Special board meeting Thursday

There are two meetings scheduled on Thursday the 23rd.
One is a Special board meeting whose agenda, at posting, is still secret, link.

Interestingly, if you look at the agenda for the second meeting; the Policy and Instruction Committee meeting, link, you will find indication that they know what is going to be discussed during the Special Meeting and that it will only take 15 minutes.

During the Policy Committee Meeting, they will discuss;

Future Topics: Various topics will be presented as time allows.

It would be a shame, and I do mean shame, if the board discussed their intentions with respect to the various citizens petitions they hold, without notifying stakeholders of their intention to discuss their interests.

If you take a look at their last Policy Committee agenda, link, you find a list of future topics;

JROTC Update; Long-term Suspensions (Vision Quest), Standard Based Assessment; Review of the Trademark for High School Logos; Common Core Standards; Public Forum and Board Reports; Truancy Update; Retention Research; Career Enrichment Center Presentation of Curriculum and Innovative Courses; Update on Rio Grande High School; Small Learning Community Grant Evaluator Report; APS Charter School Collaboration Compact (Gates Foundation); Family Engagement Presentation; Instate Preference; New Student Management System; Student Behavior Handbook; Update on the Career and Technical Charter School; Middle School Online Pilot Program (Discussion)

That list has been there for years. It used to include discussion of the role modeling clause, (in no case shall the standards of conduct for an adult by lower than the standards for students), and whether or not to reinstate it, in the adults standards of conduct.

That topic disappeared from the list without any public action by the board, and now the rest of the list has disappeared as well.

Whatever they do talk about will be hard to nail down, the meeting is not being webcast and audio records are not archived. There is no public forum on the agenda and the meeting will be over long before working interest holders can get there.

If a gauntlet is thrown down in the forest ...

I would suppose that every single candidate has at one time or another said, I'm here to fight for the people.

Talk is cheap. Have they ever actually been in a fight for the people?

Where is their blood splattered on the ground? Where have they spent political capital; where have they burned a bridge?

In order to know whether or not a candidate can and will actually fight for the people, one has to see what the candidate does when they're actually in a fight. One has to see their mettle tested.

When one becomes aware of a fight, their choice is to move away or move toward. One moves toward a fight, to see if there is a need to pick a side.

Having seen the need to pick a side; the test of mettle has begun.

If Confucius was right,

to know the right thing and then not do it; is cowardice.

I would like to test candidate's mettle. There is a perfect arena;
the John Milne board room.

The prize; due process for a Constitutionally protected petitions for redress of grievances against the government.

There are a number of petitions languishing in the School Board's denial of due process. Among them one is a petition in defense of the most basic civil right; open and honest two-way communication between the politicians, public servants and the community members they serve.

It's a clean fight. There are no other issues at play; no hidden agendas. Just straight up, does the government have to respond to a legitimate petition for redress of grievances with due process?

Do the people have the right to expect candid, forthright and honest answers to their legitimate questions about the public interests and their public service, or do they not?

Honor would attach to the first champions who stepped up to the podium at a school board meeting and actually fought for the people, for their petition, and for their combined rights to due process; public discussion and a roll call vote.

Less honor will attach to those who step up begrudgingly, and none of course to those who never step up at all.

I would like to throw down the gauntlet, wikilink, before candidates for any office whose constituents include the 89,000 of this community's sons and daughters in the APS.

It isn't as easy to do as one might imagine. Community members and candidates have no idea the fight is even going on. The media won't tell them.

Why isn't the establishment media investigating and reporting upon the several legitimate petitions languishing in denial not only of due process, but of any good faith response at all?

Who benefits?

School board members and APS senior administrators benefit enormously.

The public interests enjoy no benefit whatsoever.

Is there any connection between the leadership of the APS and the establishment media, that might incline the Journal, KRQE, KOAT, KOB, KKOB to ignore;

• the denial of due process to legitimate citizens' petitions,
• the denial of due process to hundreds of APS whistleblowers and their complaints,
• the cover up of felony criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS police force, and that
• the senior-most role models of the student standards of conduct, the Pillars of Character Counts!, are grossly derelict in their duties?

Apparently, there is.

And that's why the gauntlet might just as well,
not be thrown down at all.

Brad Winter's anniversary

Over the weekend, APS Chief Operating Officer Brad Winter had an anniversary; it was three months to the day, since he promised interest holders that he would produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending on the APS board room.

