offense involving moral turpitude" report to his or her supervisor within three days. Moral turpitude would include ... dishonesty (emphasis added) .

So what happens with an openly dishonest superintendent, that the DA not only will not arrest; but will not even investigate?

She simply continues along on her merry way
just like nothing happened; that's what.

Darren White; truth headed to the shredder?

A local blog reports that Darren White can shred the proof of criminal misuse of the federal criminal background check system entrusted to his supervision (link).

On a local note, the logs kept by Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department are apparently shredded after one year. Even if they are proof that a crime was committed by APS Police (accessing with no FBI ORI). Interesting... (emphasis added)

So all District Attorney Kari Brandenburg has to do to cover Darren White's ass in his run for congress, is to stall for a few weeks longer. Then Darren White can shred the records and pretend nothing happened.

Will he shred the records, pretending to be unaware of their significance?

Perhaps he already has.

The record so far, is that he lacks the character to hold himself and his department accountable for their part in APS' criminal misuse of the criminal background check system.

He is part of the cover up involving the leadership of the APS, the District Attorney's Office, and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

His character has been tested.
He failed the test.

Darren White for congress?

... not! !!

Darren White's Character

It has been a year now since it was alleged that members of the leadership of the APS used computers under the responsibility of Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, to do illegal background checks on their girlfriends and enemies.

As a manifestation of his character; Darren White
is yet to come clean. He hasn't even admitted that
there was a cherry tree; much less,
that he had anything to do with chopping it down.

This is not an inadvertent slip.

Darren White has had 365 nights to lie awake in bed and consider what he should do with the truth about the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in which his department and the leadership of the APS were entangled.

Hundreds of nights to ask, what would Scooby do?

And his answer is to join with the leadership of the APS, and the District Attorney's Office, and the media, to continue to hide the truth.


Apparently Darren White is willing to be held accountable to the law, including free use of loopholes, technicalities and legal weaselry;

and to no higher standard.


And he is still in contention to join the line of succession to the presidency.


ha!

Everitt is protected by Paula Maes

APS School Board President Paula Maes
is protected by the Modrall law firm.

Her husband's law firm.

The Modrall makes a few million dollars a year litigating on behalf of the leadership of the APS.

APS' insurer, by way of justifying the higher rates that the APS now pays for their insurance, cited APS' considerably larger than normal, litigation costs.

APS/Modrall's win at any cost mentality,
the protect the interests of APS/Modrall at any cost
mentality, is costing taxpayers money, lots of money.

The record, a public record, however is a secret.

If APS/Modrall could actually stand on their record, their record would not be secret.

If APS/Modrall's record was of litigating in the public interest, their record would not be secret.

If Modrall was not using unwitting taxpayer support of education, to fund litigation excepting the leadership of the APS from accountability, even to the law;

the record of APS/Modrall would not be a secret.

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg; corrupt, incompetent, or both?

At this time a year ago, evidence of public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS, was first coming to light.

The evidence speaks directly to allegations of felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators and members of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

It is Brandenburg's job to determine if the evidence warrants a criminal prosecution.

She claims she is too busy to review the evidence; although she is not to busy to invite questions on her work phone, about recipes that she discusses on her radio talk show.

For as long as she continues her "investigation", the public records of public corruption, incompetence and criminal conspiracy, can be secreted (legally, not ethically) from public knowledge .

Secreting the public records works to the advantage of senior APS administrators who do not want their record of participation to become public.

Secreting the public records works to the advantage of the Bernalillo County Sheriff, Darren White. He intends to run for congress without having to explain, defend, or even acknowledge that his computers were used to do illegal background checks on, among others, APS Superintendent Tom Savage's girlfriend, and upon the whistle blower, Joseph Lopez, who had exposed the million dollar fraud being perpetrated on taxpayers by administrators at the Albuquerque Vocational Charter High School.

Secreting the public records is against the public interest.

Sitting on evidence for a year to protect a handful of members of Albuquerque's privileged class from accountability, is against the public interest.

Brandenburg's dereliction of duty is against the public interest.


Yet another story you will read about
in neither the Journal, nor the Trib.

Another $3M for the edifice of corruption and incompetence

APS' UAC is a nice place to work.
But apparently, not nice enough. Perhaps with another $3M in improvements, it will become a little more livable.

Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS have already spent so much money on their "apartments in the sky" that they won't answer questions about the spending. Beth Everitt steadfastly refuses to surrender an honest accounting of the spending at the
Uptown Administrative (retirement) Complex.

Despite the fact that the record of every dime spent there, is a public record, none of the truth is public knowledge.

According to the article in the Journal, the $2.7M
(part of $108M they "found") will be spent on "code corrections"; the same excuse they used for spending a million dollars to update a board room who's very existence is yet to be justified by anyone in the leadership of the APS.

Not even the highly touted, and highly paid Monica Armenta has figured a way to spin it to make it sound OK. She, like Beth Everitt, is reduced to stonewalling; the only defense of an indefensible position.

A reader asks; I just want to know how much more they are going to gild the lily, while I can't get books for the classroom.



Apparently, as much as they feel like.

And there's nothing you can do about it.


Thanks in no small part to corruption at the
Journal and the Trib.

APS speeds construction on 17 projects

according to the Trib tonight. (link)

According to this morning's Journal (link)
that is because APS just "found" $108M.

Apparently the state gave APS some "critically" needed money in 2006; $67M. And then APS pushed a bond issue by taxpayers to pay for the same two high schools. Taxpayers have paid twice, creating some $67M of the $108M "surplus".

"The remainder of the $108 million comes from interest, leftover balances from previous projects, an emergency fund and better-than-expected tax collections."

APS considers it a wind fall that they can now spend on other projects.

According to the Trib;

"None of the projects are new. All have been on the drawing board, but funding to complete them, or start them in some cases, was not available until now."

