Social promotion forced choice lacks insight

The debate over whether to promote public school students who lack third grade reading skills has settled on two choices;

1. continue promoting students who cannot compete or even survive because of their lack reading skills, or
2. make poor readers repeat third grade in its entirety, including coursework they have already learned.

The choices are narrowed to two, by rigid thinking; we must do things the way they have always been done regardless of the myriad of changes that have taken place in how students can learn.

There is no shaking the belief that children learn best when they are sitting in classrooms in five rows of six, each with a textbook open on their desk (whether they can make sense of it or not), each expected at any given moment, to be in the same book and on the same page.

"Third grade" standards represent the performance standards for the average eight year old. The underlying premise being, if they're eight years old, they are all equally mature and fully capable of meeting the same standards as every other eight year old child.

Why can't a student follow a prescribed curriculum, at their own pace? Why do they have to march together in a thought choir for twelve years? Why can't they be allowed to slow or stop when they need to and race ahead when they want to?

Twenty five years as a public school teacher have led me to conclude that textbooks are among the least useful of all the teaching and learning tools available to teachers and students.

For no more money than we spend on textbooks, obsolete before they are published, we can give every student access to the internet. I say "internet" to connote the magnitude of the resource, not to suggest giving children unlimited access to the actual internet.

Let's call their machine a "laptop", their "internet" a thumb drive.

Instead of reading in a textbook about history or science or math, they could watch a video production of a moment in history, an experiment in a laboratory, or mathematical concept explained by an awesome computer generated effect. All without having to be a "reader".



Against my better judgement, I tried to present an alternative to social promotion and retention, on KKOB. Immediately, my alternative was defending itself, by itself, of proposing students never have to learn to read. For the life of me, I can't explain that leap; it's almost like they don't want to understand.

We're talking about elementary education here.

The social promotion debate is about third graders not about
high school graduates, though there is that debate yet to be had.

My argument is;
third graders can continue to be challenged in all subjects, including reading, though the use of audio, visual, and participatory learning activities, while we are doing every thing that we can do to address that student's individual difficulties in learning to read.

And that we can do that by using teachers and textbooks as two of many reference sources, and not as the only ones.

The greatest stumbling block to changing the way we educate students in public schools is an unswerving belief in an untested and unexamined apothegm;

Students must learn to read by the third grade
or they cannot continue to learn at all.
And all the while seated in five rows of six, each
with nothing but a textbook in front of them.

No one will admit that there are ways to learn without reading. Students can also learn by watching, listening and doing.

No one will admit that there can be classroom arrangements other than cemetery seating.

Reading is learned by non-readers. One can practice reading skills by reading, but the skills themselves were learned by listening, watching and doing.

If non-readers can be taught to read; they can be taught everything else a third grader needs to know to succeed in any discipline except reading, while they learn to read.




photo Mark Bralley

APS Community Advocacy Group

APS Supt Winston Brooks has twice touted an "APS Community Advocacy Group" in the Journal; once last month, link, and again this month, link. A search of APS' award winning website and Google, yielded no information linking to the group nor any evidence that it actually exists.

Since posting, a reader has supplied a link to Partners in Education & Advocates for Public Schools; PEAPS.

The leadership of the APS spends around a million dollars a year to improve their public perception.

There are two ways to improve public perception;

1. do a better job, or
2. make the public think you're doing a better job.

APS Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta and the million dollar a year "communications" effort have a job to do, and that job is not communication.

Their job is to improve public perception.

Without which, they might all loose their jobs.

There is only one group I am aware of trying to improve APS' public perception legitimately; by open and honest public discussion of the obstacles to our children's education; the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication.

Whose petition languishes still, in the denial of due process by the leadership of the APS (ok, only the corrupt and complacent ones).

Due process is being denied by two classes of APS leaders;

1. those whose personal corruption compels them to fight against transparent accountability to the people, and
2. those with guilty knowledge of that corruption.

The denial of due process for a legitimate petition violates,
if not the letter, then the spirit of the First Amendment to the
Constitution, and the protection it provides for the human right to petition one's government for redress of grievances.

The First Amendment reads in significant part;

Congress shall make no law ... abridging the ... right of
the people ... to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.

If the amendment doesn't compel government to consider petitions, what is the point in protecting the right to deliver them?


These people, and I do mean these people, represent a "model" of public education administration;
strictly oligarchical with at will standards and accountability.


While it is the most widely agreed upon model among the oligarchs, it isn't necessarily the best.

The fact that it hasn't worked in more than a hundred years of "trying", is not unimportant.

It will never work, because it is fundamentally flawed.

The model these people prefer for the actual educating of students, is commonly called "cemetery seating". Students find themselves arranged like grave markers in five rows of six.

They're expected to join a thought choir that will think in unison for next twelve years. At every minute of every day, they will be expected to be in the same book, and on the same page, preparing for the same test.

This despite that these groups of young human beings, kittens if you will, have nothing in common but the year of their birth.

If you really looked at a graduating class of third graders, you would find that some are "third grade readers", some fourth, some fifth, maybe one or two, twelfth grade readers.

You would find a fair number reading below grade level.

If you looked at their record, you would find some of them are fourth grade mathematicians; and fifth. And some of them, in addition to being second grade readers, are first graders in something else.

Yet all are expected to proceed together in exactly the same direction, at exactly the same speed, for twelve years. Even if this could be accomplished, why would you want to?

Why would you want to, except to enable a oligarchical model whose existence depends upon centralized power and decision making?

The fundamental goal of education is to create independent lifelong learners who have no real need for schools. Because they learned how to learn independently, all they need is a reference library; the nearly unlimited digital data base.

The common refrain is;

students need to learn to read by third grade because
after third grade third grade they need to read to learn.

It's clever, it has a nice rhyme and meter, but that doesn't make it true.

The fact that non-readers can learn to read, is proof that
non-readers can learn without being able to read.

A third grade who cannot read at a third grade level, might have an interest in higher level math, or science or any one of an unlimited number of other worthy interests. That student can watch a video or listen to an audio file how ever many times they need, at what ever complexity they can grasp, in whatever language they need, in whatever font they prefer, or even read to them, in any language they want, by an electronic device.