He has not produced the record for one of two reasons;

1. he cannot, or
2. he will not.

Cannot would mean the records on the spending of nearly
a million tax dollars have been lost, destroyed, or are too confused or incomplete to be useful.

Will not would mean, the records exist but will not be produced because a deliberate decision has been made to hide them; likely because the records are too embarrassing, too shameful, or too criminal. It wouldn't be the first time the leadership of the APS has covered up criminal misconduct by administrators.

Nor would it be the first time the Journal has been part of a cover up of corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.

If there is a third reason that taxpayers have not been told how much money they spent on a completely unjustifiable new board room, I cannot imagine it, and no one in the leadership of the APS or the Journal, has articulated it.




photo Mark Bralley

They just don't make it easy to be a Republican; part deux

Two years ago, there was a meeting planned for the Republican Party Central Committee. I wanted to attend, not as a voting member but rather, as a registered Republican and a member of the press.

Initially, I was denied entrance, though Republican Party rules, link, read quite clearly;

1-2-1. PARTY MEMBERSHIP/PARTICIPATION

B.It is the intent and purpose of these rules to encourage and allow the broadest possible participation of all Republican voters in Republican Party activities at all levels and to assure that the Republican Party is open and accessible.

Yesterday, I went to the Republican pre-primary convention and was again, link, denied entrance as a registered Republican and member of the press.

On neither occasion, having gained entrance, did I witness
anything that needed to be hidden from interest holders in the
first place. Which begs the question; why hide?

Why do they make casual attendance at Republican Party "activities" impossibly difficult, in diametric opposition to their own rules? Their Rule #1, no less.

One could argue, as Bernalillo County
Chairman Chris Collins did, my room,
my rules. " a closed meeting, he said.

I find the attitude disturbingly reminiscent of the my bat, my ball, my rules leadership of Col. Weh and the rule of the gavel mentality that saturates the leadership of the NMRP.

They bought the room, they get to decide who gets in.

They got to decide as well, that candidates would not be allowed to speak to their candidacies when they were introduced to the delegates.

It's all "legal".

I have a pet peeve that drives me; politicians and public
servants who create beliefs or leave impressions that they are willing to be held honestly accountable to higher standards of conduct than the law; ethical standards of conduct, and then defend their unethical conduct by cloaking themselves in legal weaselry and loopholes in the law; the lowest standards of conduct of all.

The Republican Party of New Mexico creates the belief and leaves the impression that they are role models of honesty accountability to ethical standards of conduct when on their banner, link, they write that the RPNM is all about

"... ethical leadership and accountability ..."

though their conduct paints a far different picture.

... or are we now going to quibble about what the word
"ethical" means?




photos Mark Bralley

Do we really need teachers anymore?

If so, how should we use them? In what ratio to students?
How well trained must they be? How well educated?
How closely must they be supervised, are they being micro-
managed?

It seems to me, that at the very least, we should stop expecting them meet the individual needs of students by first forming them into groups. Stop expecting them to take groups of students with nothing in common but their age and forming them into "thought choirs"; expected to move lockstep in the same direction, at the same speed, year after year after year.

Herding kittens is a waste of energy and resources. Yet that
is the model we use because we can't come up with another
way to babysit thirty kids at a time and hire only one adult.

It is based on the premise that herding them is the only way
to keep them out of trouble. It isn't.

Teachers must be enabled to give individual students their
full attention; an impossibility in the current model.
Divided and individual attention are mutually exclusive.

If the ultimate goal is to produce lifelong independent learners,
why is that not the immediate goal as well? The more independent learners there are in a classroom, the more time teachers will have to give students their full attention.

Why do we insist that children learn and practice independent learning skills in groups?

Why must individual learners move lockstep in the same direction and at exactly the same speed, year after year after year?

Except to create and maintain a need for a standardized testing industry?

And to create benchmarks that are as convenient as they are meaningless.

West Side redistricting meeting scheduled, public forum is not

The APS School Board has scheduled a meeting to revisit the issue of school board district boundaries.

The agenda, link, includes no public forum.

Because it is a "special" meeting, there will be no webcast and only audio will be recorded.

This, though they are sitting in front of $150K worth of recording equipment and people and could easily do it.

The meeting is scheduled in our $1M "community room".

It will begin at 5pm and be over long before anyone who works
until 5, can get there.

They will;

Redistricting (Discussion/Action)

It is hard to imagine how one could be less specific.