"... the district doesn't spend money as quickly as it takes it in. In the meantime, it collects interest. Kizito Wijenje, who heads up APS' construction program, said the district has always gotten some extra revenue that way."

But as the district's capital program has grown, so has the interest on unspent funds. In addition, tax collections over the past couple of years were better than anticipated.

Based on projected revenues from interest and other sources, APS anticipates another $122 million over the next six years that it can apply to its capital needs, figures show.

A year ago, Governor Bill Richardson told us that APS desperately needed money; so desperately that voters should ignore the APS' earned "statewide reputation for their lack of accountability" and support a bond issue "for the sake of the children."

Marty Chavez was complaining about the lack of accountability in the APS, and telling voters to support the bond issue anyway, "for the sake of the children."

Now we find out that they are raking it in faster than they can spend it, and tax dollars are earning interest for APS rather than for taxpayers' households.

When the leadership of the APS asked taxpayers for a third of a billion dollars a year ago, did they know about the "surplus" they just "found", or they did not know about it.

Either they knew about it, and kept the truth from stakeholder voters and taxpayers;

or they didn't know about a hundred eight million dollars they had lying around.


Neither of which is acceptable.

And for neither of which
any one of them will be held accountable.

If Beth Everitt had nothing to hide

Beth Everitt would be hiding nothing.

Aiken County School Board; are they corrupt, incompetent, or both?

Beth Everitt refuses to explain, defend,
or even acknowledge her decision not to audit
her administration of the APS.

The purpose of the audit, would be to expose the wasting of public power and resources, as the direct result of incompetence, corruption, and the practices that enable them.

An accountability audit would expose the abject lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS.

The competent have nothing to fear from the audit.
An audit is clearly in their best interests.
An audit in in fact, owed them.

Nor do those whose public service reflects the type of character that we pray that our children will grow to embrace, have anything to fear.

At risk; only the incompetent and the corrupt;
whose continuing existence depends on protecting
a system that tolerates and enables
their corruption and their incompetence.

Honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct is fatal to incompetence and corruption; absolutely and without exception.

If there is an immediate and impartial forensic audit;
there will be an immediate end to corruption and incompetence and the practices that enable them
in the APS.

There is no reason to oppose an audit except to protect the incompetent and the corrupt.

There is no other reason.

... nada, zero, squat, ...

If Beth Everitt has one; she must share it. She must share it so that stakeholders may reflect upon it; and then participate meaningfully in the decision to accept or reject it.



Beth Everitt's record is of engineering her exception
to meaningful standards of conduct; including the law.

That is why her record is a secret.




I would presume that the afore going is successfully refuted and rebutted by anyone who can offer any ethical explanation at all;

why she and the rest of the APS good ole boys club, are no longer honestly accountable for their conduct and competence as public servants; not even for eight measly hours a day.

Any school board that hires Beth Everitt,

any school board that allows Beth Everitt
to draw even another dime of her salary,

should be demanding as a condition of her (continued) employment, that she explain and defend her record.

Whether in Aiken or in Albuquerque,

any school board member that serves Beth Everitt
by betraying the public interest,



is incompetent, and is corrupt;

by the fact itself;

ipso facto.

Did Beth Everitt escape the NMPED "investigation" due to juice in the Governor's Office?

It has been suggested that Beth Everitt escaped participation in the Gradegate investigation because her husband has juice with Governor Bill Richardson, who tells his appointee NMPED Secretary Veronica Garcia what to do, who tells NMPED Educator Ethics Bureau Directer Paul Calderon what to do.

I would be happy to publish any other explanation as to why neither Everitt, nor Miguel Acosta, nor Teresa Cordova, was asked to answer even a single question during the "investigation", about their involvement in the scandal.

Hell, I'll even publish your reasonable conjecture.



(This represents an opportunity for Beth Everitt, or anyone else, to respond without attaching their name. She has now, no ethically justifiable reason to continue to stonewall the question.)

Choosing between Everitt's interests, and the public interest, apparently the Augusta Chronicle sides with Beth

In the Chronicle this morning (link). (free reg req)

Reporter Julia Sellers writes;

"... she's proven to be a good leader during her 25 years there."

The truth is that the Mayor of Albuquerque and the President of the local Chamber of Commerce, together demanded that the mayor be allowed to personally appoint board members, in direct response to the lack of leadership and accountability in the Everitt administration.

New Mexico Governor and presidential hopeful,
Bill Richardson has written of the APS' "... well earned, statewide reputation for its lack of accountability."

APS Board Member Marty Esquivel, still the only public servant in the city who stands in favor of a full scale audit of the leadership of the APS, in response to the still secret public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the APS Police department (and by reasonable extension in the overall leadership of the APS), said there was a "leadership vacuum in the APS", and likened it to "Keystone Cops".

Sellers mentions,

"... allegations of... an audit of that system."

Sellers does not elaborate. Had she, Chronicle readers would know that a the news conference where she announced her resignation under fire for a number of ethics and accountability scandals in the APS; Everitt promised stakeholders an impartial audit of her administration. The audit would have proven once and for all whether the leadership of the APS is riddled with incompetence and corruption.

Everitt has not taken a single step to begin an audit.

Paula Maes, APS School Board President, has sworn never to allow an audit which would hold individual administrators, "... like Tom Savage for example ..." to be held individually accountable for their conduct and competence as public servants.

Sellers again writes;

Dr. Everitt was investigated for her initial support of the administrator who approved the grade change, but she was exonerated when the New Mexico Education Department ruled she did not receive enough information to make a decision.

Beth Everitt, the former school board member, and his county commissioner wife, all managed to escape interviews during the investigation. None was required to respond to even a single question on the record. Everitt was not "exonerated" by any reasonable definition of that concept.

Sellers goes on to quote School Board President Paula Maes;

"So much of that is not released ..." Ms. Maes said. "... you cannot judge a person by one incident."