For what we spend on textbooks, we could give every student electronic access to whatever database we choose. We could teach them to be critical and independent lifelong learners.

It is only because we insist that they
read their way out of the their ignorance,
that they are doomed to continuing ignorance.






photos Mark Bralley

The impasse in Española

In the Journal this morning, link.

The is a confrontation going on in Española NM. The fight is between the free press and the government. More specifically, the Rio Grande Sun, link, and the leadership of the Española Public Schools.

Under dispute; whether the press needs permission from the government, to investigate and report upon it?

The complete dependence of Democracy upon a free press,
requires no further explanation or defense.

Only when the press is able to report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the ethically redacted truth, are the people empowered to create and sustain government of the people, by the people and for the people.

The First Amendment addresses the issue by prohibiting government from creating laws that restrict a free press; by prohibiting schools boards from creating rules that keep the press from getting to the truth.

According to the Journal, Rio Grande Sun editor Lou Mattei is looking into possible legal action over what appears to be a pretty clear example of conduct the Constitution specifically and explicitly prohibits. One would hope they would. Bear in mind suing the government requires dedicating stretched resources to sue an opponent with an unlimited budget; in this case a large bore pipeline to education funding.

The leadership of the Española public school has reportedly backed down from their original demand that reporters must get permission from district Superintendent Evelyn Maruska before going on campus or interviewing staff or students, including pre-approval of their specific questions.

The Supt, Evelyn Maruska said:

“What I have requested of the Rio Grande Sun is … that they would provide what their questions are, and also state the who, what, where and why. … That’s only because I want the principals or the directors to be able to answer the questions, or if they did not have all of the answers, they would have time to be able to research.”

What she said was, if there are principals or directors who are unable to answer questions because they don't know the answers; they will have time to do research to cover up ignorance that could be evidence of incompetence.

The premise is so indefensible, the Superintendent is reported to be backing down. Her current and equally indefensible position is;

“All that I am asking for is the subject or the topic. Let’s say that they want to do a piece on uniforms in the school. Tell me it’s about uniforms — that’s all.”

As is the custom, the retreat came without any explanation, defense, or even acknowledgement of the former, even more blatantly unconstitutional position.

The press must have unlimited access to government in order for the people to have unlimited access to the truth about the spending of power and resources that belong to them.

The government is protected from unwarranted intrusion of the press by laws that specifically restrict access. It cannot be allowed to protect itself by inventing restrictions of its own.

Nor can it be allowed to protect itself through indefensible interpretations of legitimate laws.

The leadership of EPS avers; their interpretation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, link, requires them to keep Sun photographers from taking pictures of students without their parents written permission.

The simple truth is the Act only requires schools to have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record.

The EPS, if it's anything like the APS, will use operational funds, tax dollars that could be spent in classrooms and on education, to hire lawyers to litigate their exception to the law.

As is customary, any legal bills and fines resulting from deliberate misconduct by politicians and public servants, will be paid by taxpayers and not those politicians and public servants themselves.

If you are wondering about the relationship between the press and the leadership of the public schools here in Albuquerque; there is no impasse. The leaderships of the schools and the establishment's media are in accord; the leadership of the APS can violate the civil rights of the press, even to the point of using a publicly funded private police force to arrest members of the press who insist upon asking inconvenient questions, as long as they; the Journal, KRQE, KOAT, KOB and KKOB have as much access as they want.

Honest and flawed

It would be nice to have candidates for political office that
were both;

1. scrupulously honest and
2. possessing of an absolutely flawless record according to the standards we apply.

That candidate does not exist.

At best, we can hope for an honest candidate with a marginally "flawed" record.

The best we have offered to us, is candidates who are neither honest nor flawless. And the only way they can get elected is to manipulate public opinion by spending millions of dollars on negative and frankly dishonest campaign ads.

With few exceptions, currency carries elections.

There are a handful of candidates that don't need to sling mud to win elections.

The best candidate I've ever seen running for any office, is Rep Janice Arnold-Jones, link, who is as honest as anyone I know and whose record is as flawless as any I've seen.

She adds manifest character, competence, and courage to a process that pays no attention them.




It will be up to the people then, to pay them the attention they deserve.




photo Mark Bralley

If a half truth really is a whole lie ...

Then Journal editors lied to us this morning, link, though
it could be argued I suppose, that one can't lie in an editorial.

The editorial is about the new school grading system. The editorial is entitled;

A-F Has N.M. on Track To Serve Its Students

It is the opinion of the editors that, A-F grading of schools will foster improvement in the outcome of public schooling.

As any educator and most other people know; the grades A-F are based on performance; performance that is measured in percentages. There is an ideal outcome for any educational endeavor and students achieve some percentage of success.

It varies, but for the most; 90% success earns an A, 80% a B, 70% a C, 60% a D.

Imagine you are a student sitting in one of the five rows of six desks, and your teacher is returning test papers to your class. Imagine your grade is important to you.

Your paper is handed to you and is scored;

89%/B+

Further imagine; you are disappointed because you would have been especially rewarded at home, for an A.

The student next to you is very excited. S/he shows you their paper;

76%/A

Imagine how you would feel.

It is an important fact to know; the school grades were curved enormously. Beyond what one would expect. Beyond what the people would or will accept.

The editors do not know, do not understand, or do not care
to tell their readers that the schools were graded on a curve.

Or that, the best explanation offered so far is, that the 76 isn't a "percentage", rather, it is the number of points accumulated out of 100 points possible (hand to God).

NM Public Education Secretary Designate Hanna Skandera (and Governor Susana Martinez) have been asked to explain in words that any middle school student can understand, why that student's school gets an A,
and the student doesn't.

They won't, and why should they,
if the press won't make them?


Skandera and Martinez are not being candid, forthright, and honest with interest holders.

Neither are the editors.




photos Mark Bralley

APS looking to legislature to legitimize their cover up

The leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools has it's
own police force. It is a publicly funded, private police force;
accountable to no one, except the leadership of the APS.

Individually, APS police officers are as qualified as any other police officer. Many are retired from the Albuquerque Police Department.

The police force itself however, is not. It is not certificated,
certified, or accredited by anybody but the leadership of the APS.

They employ it as a Praetorian Guard, wikilink.

Five years ago, the Albuquerque Journal investigated and reported upon felonies committed by senior APS administrators, link.

The leadership of the APS decided to use their private police force to self-investigate its own public corruption and incompetence. No other law enforcement agency, not even the District Attorney, has seen one scintilla of the evidence they gathered. They managed to hide it all until statutes of limitation expired on felony criminal misconduct.

The truth of those allegations lies in the ethically redacted public record of several investigations; including but not limited to an independent investigation culminating in the Caswell Report. That allegation, though true, can't be proved because they won't surrender the public record that convicts them.

They are spending dollars that would otherwise end up in classrooms; to pay Modrall lawyers to litigate exception for them, from the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, and from having to surrender evidence of their own corruption.

Their self-investigation of felony criminal misconduct reeks of the appearance of a conflict of interests, the creation of which blatantly violates the APS School Board Code of Ethics which reads;

Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance thereof ...

There is a conspiracy to cover up public corruption.
If the public record exonerated them from that allegation,
they would surrender it.

It the truth will exonerate them, they wouldn't have had to have their own police force do the investigation, and they wouldn't be hiding the evidence.

They wouldn't have had to promote their Chief of Police Steve Tellez in secret; they wouldn't have to be paying him $90K to make sure the criminal investigation never sees the light of day.

It was he who signed Marty Esquivel's unlawful restraining order, promising to deploy police force in support of Esquivel's efforts to cover up the corruption by violating my Constitutionally protected human rights to expose it.

Their expressed intention, link, pasted in significant part;

"... APS Police be recognized as an independent police department authorized by the Board of Education and overseen by the superintendent."

The problem is, APS' axis of evil; Supt Winston Brooks, School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel, and School Board President Paula Maes (currently enforcing Esquivel's unlawful order), are up to there eyeballs in the conspiracy to cover up corruption in the leadership of the APS and their police force.

As an example of the ties that bind the media and the board, Brooks is a recent recipient of a Hero of Transparency Award, despite his unswerving efforts to hide public records from public knowledge. The award was given to him by Marty Esquivel and Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz who either bamboozled the NM Foundation for Open Government Directors, or, who also new about the cover up and gave Brooks their highest honor anyway.

Paula Maes' fist pounds last on the table at the New Mexico Broadcasters Association. Co-incidentally, not one NMBA member has shown the least inclination to investigate and report upon public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

They will be in the
Roundhouse next week
to try to talk legislators
into giving them even
more police force to abuse, link.




photos Mark Bralley

APS' disregard for Houston's MOU.

The leadership of the APS is trying to create a rubric for handling allegations of criminal misconduct in the APS.

The language they would like, link, reads in significant part;

If the nature of the whistleblower complaint is an allegation of criminal activity, felony or misdemeanor, of an employee, student or activity, the chief of the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department, or his/her designee, shall complete an inquiry into the concern. Criminal activity may include, but is not limited to, substance abuse at the work place, threats, physical violence, and theft, falsification of information and destruction of property. The chief of the Albuquerque Public Schools Police Department, or his/her designee, forward the information, resolution and any necessary recommendations from the inquiry to the director of Internal Audit for appropriate follow-up.

No where is it mentioned,
the Memorandum of
Understanding they signed,
link, in which they promised
Bernalillo County Sheriff
Dan Houston, that in exchange
for commissions, they would
stop investigating their own
felony criminal misconduct;
strictly limiting them instead
to;

APS police may pursue a violent felony in progress if the violent felony was witnessed by the APS police officer. Upon witnessing a violent felony, the APS police officer will immediately notify BCSD or the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) .

That particular stipulation be enforced, is important in light of the APS PD's ongoing, five year long, self investigation of felony criminal misconduct, link, and the surrounding cover up; proof of which lies in an ethically redacted version of the Caswell Report, and in similarly redacted public records.

The Sheriff is doing nothing apparent, in response to the allegation that APS police officers watched kids get drunk for a couple of hours one night at Valley High School, link.

Maybe this will get his attention.




photo Mark Bralley

Robbins admits APS is misleading public

School Board Member David Robbins was on KOAT's news, link. He admitted that interest holders were misled by the way "it was put into a press release" telling them, APS Supt Winston Brooks' contract did not include a raise - a concern I first raised, link, on December 23, 2011.

The persons responsible for the misinformation being "put into a press release" would like taxpayers to believe that because it wasn't his base salary that they increased, he received no raise.

It is a spin on the truth calculated "... to create beliefs or leave impressions that are untrue or misleading ..."; behavior prohibited in the APS student standards of conduct and engaged in (by students) at the forfeit of their good character.

According to KOAT, a unidentified district spokesperson said Brooks was "too busy" to answer the questions raised by Robbins' admission.




photo Mark Bralley

The establishment media is complicit or complacent or something!

If the establishment media do not understand what it means to grade on a curve, wikilink, they are incompetent.

If they cannot comprehend the importance of the fact that the
recently released school grades were curved significantly;
curved beyond the point where the average parent or
community member will correctly intuit, they are incompetent.

If they don't understand that the NMPED curved their recent grades (to make schools look better) they are incompetent; the grading scale was handed to them.

Some would argue the curve went too far; it is unjustifiable.

A 75-100%
B 60- 74.9%
C 50-59.9%
D 37.5-49.9%
F less than 37.5%

Students are expected to put out 90% to earn the same grade
their school gets for 75% performance.
They must perform nearly twice as well to pass.

I cannot accept that this is not newsworthy.

If they chose to not investigate and report, for any reason
other than an honest lack of newsworthiness, they are complicit.

If the media simply don't care, they are complacent.

In the absence of any place where the people can make demands of their own, it is especially important for the fourth estate, wikilink to compel politicians and public servants to deny, defend, explain, or at the very least, acknowledge the curving they have done.

On doing nothing, while evil prevails

It's difficult to use the word evil without sounding histrionic.