"That" meaning "the truth" about gradegate. It is not released (as required by New Mexico State Law, the NM Inspection of Public Records Act) do to the use of legal loopholes, legal technicalities, and legal weaselry.

Everitt will not, because she cannot, offer any defense of her refusal to surrender the truth to public knowledge. No defense anyway, that will measure up to any ethical standard of conduct.

If it is OK with stakeholders in Aiken County, that their superintendent not be held honestly accountable to any standard of conduct that uses the word ethical, that is of course their choice.

But the Chronicle violates standards of ethics in Journalism by choosing to make that choice for stakeholders, rather that telling them the whole truth and allowing them to make up their own minds.

Finally, Sellers quotes the local teachers union president;

"You're not getting a lemon," Mrs. Bernstein said.

And that depends on what Aiken County Schools are looking for. If they are looking for a superintendent who will model before students, staff, and community; honest accountability to a meaningful standard of conduct, they absolutely do have a lemon.

Ms. Sellers is yet to respond to a four days old email in which I pointed out the substantial errors in her report. Apparently, the Augusta Chronicle, like Albuquerque's Journal and Tribune, has concluded that readers just can't handle the truth.

Which leaves the Aiken Standard,
as Aiken County's only "... trusted local news source."

It will be interesting to see what they write.

Beth Everitt, her moment of truth, Aiken County Schools

Beth Everitt has promised Aikenians the truth.

A candid, forthright, and honest answer to a legitimate question.

The question is;

As the senior administrative role model for 25,000 sons and daughters in the Aiken County Schools, and as the senior administrative public servant in the Aiken County Schools, will you hold yourself

a. accountable only to the law, and only after a vigorous and expensive litigation funded by taxpayer support of "education", has failed to provide for your exception, or

b. honestly and transparently accountable to a meaningful standard of conduct, by a system over which you have no control, and which will hold you accountable even against your will?


Every generation expects the next generation
to be the first generation
to hold itself honestly accountable
to meaningful standards of conduct.

If we really expect our children to grow into adults
who embrace honor and courage and character,

someone has to show them what it looks like.

In the Aiken County Schools, that "someone"
will be Beth Everitt.


If asked the question, Beth Everitt will stonewall.


Uncertain, but pivotal to the outcome;
the response of the people who call the shots
at the Aiken Standard and the Augusta Chronicle.

If they join the effort to stonewall the question,

Aikenians are pretty much screwed.


Like Albuquerqueans have been screwed by the folks
who call the shots here at the the Journal and the Trib.

Milestones

Diogenes' six, in search of an honest leadership of the APS, has just passed 10,000 hits, and is honored to be, for a week, the third most influential political blog in the state of New Mexico.*

Not too bad for an old shop teacher, eh?


Blognetnews.com is one stop shopping for anyone who wants to read the top twenty political blogs in the state, you get there by clicking the logo to your right.


*BlogNetNews' Blogosphere Influence Rating combines a variety of data sets to determine which blogs are most powerfully influencing the direction of the New Mexico political blogosphere. The exact method BNN uses to calculate influence scores must remain proprietary in order to prevent attempts to game the system. BNN's methodology takes into account the fact that all Internet data is profoundly limited in its reliability by using multiple data sets that, when combined, reveal a fair picture of activity in the blogosphere.

Open letter to the Aiken County School Board

I don't know if you can get out of this deal or not.

But it would be in the best interests of 25,000
of your sons and daughters

if you did.

Beth Everitt,"Anybody can ask me anything."

bullshit

The Augusta Chronicle ran a story on Beth Everitt's selection as the superintendent of the Aiken County Schools. I will give you a (link). It's a bit of a hassle to use; you have to register (free), and then search for "Everitt", and then click on the story entitled "Board names leader"

Quoted here in significant part; (my own emphasis added)

Mr. Hightower said he had some concerns about Dr. Everitt, noting that he had heard allegations of audits and grade changes in Albuquerque schools.

Dr. Everitt said she welcomes anyone in Aiken to ask her about those situations.

Dr. Everitt and other educators in the Albuquerque system were the subject of an investigation about a grade that was changed by a principal from an F to a D, allowing a former board member's son to graduate, according to a New Mexico Department of Education transcript. The department found that Dr. Everitt and other administrators weren't at fault because they didn't have adequate information about the case when they backed the principal.

"Anybody can ask me anything." Everitt said.

Not true.

Not even close.

Everitt didn't back the principal, and she wasn't cleared by the NMPED. She was not asked even a single question on the record. Neither were the parents; a former school board member and his wife; a county commissioner.

They all escaped the investigation entirely;
as members in good standing of Albuquerque's
privileged class.



It is interesting that she said, anyone "in Aiken" can ask her questions. She sure won't answer questions in Albuquerque.

And not just my questions.

Jessica Garate, a local TV reporter, said she tried for two weeks to get Everitt to stand and deliver answers to a few legitimate questions, and Beth Everitt would not meet with her. (link) under "background checks".

Not only will she and the leadership of the APS
not answer questions; they will not allow them
to be asked.

• The Public Forum has been moved off of the public record of school board meetings so that she and board members can not be asked legitimate questions, on the record.
• Rather than have the community witness Beth Everitt and board members stonewall the questions, broadcast records of school board meetings were deliberately falsified to hide their (non)response to the question.
  

And I (as a bonafide candidate in a school board election) was actually removed from four board meetings by the APS Police for legal and ethical attempts to ask questions on the record. There are video tape records of all four incidents and I will absolutely stand on the record.

I was removed from four board meetings in a row, by members of a Praetorian Guard. A publicly funded, private police force that reports directly to the leadership of the APS, and only to the leadership of the APS.

I was removed for trying to ask Beth Everitt and board members a single question;

"Will you hold yourself honestly accountable to the student standard of conduct?"

Beth Everitt abdicated as the senior administrative role model for 89,000 of this community's sons and daughters. And she will not explain, defend, or even acknowledge that she has done so. None of the leadership of the APS will.