It is the word Edmund Burke chose to use when he wrote;

All that is necessary for evil to prevail in the world,
is for good men to do nothing.

I'm not saying that all of the members of the leadership of the APS are evil, but when Burke wrote about evil, these were the people he was writing about.

And when he wrote about good men doing nothing,
he was writing about us.

Bess Myerson observed;

"The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently
our own indifference”

We don't really care enough apparently, to create

honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct
and competence for politicians and public servants within
their public service (in the APS)

despite overwhelming evidence that they have no intention of creating it for themselves.

The next public forum

The next school board meeting public forum happens Wednesday, the 18th of January.

It will begin at 5pm, long before anyone with a job can get there.

Signs ups for public forum close at 5pm as well, long before anyone with a job can sign up.

There is no reason they can't take sign-ups up until the last two minutes of public forum.

I should say, no good and ethical reason.

Just like there is no good and ethical reason why the agenda, link, cannot be posted as built, rather than waiting until the last minute allowed by the law.

The only place they allow you to petition your government regarding the difficulty with getting on the forum, is at a public forum you cannot attend.

Deliberate, or accidental?

Some assurance please ...

It is nearly two months now since APS
Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter
promised to tell the truth about
spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

If the records were flattering or if
the Journal was asking, they would
have been surrendered long ago,
and before they violated the law by
not surrendering them in a timely
manner.


To date; he has produced public records of barely $150K they spent on electronic gadgetry for the board room; likely as little as 10% of total spending.

When, if, they ever find anymore public records, they will not be forwarded to me electronically. I am told they don't exist in electronic format, there is not a scanner anywhere in the whole Communications offices, and even if there was, the law does not require them to scan them instead of coping them.

I will be required to go to APS Communications offices to inspect and/or copy them (at 50 cents a page).

Worse, by going I will expose myself to more of APS Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta's libelous and completely unfounded accusations that;
I am in her office everyday,
I am "stalking her" and that
I am whispering to her,
threats against her family.

No complaint was ever filed regarding her allegations, and no investigation was done.

She is seen above, giving an unlawful order to APS Praetorian Guard to eject me from the Eldorado HS Gubernatorial Debate.

By going into the castle keep at 6400 Uptown Blvd, I will subject myself to additional harassment by APS police officers following unlawful orders from School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel.

I would like some assurance that if I go to see records that could have been sent to me electronically, I will not be subject to Armenta's defamation or police force harassment.

We'll see what APS Director of Communications and Custodian of Public Records will offer in the way of assurance. To date; he has not acknowledged the threats from Armenta or their Praetorian Guard.

It has been several years since Kent Walz and the Journal decided to not get to the bottom of outlandish spending on administrative and executive accoutrements for the board room, or anywhere else in the APS, for that matter.




photos Mark Bralley
I took the shot of Armenta

APS and "unethical" behavior

The changes in whistleblower policy, link and link, that are being considered by the school board, use the word "unethical" specifically, as in;

The Board of Education shall not permit unlawful or
unethical behavior by district employees.

... including Supt Winston Brooks.

Questions are begged. What does unethical mean?
It means, failing to meet ethical standards of conduct.

What are ethical standards of conduct?

There are two standards of conduct in the APS; one applies to students and the other to senior administrators and board members.

The one, is a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct. Whether those standards should or should not apply to students; whether those standards are the "right" standards is moot; it is school board policy, link.

The other standards, the ones that apply to board members and senior administrators, is the lowest of the lowest standards of conduct; whatever legal loopholes, technicalities and legal weaselry will allow. Whether that is right is moot; it is the school board's evident intention.

I offer;

It is manifestly unethical for the leadership of the APS to refuse to hold itself honestly accountable to standards of ethical conduct; in particular because they hold students accountable to standards of ethical conduct.

The leadership of the APS does not want to be held accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts! They have gone so far in their effort to evade accountability as to remove the role modeling clause from their own standards of conduct; the one that used to read;

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

There are two reasons that senior administrators and board members will not hold themselves honestly accountable to the Pillars of Character Counts!. There are only two reasons. The reasons are abhorrent. They are especially abhorrent in the senior-most role models of the standards they establish and enforce upon students.

I have asked, and asked, and asked; I have even offered a cash reward to anyone who can offer a third reason that adults will not step up as role models of accountability, honest accountability, to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.

If we really want students to grow into adults who embrace
character and courage and honor, someone has to show them
what it looks like. The school board and senior leadership
need to show them what it looks like.

Role modeling is a conspicuous activity.
"Inconspicuous role modeling" is oxymoronic.
If students, staff and community can't see it, it isn't happening.
If they cannot point to it, it doesn't exist.

APS Supt Winston Brooks is not a conspicuous role model of accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts! Nor is School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel. Nor is the senior-most executive role model of the APS Student Standards of Conduct Paula Maes.

Ergo; they are behaving unethically.
They are modeling the very behavior they say they shall not permit!

... for either one or both of two reasons;

1. they haven't the courage and/or
2. they haven't the character
   

to hold themselves honestly accountable to standards of ethical conduct.

The same two reasons that keep the Journal and NM Broadcasters Assoc members from investigating and reporting upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.




photo and frame grab Mark Bralley

Controversial policy changes tabled

In response to a query of the School Board office, I am informed that the Policy Committee tabled three controversial items;

1. an effort to deny whistle blowers due process by abandoning Audit Committee review of whistleblower complaints,
2. an effort to allow the Supt in investigate complaints against himself, and
3. an effort to allow complaints against the Supt to be investigated by School Board cronies.

I received the following reply;

The following agenda items from the January 10, Policy and Instruction Committee meeting were tabled:

II. Consideration of approval of Board of Education policy D.05 Internal Audit to be renamed D.05 Audit Committee and Reports (Discussion/Action)
III. Consideration of approval of revisions to Board of Education policy GB7 Whistleblower Complaints (Discussion/Action)
IV. Board of Education review of new Internal Audit Procedural Directive (Discussion)

Suggestions were made for changes to the language, which the board members requested to be brought to another Policy and Instruction Committee meeting for review.