And the Albuquerque Journal and Tribune
are so corrupt, that they won't report upon it.

I hope either the Aiken Standard or the Augusta Chronicle will ask her why she removed the following language from her own standard of conduct;

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

And then has the integrity to report the fact that she will not answer.

Not here

and not in Aiken.

Superintendent searches in general.

This (link) will take you to an editorial in the Aiken Standard.

It discusses a superintendent search process that includes the finalists sitting before the public and letting the community have a look at them. Although they didn't say so specifically, I would suppose there would then be a process by which the community impression would be measured and meaningfully integrated into the decision making process.

Imagine that;

A school board that respects stakeholders enough
to allow them to participate meaningfully
in the decisions that affect their interests.

Aiken County Schools Superintendent Search Committee stiffed

The following is an excerpt from a letter to the editor of the Aiken Standard. (link) The writer was a member of the superintendent search committee.

"I am writing at this time because I am concerned about the allegations that have surfaced about Dr. Everitt during her tenure in Albuquerque, N.M. The (APS) school board, that is six of its members, apparently do not consider these allegations to be serious and have come to the defense of Dr. Everitt, "... but I doubt that Dr. Everitt would have been named one of the 10 applicants for the school board's consideration if these allegations had surfaced during the search committee's deliberations." (Emphasis added)

Among other things, Aiken County was not apprised of the fact that the most recent poll by the Albuquerque Trib, saw half of the respondents rating Everitt with an "F", and another 20% giving her a "D" as APS Superintendent.

Two problems present themselves.

Six members of the Albuquerque School Board apparently downplayed, to the Aiken County School Board, allegations of incompetence and corruption leveled against Beth Everitt.

This would have been acceptable, if in addition to their unofficial and personal opinions, the APS Board had actually done the annual evaluation of Beth Everitt as required by APS Board Policy, State School Board Policy and NM State Law; the results of which would be part of the public record, and subject to inspection.

They did not; and whatever they wrote to the Aiken County Board, they wrote in secret and do not have to explain, defend, or even acknowledge that they have written. The honesty of what was written cannot be challenged; although apparently it should be.

The second problem, is that Everitt was not the top choice of the search committee.

"During the process of evaluating applicants for the superintendent's position, the search committee was very diligent in its efforts to identify 10 individuals to be submitted to the school board for further review."

"Out of this process, we rated each applicant on various areas of competency in an attempt to assign a numerical value to each applicant. After that process was completed, we determined the top 10 applicants. Of the top 10 applicants, Dr. Frank Roberson and Dr. David Mathis were rated number 1 and 2, respectively based on their total numerical rating. Dr. Elizabeth Everitt was among the top 10, but I do not remember how she rated among the remaining eight applicants."

In fact, she was not the first choice of the community either. Of the three finalists, Everitt ran a distant third in polling.

Knowing APS Board President Paula Maes as I do, I doubt that APS' search committee will fare any better in its influence on this board's decision.

What else would you expect from a board who's new "code of ethics", does not include any reference to the word ethical, other than in its title?

Open letter to the editor, Aiken Standard

Aiken County's "... trusted local news source".

The truth about your new superintendent is;

She and her cronies in the good ole boys club in the APS, over the period of the last few years, have deliberately and methodically excepted themselves from honest accountability to any meaningful standard of competence or conduct, even the law.

Should anyone in Aiken County care to pursue the issue, the truth of the allegation is easily proved.

Ask Beth Everitt to show you any evidence that board members and administrators are honestly accountable to any standards of conduct and competence, at all.

In what ever she shows you, look for proof that a complaint against an administrator or board member will receive a principled resolution; an impartial resolution based upon agreed upon principles,
and free of undo influence.

She will show you none, because their isn't any.

The record of the leadership of the APS is one of excepting themselves from accountability, even to the law.

They are absolutely damned by their record.
That is why their record is kept secret from stakeholders, even in violation of open government laws.

Your school board president has suggested that local bloggers who are writing the truth about the APS, are illegitimate.

Ms. Sanders is apparently confused by the fact that she is reading the truth only on the blogs and not in the local papers; the Journal and the Tribune.

The decision by the Journal and the Trib, not to investigate or report upon an ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, is a decision that they will not explain, defend, or even acknowledge.

The only fact that is substantially proved by their decision, is the fact that they have betrayed the interests of their stakeholder readers.

That fact, does not make blogs "illegitimate" because they are then alone in writing the truth.



This is about the message, it is not about the messenger.

Ms. Sanders would do well to stop worrying about the "legitimacy" of the complainant, and more about the legitimacy of the complaint.

She would do well to start asking a few hard questions of Beth Everitt.

Aiken County hoodwinked by APS Board?

Local news outlets in Aiken County reveal that they received recommendations from the APS Board in support of Beth Everitt.

According to WJBF TV in South Carolina (link)
"Her entire board stated ..."

According to the Aiken Standard (link) "... she ... has gotten strong endorsements from ... the Albuquerque School Board president."

The APS school board is required by law to do yearly evaluations of the APS superintendent. They have not complied with the law.

Instead, they apparently wrote individual letters of recommendation; letters which I suppose cannot be gotten under the Inspection of Public Records Act, because they are covered by APS' "personnel protections."

If the board had done its required evaluation, it would have been subject to public scrutiny. Board members would have been held accountable for what they wrote.

They didn't, and they aren't.

This is the modus operandi of passing a lemon.

Again, according to the Aiken Standard, (link) Aiken School Board Chair Dr. Christine "Sanders indicated she was familiar with blogs in Albuquerque that criticized Everitt and compares them to unsigned "talkback" comments that shouldn't be legitimized.

Readers please note that Sanders did not, and can not
identify even a single "illegitimacy" on this blog.

She will come to regret her flippant disregard of a blog that has yet to be challenged on a single allegation or statement of fact in the previous one thousand four hundred and fiftysix posts.

Now that Beth Everitt's ass no longer needs to be covered

do you suppose that Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg will do her job; review the evidence that was given to her nearly a year ago, and determine if the leadership of the APS and the BCSO violated the law when they did unwarranted criminal background checks on BCSO computers?

Ms. Brandenburg has indicated that she is simply too busy to review the results of already completed investigations.

She is not too busy to encourage her radio show listeners to call her at work to clear up their boggle on recipe ingredients. (link)

It is high time for the District Attorney to end the ongoing cover up of the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police dept).

Beth Everitt has found a new job.
Her oversight failures no longer need to be kept secret.

It is time for District Attorney Brandenburg
to defend the public interest; the job she to which
she was elected.

Or will she continue the cover up for Darren White's benefit in his run for congress?

"You don't kick people when they are down"

(everybody's mother)

It would do little good at this point to review the many reasons why Beth Everitt's resignation was sought by the APS school board. Suffice it to say, she was asked for her resignation for good reasons.

But listening to the board bidding farewell last night,
you'd have to wonder why they didn't instead,
offer her a lifetime assignment.

Before her resignation, the board had complained about the "leadership vacuum" that lead to the scandals in the police department, maintenance and operations, finances and elsewhere. Last night they had nothing but praise for her "leadership".

Despite the fact that Everitt's "leadership" team was more responsible than she, for the myriad of problems than wrack the leadership of the APS, they are now described as extremely talented leaders ready to "hitting the ground running" and "never miss a step".

They didn't need to kick her when she is down,
but that doesn't make it OK to fabricate untruths.


"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."
(everybody's mother)

It would have been far more honest of the board
to have said nothing at all.

"Beth Everitt will be long gone" I wrote,

... before her administration of the APS is examined in any detail."

I wrote it on August 8, almost four months ago.(link)

A month before that, Beth Everitt promised an audit of her administration. An audit yet to begin.

Beth Everitt will be long gone before the public interests in the public schools, are protected by a full scale audit of incompetence and corruption in the leadership of the public schools.

There have been partial audits; audits that the leadership of the APS was not able to scuttle;
audits by the state,
and by the Council of the Great City Schools.

Every audit that has ever been done of the leadership of the APS has revealed deficiencies; fruit of the complete lack of accountability that is their culture.

The leadership of the APS will not begin a full scale audit; an audit that will ensure that the public trust and treasure are safe in the hands of the leadership of the APS.

An audit that will restore public confidence.

The audit is being blocked by those who wanted to see Beth Everitt get another superintendency.

The audit is being blocked by those who did not want to see the audit results, in the hands of the Aiken County Board of Education.

Also not it the hands of the Aiken County School Board were;

• the results of an evaluation of Beth Everitt's last school year, done by the board as required by board policy, NM State Law, and by honest accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct at all. Because those who wanted to pass their little lemon; never did the evaluation.
• the results of an impartial investigation of the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department). Results that are being hidden from public knowledge in complete disregard for the requirements of the NM Inspection of Public Records Act, by Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS.
• details of Beth Everitt's involvement in the gradegate scandal. She is yet to make a statement on the record, detailing her personal responsibility in changing the grade.
• the details of the public corruption and incompetence in APS' financial department.
• the details of public resources funneled to the board president's law firm; to litigate exception for the leadership of the APS, to any meaningful standard of conduct, even the law.

There is a lot of truth that was not shared with the Aiken County School Board.

It seems fraudulent.

... at best.

Diogenes' six, honored

Blognetnews.com has honored D6 by ranking it as the 12th most influential on the direction of conversation in the state blogosphere (this week).

Click on the logo and visit their site. You can read all the stories from the state's twenty most influential blogs with a single click.

The influence of state blogs is recalculated on a weekly basis, so the top twenty is subject to change.

Parting wisdom for Aiken County

See if you can get AikenStandard.Com (link)
your "trusted source for local news";
to ask a question of your new superintendent.

It is a question that she has been asked many, many
times before.

She steadfastly refuses to answer.

As a public servant and as a role model,
will you hold yourself honestly accountable
to the student standard of conduct, (or higher)
by a system over which you have no control,
and even against your will?

Any answer except yes, is no.

Stonewalling, is no.



(someone, please let me know what happens.
My bet is that she will stonewall.
That is, if your news has the balls to ask the question,
Albuquerque's, unfortunately, never did)

What did Beth Everitt use for her evaluation?

When she went shopping for a job in Aiken County, what did she surrender for her latest evaluation?

She never began the audit of her administration that
she promised on the day she announced her resignation. So she couldn't have used that.

The board still has not done the evaluation of her performance that was required by state law. So she couldn't have used that.

So what did she use? They must have asked her to show them something for the previous year.

Did APS Board President Paula Maes write an informal evaluation of her to take the place of her formal eval?

Did the board meet in secret, and in violation of the Open Meetings Act, and actually evaluate her formally?

Did she agree to resign quietly in exchange for a promise from Paula Maes and the board that, they would not evaluate her, or allow an impartial accountability audit of her administration to begin before she found another job?

Both or either of which, would have made her
yet another unemployable APS graduate.

Everitt has Maes' support, and Bernstein's

I've been reading the online news around the
Aiken County Schools selection of Beth Everitt
as their next superintendent.

It turns out that the President of the local teachers union, Ellen Bernstein is a big fan of, and highly recommends Beth Everitt to the people of Aiken County South Carolina.

She comes highly recommended to Aikenians
by School Board President Paula Maes as well.

They say you are known by your friends.

These two friends of Beth Everitt are not friends of Character Counts.

In the APS, the Pillars of Character Counts are
no longer the standard of conduct for adults.
They are no longer even the "required" standard of conduct for students.

Paula Maes and the rest of the leadership of the APS
deliberately and methodically eliminated the Pillars of Character Counts from their own standard of conduct.