I am still illegally banned by Marty Esquivel's unlawful restraining order, so I have no idea which board member deserves credit for moving to table the issues.

Another APS supervisor on administrative leave

KOAT reports, link, another APS administrator has been put on administrative leave.

As usual, APS is providing no information that interest holders can use to evaluate their performance in preventing misconduct or in dealing wayward administrators.

KOAT reports;

An APS representative would not shed any light on the situation, except to say that it's a personnel matter that should be resolved in the next few days.

Action 7 News was told a second IT worker is involved in the case, but APS won't confirm that.

APS officials said Gail will go through due process and be able to share his side of the story with his supervisors and then go in front of a disciplinary committee.

... and that's the last interest holders will ever hear.

Brooks and I agree

In his report to interest holders, link, on the A thru F grades for APS schools, APS Supt Winston Brooks wrote,

Regardless of what your school’s scores may be, my message is simple: Keep striving for excellence.

I could not agree more, though we would pursue excellence
by far different paths.

I would pursue it through honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence for APS employees and students.

He would pursue it by the same path the good ol' boys have been following for more than a 100 years; creating and maintaining a culture of fear of retaliation against whistleblowers; using a publicly funded private police force to arrest them if necessary.

He would pursue it retaliating against whistleblowers and denying due process to their complaints.




photo Mark Bralley

How about loss prevention for a change?

In the Journal this morning, we find that three city workers have been fired for stealing our resources. The day before, another story of a city worker stealing resources.

It is good that they were fired.

It would have been better if they hadn't stolen from us.

With thievery, as with every other vice, there is a battle between temptation and moral courage. If the temptation is irresistible; there isn't moral courage enough in anyone, to resist it. That's what irresistible means.

There are two solutions to public corruption;

1. hire and elect people who can stand irresistible temptation, or
2. remove the temptation.

If there is nothing to steal, there is no temptation to steal it.

If there is nothing that can be stolen (without certain accountability), there is no temptation to steal it.

Every one of these thieves made a calculation. Every one of them concluded that they could steal from the people and get away with it.

People don't come to that conclusion unless there is a substantial likelihood that they will, in fact, get away with it.

Every time a politician or public servant is caught stealing,
the politician or public servant whose job it was
to keep them from stealing in the first place,
should be fired as well.

This is not rocket science.

Casinos do it all the time, and I do mean, all the time.

Schools graded on a curve

Parents and community members regard an "A" as indicative of 90% achievement. Older parents and community members might remember having to perform at 94% to earn their "A"s.

They will be surprised to find out that NM schools only needed to earn 75 points out of 100, 75%, to be given an "A". The whole grading rubric was changed to make it look like schools are doing better than the really are.

A 75-100%
B 60- 74.9%
C 50-59.9%
D 37.5-49.9%
F < 37.5%

The whole idea behind creating an A through F grading system, was that parents and community members understand what A, B, C, D and F mean.

I asked Governor Susana Martinez and Education Secretary Hanna Skandera to justify what appears to be a lowering of the bar for schools. Their response was couched in statistical jargon; more about how they did it than, why?

I should have qualified my question by asking that they explain the overly lenient curve in words that students can understand.

I found their explanation deeply unsatisfying, and not just because it was so hard to understand. I suspect the people will not be satisfied either; if they find ever out.

The NM PED pulled a fast one and the people will never hear about it. None of the legacy news outlets I searched, seems to have noticed the double standard for students and their schools.

Or, they see the double standard and choose to not investigate and report upon it.

Either way, the wool has been pulled over the people's eyes.

Interesting aside; The wool refers to a powdered wig.
To pull the wool down over a man's eyes is to temporarily blind him.
It is an Americanism, dating to the 1830s.




photo Mark Bralley

APS mum on Brooks' extended contract

If you check APS award winning website, link, you will find no mention of the inflation of APS Supt Winston Brooks' golden parachute to $750K.

Just like you find no mention of Steve Tellez being promoted to Chief of their Praetorian Guard, link, and guardian of all evidence and testimony regarding felony criminal misconduct by the leadership of the APS and their so-called Police Dept.

Why not? except to protect their public perception.

Why not? except for their cowardice and corruption.

APS should abandon the Pillars of Character Counts!

The leadership of the APS needs to fish or cut bait on Character Counts! They cannot continue to insist that students "model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!", and abdicate their obligation to show them what that looks like, link.

Albuquerque Public Schools; Support the potential; the video.

Not long ago, you were hearing
APS Executive Director of
Communications Monica Armenta
in radio ads, asking listeners to
support "APS' potential", link.

The plea is out in video, link;
Armenta is still the star.

The problem is still the same.
The money being spent creating
and airing these ads in the hope of
raising the public perception of the APS, could have been used instead to increase performance, which would have raised the public perception legitimately.

Instead, the warm and fuzzy will make people feel better about APS' leadership without APS doing anything to earn it.

A communications coup if ever there was one.

The as yet undisclosed cost of the ad campaign is being borne by the APS Foundation and Paula Maes' NM Broadcasters Association.

"The APS Education Foundation, link, is a non-profit organization established for promoting private support of the district and its students."

The mission of the Foundation reads;

The mission of the APS Education Foundation is to encourage, solicit, receive and administer gifts and bequests of property and funds for educational purposes for the advancement of the Albuquerque Public Schools.

What, exactly, is the educational purpose of an ad campaign,
the primary purpose of which is to make people "feel better"
about the leadership of the APS?




photo Mark Bralley

ABCDF; say what?

When I was very young (if memory serves), in order to earn
an A, proficiency between 93-100% was required. 85-92%
earned a B, 75-84 a C, 65-74 a D, and below 65, an F.

More recently; 90-100 earned an A, 80-90 a B, 70-79 a C,
60-69 a D, and 59 and below an F.

The NM PED has a new rubric, link;

A 75-100%
B 60- 74.9%
C 50-59.9%
D 37.5-49.9%
F < 37.5%

and "performance" is up!

The conclusion; the lower the standards, the better we do.

The Journal will be there, and then let them slide.

The Journal will (should be) attending the policy committee meeting tomorrow; the subject of the following two posts.

It fair to hold them accountable for their response.