Paula Maes is (or was) the President of the (APS) Character Counts Leadership Council at the time when she was voting to except herself, administrators, board members, and the Modrall law firm, from accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts.

The board now claims accountability only to its own code of ethics; a comparatively meaningless and completely unenforceable disgrace.

Despite the fact that Character Counts came to APS via union president and Character Counts founding father, Don Whatley, Ellen Bernstein and the union have abandoned their support of Character Counts as well.

Bernstein explains, " ... that was Don's thing."


This all is of some importance depending upon
how Aiken County feels about honest accountability
to meaningful standards of conduct and competence
in public service;

... and about role modeling.


Does Character Count in Aiken County Public Schools?

It defies explanation

Role modeling is a powerful influence
on the developing character of students.

I submit that the premise is irrefutable.


It follows then that the superintendent of a school district has the greatest obligation of all, to be a role model of the character that is expected of students.

APS board policy used to require that adults be accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct. Board policy read; ... the standard of conduct for adults would equal the standard of conduct for students.

Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS, struck that language from board policy. Board policy now allows adult role models (the leadership), to be accountable to a lower standard of conduct than the student standard.

They have abdicated their accountability as role models.


Their hidden record is one of self exception
to accountability to any standard of conduct at all,
even the law.


So how does one get to be hired as a superintendent in Aiken County, South Carolina, without ever having to answer this question on the record;

How were the interests of students served, by removing the following language from board policy and administrative expectation;

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

? ??

Hook, line, and sinker

The Aiken County School Board has apparently bought Beth Everitt's story that she cannot talk about her part in Gradegate "because federal privacy laws prevent her from doing so".

Clearly that is not the truth.

She can, and should respond candidly, forthrightly, and honestly to questions about her involvement in the grade change, and which do not reveal the student's name or grades (both of which are public knowledge anyway).

She chooses not to, to protect her own self interests.

And then claims that the law will not allow it.

And Aiken County has bought it hook, line and sinker.

Everitt still Aiken County's top choice

According to the Aiken Standard, Beth Everitt is still the top choice for the Aiken County Schools Superintendency. (link)

According to the same article, Everitt is stonewalling them on the truth about gradegate.

"Everitt said earlier this month that she couldn't talk about the specific situation because of federal privacy laws protecting students."

Everitt chooses not to talk about gradegate. No law prevents her from being candid, forthright and honest about her involvement in gradegate. Nor does it prevent her from explaining why the "special investigation" of gradegate by Everitt's friend NM PED Secretary Veronica Garcia, did not include Everitt being asked even a single question about the scandal, on the record.

Federal privacy laws that protect students, do not prevent her from being candid, honest, and forthright about her personal involvement in the grade change.

No law prevents her from telling the truth about the scandal in her police department, or in her Maintenance and Operations, or in her Financial Department. She has avoided telling the truth, to protect her own self interests; to avoid accountability for her failure to provide oversight over her own administration.

APS' student code of conduct, established for and enforced upon students by Everitt, requires that they as young men and women of character, do "more than the law requires, and less than the law allows". (from the Pillars of Character Counts)

Because APS' senior administrative role model is no longer accountable to the student standard of conduct, Everitt and APS/Modrall, instead use the law to avoid telling the truth.

Their record is one of refusing to explain, defend, or even acknowledge that they are not telling the truth. Everitt will not stand on the record and answer questions about her refusal to answer questions.

Before you appoint her as your next superintendent; ask her why neither she, nor any member of her administration is honestly accountable to any standard of conduct that uses the word ethical.

Good luck Aiken, if you choose to just let this all slip by without explanation or defense.

Welcome, Aiken County Readers

I am grateful for the kind attention of many new readers from the Southeast, Georgia, and Aiken County.

I hope that you will find your attention to this blog
worthy of your investment.

Mountain or molehill?

There are a number of written statements
that might be offered as examples of
the APS Student Standard of Conduct.

The most all encompassing, can be found in the Student Behavior Handbook.

Students are expected to: Model and promote the pillars of Character Counts.

Because accountability to The Pillars of Character Counts requires accountability to all legitimate codes of conduct; this particular statement would seem to be the philosophical trump card.

The Pillars of Character Counts is a widely recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct.
It is a "higher" standard of conduct.

APS Superintendent Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS do not want to be held personally accountable to a higher standard of conduct. In particular, they do not want to be held honestly accountable the Pillars of Character Counts.

So Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS changed the language in the employee code of conduct. It used to read,

in no case will the standard of conduct for an adult be lower than the standard for students.

It no longer does. Beth Everitt's standard of conduct no longer requires her to hold herself accountable to same high standard to which she holds students accountable.

One once could argue;
it doesn't make any difference if it is written or not;
educators have an inescapable obligation as role models, to hold themselves honestly accountable to the standard of conduct which they establish and enforce upon students.

Beth Everitt's response to that obligation was to then lower the student standard of conduct to a standard she would hold herself accountable to. She lowered to the student standard, and her own, to an unenforceable standard

The language in the Student Behavior Handbook used to read; students are required to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts.

It no longer does. Requirement has been replace with "expectation". Students are no longer required to behave ethically, they are only "expected" to behave ethically.

And by extension, Beth Everitt, and the leadership of the APS, are no longer required to behave ethically.

If one were an unscrupulous lawyer (Mark Twain would add,
But I repeat myself.);
would one rather defend a senior APS administrator or board member against charges that they had not met an "expectation"; or that they had not met a "requirement"?

By their own deliberate and methodical actions; Beth Everitt and the leadership of the APS have systematically excepted themselves from honest accountability to any standard of conduct at all, even the law. They are damned absolutely by the public record of their conduct and competence as public servants.

This is why neither she, nor they, will surrender the public records of their public service.

This is why unwitting taxpayer support of "education" is being used to fund litigation to secret public records. This is why taxpayer dollars are being used against the public interest.

Aiken Georgia, are you looking for a good ole boys club
to run your schools?

Are the interests of your 25,000 sons and daughters served
by a complete lack of accountability for public servants
in your public schools?

Are you looking for a role model for your staff and students?

If you are, I suggest that you will need to continue looking.

You have not found one in Beth Everitt.

APS' bond rating substantially weakened

From the Journal (link sub req)

An operating deficit and turnover of key financial officers has "substantially weakened" the financial position of Albuquerque Public Schools, Moody's Investors Service reported Tuesday.

APS just sold $75,000,000 worth of bonds to
Morgan Keegan & Co. Inc.
Taxpayers will pay $25,000,000 in interest.

It is going to cost taxpayers only $25,000,000, because APS, based on its bond rating, was able to borrow money at a low interest rate; 3.99%.

APS' bond rating is established by Moody's Investors Service.

The leadership of the APS was worried that Moody's might downgrade APS' bond rating. A downgrade would mean higher interest rates for bonds, and would be difficult to explain to taxpayers.

They worried that Moody's might downgrade APS based upon the public corruption and incompetence in the APS Financial Dept. that is coming to light.

According to the article, Moody's gave the APS an Aa2 rating despite;

... negative comments regarding an audit released by the district last week ,that showed that APS is $53 million short of its reported net worth, and revealed personnel issues in its finance department.

The APS has an annual budget of around $1,000,000,000.

It also has a Chief Business Officer who recently resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment.

His accuser, the APS Head of Accounting, was placed on administrative leave in September; leaving the APS without even a single CPA on duty.

She is on leave while being "investigated" by the APS.

There has been no communication from the district as why their investigation is taking such an inordinately long time. It is worth noting that the length of her leave is consistent with her allegation that she has been placed on leave in retaliation for blowing the whistle on financial irregularities.



Worse,
one of my readers reports that,

"The CPA from Chicago that Acting Accounting Director Ted Osbourne and Tom Savage hired, walked out last Friday because there was no one at APS that had any accounting knowledge who could help him with the 2007 audit."

The citizens of Albuquerque may have to put up with the corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS; but Moody's does not.

APS has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bonds yet to sell. Taxpayers will have to pay millions of additional dollars in interest on those bonds, if APS' bond rating is downgraded.

APS' bond rating will be downgraded if the corruption, incompetence, and the complete lack of accountability in the leadership of the APS is not exposed and corrected.

APS' bond rating will be downgraded if there is not an impartial accountability audit of the leadership of the APS.



This situation represents a financial crises for the APS
which we cannot afford to ignore.


Nor can we continue to allow the leadership of the APS to stonewall the issue.


The leadership of the APS must either;

• begin an honest accountability audit; or
  

• explain to stakeholders' satisfaction, why they will not.

It is time for the APS Superintendent Beth Everitt
to stand and deliver a response to the question;

Superintendent Everitt,

Will there be an honest and impartial audit
of your administration?

... yes, or no?

Aiken County School District considers Everitt

The Journal reports this morning that Beth Everitt is among three finalists for the position of superintendent of the Aiken County (S. Carolina) School District. (link sub req)

What makes the story interesting, is that she was able to compete for the position without having to explain, defend, or even acknowledge any of the problems in her current position;

• the APS Police Department scandal,
• gradegate,
• the principal shuffle,
• the squandering of public trust and treasure at the UAC,
• the shambles that is the APS Financial Department
• her refusal to surrender her administration to an impartial accountability audit.
• or her abdication as the senior administrative role model of the student standard of conduct, for 99,000 of our sons and daughters.
  

Interesting becomes worrisome when one considers the possibility that our next superintendent will likely come to us under similar circumstances;

• A county district attorney like Kari Brandenburg; who is willing to sit on evidence rather than allow Beth Everitt's administration to be held accountable for the criminal misuse of sheriff's office equipment and resources.
• A county sheriff like Darren White; who is willing to disregard open government laws in order to cover up for Beth Everitt's administration; and his own.
• A law firm like Modrall, whose president is married to the school board president.
• A law firm like Modrall, feeding off taxpayer support of education, litigating exception even from the law, for senior administrators and board members.
• A law firm like Modrall, to litigate exception to the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.
  
• And local media who are willing to ignore an ethics and accountability scandal in the public schools, rather than hold Beth Everitt honestly accountable for her conduct and competence as public servant.

What if a lemon is marching our way?

How would we know?

The newest elephant to join the herd of elephants already in the room; APS absenteeism and morale

The Journal reports upon teacher absenteeism today. (link sub req)

There are two kinds of absences. The first kind,
you minimize by scheduling legitimate absences
around the needs of students.
(Not exactly rocket science.)

The other kind, is a manifestation of teacher morale.

Illegitimate absenteeism varies inversely with morale;
as morale goes down, these absences go up.

As a matter of fact, so do legitimate absences.
The same stressors that lower morale,
add to stress related illness.

Those who are individually responsible for employee morale in the APS, do not want to talk about morale.

The union doesn't want to admit that there are teachers who take mental health days.

So they will focus together on,
finding answers to pointless questions.

According to the Journal;

"Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein said the joint district/union committee is looking for more information to put the numbers into context:

• How do they compare to previous years?
• How does APS compare to other New Mexico districts?
• How do public schools compare to the rest of the public sector?"

Comparison to "similar situations" is the work of administrators who have a need to appear busy.

The educational interface, where the student and the system interact, is as individual as the teachers, and the students, and the community members that work there.

At the classroom level, the two most "similar" school districts in the country, are as dissimilar as an apple and an orange.



There is an elephant in the room;
teacher "mental health days".


Ellen Berntein doesn't want to talk about them, apparently.

Beth Everitt flatly refuses to talk about them,

or about teacher morale.

Because she owns it;

and because it sucks.

Spinning the background check problem

Jessica Garate and KRQE have reported that state law requiring background checks of school employees, has been skirted. (link)

State Senator Joe Carraro says that the legislative intent of the law was that all employees be screened. Many school districts, including the APS, have interpreted the law to mean that they had only to screen new applicants.