Editorially, I expect they will take no exception at all;
same as with Brooks' $750K golden parachute.

From the standpoint of investigate reporting;
they will follow the lead of their editor.

You'll see.

Audit committee will bail on due process for whistle blower complaints.

Unless they are stopped, the APS Policy Committee intends to rewrite board policy to divorce themselves once and for all, from their obligation to provide due process for whistle blower complaints.

APS whistle blower complaints do not get due process. Complaints against administrators and board members are adjudicated by fellow (and possibly subordinate) administrators. It creates the appearance of a conflict of interest and of impropriety.

Until tomorrow night, school board policy requires the executive branch (the board) to evaluate every single whistle blower complaint. The administration of whistle blower complaints is accountable to the people whose power is being spent, through the school board.

They have not reviewed and approved of the administration of even one single complaint. Hundreds of whistle blower complaints have been, continue to be, and apparently will in the future be, denied the due process of executive review of a blatantly compromised administrative self-adjudication.

Their proposed new language, link, here pasted in significant part;

The Audit Committee shall receive and review ... program evaluation reports from the superintendent, or his/her designee, about ... whistleblower complaints ....

Instead of doing their job as board members and making sure that every whistle blower got due process, they will take Winston Brooks' word for the fact that he gave due process to the complaints filed against him personally.

I'm sorry - that's bullshit.

Their agenda, link, includes no public input.




photo Mark Bralley

Brooks to handle whistle blower complaints; even the ones against him

APS' Policy Committee will meet tomorrow at 5pm.

Unless they are stopped; they will rewrite school board policy on whistle blower complaints. The new policy will read, link;

GB7 – Whistleblower Complaints

The Board of Education shall not permit unlawful or unethical behavior by district employees. Albuquerque Public Schools shall provide employees and the community a means to confidentially file, in good faith without fear of retaliation, whistleblower complaints regarding such conduct. These complaints shall be investigated by the superintendent and/or by his/her designee.

The superintendent shall develop an administrative procedural directive to implement this policy.

APS Supt Winston Brooks will investigate all whistle blower complaints. Complaints against him will be investigated by one of his subordinates. It reeks of conflicts of interest and impropriety.

On what planet is denial of due process, good faith?

Their agenda, link, includes no public input.

free press and journalists wrongly conflated

I went looking for legal decisions recognizing bloggers as the pamphleteers of this day and deserving of the Constitutional protection written for the pamphleteers of that day.

It looks like members of a free press are having to prove they are "journalists" in order to prove they are enjoy the Constitutional protection of their human right to be "a free press". Why?

Did the founding fathers really intend to protect only a subset of the entire free press who qualify as "journalists"? whatever that means. Did they intend to let politicians and public servants control access to the public record?

Or is it just an "establishment" effort to repress that part of a free press, they cannot control?

Heads should roll.

Recently, auditors found the leadership of the APS remiss in keeping records about the vehicles entrusted to them, link.

No heads rolled. In fact; one head was even given a golden parachute and a hero of transparency award at about the same time.

Now we find, link, the Public Regulation Commission is remiss in keeping records about the vehicles entrusted to them.

Will heads roll?

Those who stole our resources and betrayed our trust should be fired.

Those whose job it was to not let this happen should be fired. Those who could have, and should have created an environment where it is impossibly difficult to hide corruption and incompetence (casinos do it), failed to do so.

Their heads should roll.

But they won't.

Their heads won't roll any more than Winston Brooks' head rolled over the COSO audit.

That's the way the culture of corruption works;
it's the way they really "roll".



photo Mark Bralley

Nobody ever went to jail for not keeping records

From New Mexico Watchdog, link, State Auditor Hector Balderas is investigating the Public Regulation Commission found "... a time when the agency had virtually no formal internal controls over use of its 120 vehicle fleet."

We can take comfort in the fact that PRC spokesperson Arthur Bishop says,

“We’re acknowledging that was a huge issue and we’re correcting it.”

Bishop went on to admit;

“From what we know of the situation right now it seems it would be very hard to line up the forensics and see who was doing what. There’s no record."

begging a question; How many other state agencies are spending billions of dollars with "virtually no internal controls"?

It is a fair question and one that will likely go unanswered except for the regular exposure of criminal activity enabled by the lack of those internal controls.

It's about preventing the theft of public resources, not about addressing problems only when someone gets caught. Is it too much to expect from politicians and public servants to make it just a little harder to rip us off?

Is casino-like security on the spending of our power and resources really so impossible to provide?

If not cronyism and complicity, then what?

I was asked yesterday at Conspiracy Brews, why I think the Journal is not investigating and reporting upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

My answer; conspiracy.

I can tell, people are finding the pill hard to swallow;
a conspiracy of community leaders including the leadership of
APS, the Journal, and member news agencies of the
New Mexico Broadcasters Association KRQE, KOAT, KOB.

You decide.

My credibility doesn't play; I am not asking to be believed.

I'm saying look at the facts and try to imagine any good and ethical alternative explanation of what looks, walks and quacks like a conspiracy.

My allegation is that they won't tell the truth about;

• their relentless denial of due process for the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication petition, and
• the Caswell Report, and all (ethically redacted) public records of investigations into public corruption in the leadership of the APS and their publicly funded private police force, and
• their denial of due process to hundreds of whistle blower complaints against senior administrators and board members, and
• their abdication as senior role models of the APS Student Standards of Conduct, the Pillars of Character Counts! and,
• (in the words of School Board President Paula Maes), their expressed intention to obstruct the commission of "... any audit that individually identifies ..." corrupt or incompetent senior administrators or board members.

I accuse APS Supt Winston Brooks, Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz, and School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel of lacking the character and the courage to communicate openly and honestly about the standards and accountability crisis in the leadership of the APS.

The Walz, Esquivel, Brooks axis and the NM FOG "Hero of Transparency" Award, link, ties the knot pretty squarely.

All any of them has to do to prove my accusation unfounded, is to actually do what they're supposed to by doing anyway.

Winston Brooks, seen here, arresting peaceful protestors at a community input meeting, can surrender an ethically redacted copy of the Caswell Report and the public record of investigations into felony criminal misconduct involving APS senior administrators and board members.