School Board President Paula Maes said that many school districts would like to do the checks, " ... but just don't have the money or the means ..." to check all employees.

APS has the money and the means; they just chose to spend them elsewhere; filling their UAC with new ranks of administrators, for example.

Ms. Garate reported that APS Superintendent Beth Everitt refused to be interviewed on the subject.

...which is wrong, right?

I mean, a public servant can't just refuse to answer questions about the public interest and their public service, right?

unfunded mandate

The Journal reported;

"New Mexico S.B. 561, signed into law earlier this year, requires all public school districts to test workplace readiness of its 11th-graders in math, reading and locating information beginning next fall.

The bill provided no money for districts to cover the costs."

Do legislators not understand what it means, to mandate something and then not appropriate the necessary resources?


(The more optimistic and politically active among readers might want to contact their legislator and ask them to fund this worthwhile and useful testing.)

17% of APS students are, and will continue to be, 'Unemployable'

In the Journal today (link sub req)

It was reported that when ninth grade students took a test, the test revealed that one in five would be unemployable. *

APS was quick to point out that these were ninth graders; and further

""Mary Ann Landry, the district's vocational education director, said APS scores rose slightly when some of the schools retested students as upperclassmen. However, the district did not provide complete data on those results."

One has to wonder what, exactly, the leadership of the APS meant when they said, ...when upperclassmen retook the test, scores rose slightly.

I suspect that is APS speak for;

when seniors were given the same test;
the scores were essentially the same.


Coincidently; the public records of the test results
were not provided.





* from the Journal report, the test;

"The numbers come from the WorkKeys assessments, tests designed to find out how high schoolers stack up next to employer expectations.
Local businesses seem to be developing a taste for the test and advocates say it goes where the resume can't.
"Employers really like it because it gives them a really objective assessment of workplace skill," said Lois Johnson, director of transitional services for the New Mexico Department of Workplace Solutions."

APS' Latest Audit

APS has just finished a financial audit by an independent auditor.

The purpose of the audit was to determine the APS' net worth and to establish a "rating" for the purposes of selling bonds. When APS sells some of the $316M dollars of bonds that were recently approved by voters; the interest paid on the bonds varies with APS bond rating. If APS can maintain a high rating, taxpayers pay less interest on the money they borrow to underwrite education.

It is in the public interest for the administration of the APS to keep APS' bond rating high, in order to save tax dollars. If the bond rating is allowed to fall, through administrative incompetence or corruption, the public interest has been betrayed.

The auditor, the firm Moss Adams, found the following;

• The audit was almost a year late.
  
• APS over reported it's worth by $53M (nearly 10%).
• APS is in need of "qualified financial personnel".
• "material weaknesses in the district's internal financial controls".
• errors in previous years that required "adjustment." (correction)
• APS' problems are due to "poor record keeping".
• APS' records are "riddled with errors".
  

Even Robert Lucero admitted that it is the worst audit that APS has ever had, saying, "They have to clean house in the financial department."

Lou Anne Boothe, the APS administrator, and the district's only certified accountant, who blew the whistle on the corruption and incompetence in the district's financial department, is still on paid administrative leave while a "personnel investigation" is conducted. No explanation why some months after she was put on leave; the investigation isn't complete. (more corruption and/or incompetence?)

According to the paper, "APS officials do not expect the audit to dent its strong bond rating."


Really? And why not, exactly?

This latest incompetence and corruption in the APS could very well affect our bond rating. If you were buying bonds, would you ignore this information?


Board Member Marty Esquivel said, "The most important thing that we have learned out of it is,
we need to have better accountability from the professionals in charge." (emphasis added)

Esquivel has proposed a full scale accountability audit of the APS leadership and administration.


So far, not one public figure has stood in support of an audit.


The audit is opposed by the media, and by those in the leadership of the APS who do not want their corruption and incompetence exposed by an honest and impartial audit.

New Superintendent to Make $260K

If one could actually hire a person
who could single handedly fix the APS,
$260K would be a steal.

But there is no such person. If there were;
there would be school districts routinely succeeding.
There are not, name one.

APS is a good old boys club;
like most old bureaucracies.

When the Council of the Great City Schools audited the APS; they found that administrative evaluations were
"... subjective and unrelated to promotion or step placement."

Good old boys get promoted without demonstrating by any objective means, that they are in any way competent to do the jobs into which they are promoted.

The Council of the Great City Schools also reported that the leadership of the APS had "... a culture of retribution and retaliation."against those who challenge their conduct or competence.

They cover each other's asses. You can't fight one
of them without fighting all of them, and all of their lawyers.

The Council of the Great City Schools reported that the leadership of the APS has " ... a culture of deliberately misleading the community.


They don't tell the truth.

Gold old boys put up with a lot incompetence and corruption in their fellow club members. That is why APS is performing so poorly. The gold old boys can't run a school district without scandals in every department. It is the natural consequence of failing to hold people accountable for their conduct and their competence.

It is the Peter Principle on steroids; fueled by corruption and incompetence.

The good old boys will not audit themselves. Any competent and impartial audit will reveal widespread incompetence and corruption.

The good old boys can survive anything but an audit.

If the leadership of the APS is not willing to conduct the audit, and remove incompetent and corrupt administrators; how do you expect the superintendent to do so?

Place a $260K dollar apple in a barrel with rotten apples, and it will rot.

There is no person who can do their job so well that everyone else doesn’t have to do their jobs as well.

If the community is not willing to disband the good old boys; nothing will change. You could pay the new superintendent a million dollars a year; and nothing will change.

They will not be disbanded except by a large enough group of people showing up at a public forum and demanding an immediate and full scale forensic audit of the APS.

And despite the deliberate and methodical efforts of the leadership of the APS and the media to prevent such an occurrence.