Kent Walz can tell his readers that he asked Brooks for the records with the intention of publishing them, and Brooks refused to surrender them.

Walz knows about the corruption; the Journal broke the story, link; he's had his nose rubbed in it more times than a puppy with a weak bladder.

He's between a rock and a hard place, they all are. How can they report credibly on corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS, without first reporting credibly on their failure to do so heretofore?

Marty Esquivel can explain to students, why they are expected to "model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!", and
he is not.

Every other board member and senior administrator can immediately exonerate themselves of allegations of complicity or complacency in the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS, by simply stating their intention to be held honestly accountable to the same standards of conduct that they establish and enforce up students.

All they have to do is step up as a role model;
something they're supposed to be doing anyway.

When the question is;

will you tell the truth? about the public interests
and your public service

any answer except yes,
means no.




photos and frame grab Mark Bralley

Brooks contract extended until 2015

When APS Supt Winston Brooks' contract last came up for extension early 2011, KOAT ran a poll, link, on the extension. They asked viewers whether Brooks contract should be extended. 1,032 people responded (a huge response); the results;

Yes 162 (16%)

No 861 (84%)

The board extended his contract anyway; filling his golden parachute up to $750K.

Journal editors were also miffed, link, that lame duck board members were extending Brooks' contract well beyond their tenure on the board.

Now the board has done it again. In two meetings in secret, allowing no public input whatsoever, they extended Brooks contract to 2015; well beyond their elected terms. The Journal reported on the decision, link, but expressed no objection.

As far as I can tell from their website, KOAT viewers haven't even been told it happened.

Though the establishment's media is reporting that Brooks didn't get a raise; he is ending up with more money in his pocket.

The decision was revealed late on a Friday, the best time to break bad news if your interest is in minimizing its negative effects.

There is no mention of the extension on APS' award winning website.

A hundred years not enough, apparently.

If the goal following statehood in 1912, was to create a state government with standards, accountability and transparency enough to protect public power and resources from abuse;
they failed.

"They" failed because, for a hundred years, the people who elected them, didn't watch over them and direct their spending of power and resources that belong fundamentally to the people.

The solution, eluding "them" for a century now, beyond
the people retaking control over the spending of their power
and resources, is government that is transparently accountable
to the people, by systems beyond undue influence and powerful
enough to hold even the most powerful accountable, and
even against their will.

Make it impossible to squander the public trust and treasure
without being exposure and prosecution to fullest extent of the law.

Create casino security on the spending of the people's power and resources.

Give "them" no opportunity to hide their corruption and incompetence.

"They" have being doing it their way for a century now without success. It's time for new leadership and a new direction. It's time for government of, by and for the people whose power and resources they are.

The terms of public service are the prerogative of the people,
not of their servants.

Least among those terms are transparent accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence within their public service.

"The right time, to do the right thing, is always right now." unk

Or, we could give "them" another hundred years
to come up with something.

Little known fact about the new APS Calendar

APS has published the 2012-13 bare bones school calendar, link.

This isn't one of the world class calendars that Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta has grown famous marketing. That will come next summer and fall.

Notice the one thing that never changes in APS calendars;
never has, and never will; first semester finals are administered before Christmas break.

The reason; if finals are administered in January, scores plummet because of the "learning" that disappears over the intervening two weeks. A mini version of the price we pay for giving students three months respite from "learning", during the summer.

Transient "learning" is the manifestation of students memorizing material for NCLB testing, as opposed to understanding the material; the basis of real and long lasting learning.

Straight biz, for what it's worth.

Raises serious questions about the transience of what is being taught and learned in the APS, and about where we might better spend our power and resources.

Too bad questions aren't allowed.




photos Mark Bralley

"reasonable specificity"

The School Board intends to meet in secret from stakeholders tomorrow morning when they get together to extend APS Supt Winston Brooks' already twice extended contract. It amounts to a golden parachute; guaranteeing payment even without performance a la those ridiculous packages UNM coaches are given.

A majority of them will vote to extend Brooks' contract beyond their own tenure on the board; they're forcing their decision on a majority of board members who have not yet stood for election.

There are a number of good reasons to not extend Brooks' contract. The only reason to extend it is to give the impression that the board did the right thing in hiring Brooks in the first place.

The Board is aware of the law; the Open Meetings Act. They point to it in the agenda, link. They are accustomed to picking and choosing the parts they follow and ignore.

This time, as usual, they will ignore that part of the law that requires them to disclose "with reasonable specificity", what they intend to discuss in secret from those whose power and resources will be spent behind those closed doors.

They say they intend to adjourn "... for the Purpose of Discussion of the Superintendent’s Contract". Perhaps some parts of that discussion should be, for good and ethical reasons, discussed in secret; but, the whole discussion? A disclosure with "reasonable specificity" would give us a better idea of what is really going on.

Do we really have no right to know what "problems" are being discussed and addressed?

The law "allows" secrecy, it doesn't require it.

The standards of conduct the board established and enforces upon students is clear on the issue; people of character often have to do more than the law requires, and less than the law allows.

The board is in hiding because, when they evaluate their Superintendent, they are at the same time evaluating their selection of him; they are evaluating themselves.

That they are doing that at all, much less in secret, points to real problems with the way they do business and goes a long way toward explaining why they need to go into hiding to do it.

Some folks would argue, he's little more than a misogynist and a bully.

Is that going to come up in their secret evaluation?

Still nothing on the subject from the Journal, giving their tacit approval of a golden parachute worth three quarters of a million dollars to a Supt who can offer little to no objective evidence that he is doing any good at all.

It's official, Brooks' contract extension is on the agenda

The agenda for the Special Board Meeting Friday at 7:00 am, has been published, link.

They don't admit that they're there to give APS Supt Winston Brooks another quarter million dollars to add to his golden parachute; they call it "contract revision". A majority of them will be voting to extend the parachute beyond their own tenure on the board.

They do admit that they will go into secret to talk about it, but will vote to do it in public.

They have not scheduled a public forum.

If you are opposed to extending Brooks' contract for another year, it's just too damn bad.

The Journal's "special obligation"

If you go the Society of Professional Journalists and read their code of ethics, link, to the very last tenet, you find;

Recognize a special obligation to ensure that
the public's business is conducted in the open and
that government records are open to inspection.

Then I think about APS Supt Winston Brooks getting a contract extension in a meeting whose agenda is still secret from public knowledge, and less than two days away, link, and the Journal's failure to investigate and report upon their shenanigans.

I think about the Caswell Report on felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators; a "government record" by any reasonable standard, and the fact that the Journal is not only not demanding its immediate surrender, they are actually enabling it to be hidden.

As for Journal Managing Editor Kent Walz and the other editorial role models of the Journalist's Code of Ethics, they are fortunate that their code, like APS' Code of Ethical Conduct, is utterly unenforceable.

"You can't make me."

APS Director of Communications and Custodian of Public Records Rigo Chavez, is in the process of responding to my request for public records.









I went looking for the truth about how much money APS Chief Operation Officer Brad Winter and the boys spent building themselves a monumental and yet to be justified, new "community" room.

That was November 17th, link.

Would you believe I still don't have it?

I asked Chavez to surrender the record in electronic format. I prefer to avoid subjecting myself to more of Monica Armenta's slanderous allegations, or harassment by APS publicly funded private police force.

Chavez says much of the information they're getting ready to dump on me, does not exist in electronic format. Further, he reminds me that according to the Inspection of Public Records Act,

"... public bodies are not required to create documents in order to respond to records requests."

And even if it did, his

"... office does not have a scanner."

Why not? Except as a deliberate effort to obfuscate the surrender of public records.





photos Mark Bralley

What goes around comes around for PIO Huffman-Martinez

I will begin by admitting some childish delight at 10:30 one night, when I saw my one time nemesis reporting from the corner of Bumfuhc and God Knows Where, about how miserably cold it was there.

Chris Ramirez, before he went off on the establishment's media, was the Public Information Officer for Mayor Richard Berry.

I can still remember the smirk on his face, when it became apparent that Berry was going to let Ramirez decide who and who is not protected by the First Amendment.

Ramirez argued; you have to own a printing press or a broadcast license to be included under the protection the First Amendment provided for the political pamphleteers of the day, and continues to provide for the political pamphleteers of this.

Berry, to his enduring shame, let him get away with it. As far as I know, he still let's city PIOs decide who gets to ask them questions, and who doesn't. PIOs get to decide who and who doesn't enjoy Constitutional protection of their human right to be a free press.

It gets better.

While we're on Ramirez' and journalism; how does the Mayor's go to guy, get to report on the Mayor or anyone else at City Hall, without creating the appearance of a conflict of interest?

I remember that from an email exchange with Ramirez where he was pontificating on Journalism, Journalists, and Journalist's ethics, link, among which is written;

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

And better still.

Last night, I happened to see Ramirez chasing after someone, and trying to get a candid, forthright and honest answer to a legitimate question, and the guy blew him off.

You have to love the irony in it.






photo Mark Bralley

Extending Brooks'contract wrong on so many levels

Not the least of which is, if the sitting school board extends Brooks' golden parachute, wikilink, past the next election of school board members, they will have effectively disenfranchised a majority of voters who might well oppose extending APS Supt Winston Brooks' Contract even one more day.

The same problem occurred the last time they inflated Brooks' golden parachute, link using lame duck members to grant another huge bonus on their choice for Supt; board members bestowing bonuses far beyond the terms of their own election.

Still to be seen; the Journal's take on APS' under the radar, Locksley like contract for a coach with a loosing record.

Is Kent Walz going to "see nothing" and say nothing while his Hero of Transparency makes off with another quarter million operational (classroom) dollars while no one is watching?




frame grab Mark Bralley

Chump stumped

APS Supt Winston Brooks,

seen here about the time
he was ordering his
Praetorian Guard to
arrest peaceful protestors
at Manzano HS, link,

ended each of the District Goals Setting meetings playing "stump the chump" and proving even clever self-deprecation can grow tedious.

He claimed he would answer any legitimate question.

I called his bluff.
He folded.

All I had to do was ask him why we never talk about student discipline? and he can't answer.

He can't tell us the truth about why he won't hold an open and honest public discussion about;

• executive and administrative standards of conduct and accountability compared to;
• student standards of conduct and accountability, and
  
• executive and administrative responsibilities as the senior-role models of student standards of conduct, or about
  
• student misbehavior in general; historically, currently and in future, and
  
• the effect of chronically disruptive students; historically, currently and in future, and
• whether crime statistics will continue to be falsified and hidden in order to improve the public perception of the APS.

He won't point to the time, the day, and the place where they will finally come clean with the truth.

He cannot summon the character and the courage to stand still somewhere and explain why he will not tell the truth, the whole truth and, nothing but the ethically redacted truth about student behavior in public schools.

I asked him to step up as a role model of the same standards
of conduct he holds up for students, link, and
the chump is stumped.

Stay tuned; he gets a pay raise Friday.




photo Mark Bralley

Special Board Meeting posted; agenda hidden

A Special Board Meeting has been posted for Friday. The agenda is not posted, though the board knows exactly what they plan to do; extend APS Supt Winston Brooks contract (golden parachute) out to three years (worth three quarters of a million dollars).

There is no public forum at "special" board meetings.

Journal editors hit and miss on public notice

The Journal editors offered, link;

kudos to state Rep. Jim Smith, R-Sandia Park, for recognizing that in these busy times and considering the technology available, New Mexicans deserve more than 24-hours’ notice that their public officials are taking action.

And kudos to Gov. Susana Martinez for her second.

A few months ago, link, when APS' Board of Education decided to continue to offer their constituents and stakeholders the bare minimum meetings notice required by the law. the editors voiced no objection at all.

It would appear the editors were;

1. (willfully) ignorant of the board's disrespect for interest holders, or
2. simply chose again, to not object to the actions of their cronies on the board.

Submitted this day, as further evidence of the Journal's ongoing lack of fair, balanced and honest coverage of the APS board and administration.