Reasonably, they will decide only whether to revisit their roundly criticized decision on school district boundaries, and not try to decide upon a new map.

The Journal, link, reports to the contrary;

"They plan to meet next week and consider a map
that is more palatable to the West Side."

Have they learned nothing? The problem wasn't the map.
The problem was their failure to engage stakeholders and to
have them feel they participated meaningfully in decision-making that affected their interests.

Interest holders and board members need to engage in open and honest two-way communication about district boundaries. Citizen stakeholders have legitimate questions and are entitled to candid, forthright and honest responses from the politicians and public servants who are spending their power and resources.

The question is;

Will redistricting be revisited?

Any answer except yes, means no.

Yes or no, the answer should be delivered to constituents face to face.

The leadership of the APS have individual obligations to role model the character and courage they expect from students. They can do that only by looking their constituents in the eye when they answer such an important question.

Especially, if their answer is no.

King Richard dissing another blogger

Mayor Richard Berry, by and through his PIOs, will have no truck with bloggers; the political pamphleteers of the digital age.

It is his opinion that the First Amendment doesn't apply to members of the press unless they are "credentialed reporters for a newspaper or broadcast station, licensed by the FCC."

The arrogance of his position could not be more appalling.

In the absence of any illumination from the Mayor, we are free to speculate on his reasoning. What seems most obvious is his need to control the access of non-establishment press, a press he cannot control; bloggers beholden to no interests but the public interests and their own.



Dayna Gardner is Berry's newest PIO, taking up where former PIO Chris Huffman-Ramirez left off, protecting Berry from access by bloggers who might report unfavorably on the Mayor and his doings. One of the latest to feel the point of king's lance, the Burque Blotter, link.




photos Mark Bralley

The Pillars of Character Counts!; an unabashed defense.

Because APS School Board Policy reads; students are expected to model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!, the Pillars, link, are the de facto student standards of conduct.

It doesn't make any difference whether the Pillars are the best standards, or even good standards of conduct. The board picked them; they are the standards.

It really doesn't make any difference why the School Board unanimously adopted the Pillars as the student standards, only that they did. If they want not to be held accountable to them, board policy must be changed.

There is nothing they would like to do more, than strike from board policy, any reference to higher standards of conduct than the law.

The mention of "modeling and promoting the Pillars" appears in the APS Student Behavior Handbook, link, pg 3.

The leadership of the APS would very much like it to not be there. It is getting progressively difficult for them to deny their obligations as role models and consequent accountability to standards of conduct that require truth telling.

The Handbook is under revision. I suspect an attempt will be made to strike the reference to the Pillars of Character Counts! without anyone noticing. Just like when the board struck from their own code of conduct, the words that pointed to their obligations as role models;

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

without anyone noticing. My suspicions are based on the difficulty I am having getting information about the process and changes, from APS.

A discussion has to be had, and decisions need to be made;

1. what are the standards of conduct for students, and
2. what are the standards of conduct for adults?

Are administrators and board members actually accountable as role models even for the measly few hours a day they establish and enforce students?

If and when that discussion takes place, I will stand in unabashed defense of the Pillars of Character Counts! as the standards of conduct for students and adults in the APS.

The tug of war is between accountability to the law, or
accountability to higher standards of conduct than the law.

There is no standard of conduct higher than the law that does not require truth telling. It isn't about accountability to the Pillars specifically, it is about having to tell the truth; having to respond to legitimate questions candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

Something the leadership of the APS is loathe to do, and will obfuscate at every turn.

Korte singing a different tune.

When the APS School Board decided three weeks ago, to keep their seats instead of creating a new west side board district, the hugely unpopular decision created a groundswell of opposition among westsiders, link.

Board Member Kathy Korte was quick to fix the blame on westsiders who showed up too little and too late. They "... should have come to meetings if they cared ..." about redistricting, she argued.

Korte added; “This is a board that will be swayed when presented with a lot of public opinion and comment ...”

To her surprise, that is exactly what happened. So many people showed up at the public forum, the board had to blink on issue of redistricting, link.

Korte covets authority; the wielding of power. She gets very testy when people suggest that their interests have a place on the table of pubic business.

Before she was elected, character counted for Kathy Korte.
She would talk out loud about the wonderful effects of
Character Counts! programs in the schools her own children attend.

Now she won't talk about Character Counts! at all; or about
student standards of conduct, adult standards of conduct, or
the duties and responsibilities of role models.

The second most-senior role model for students, of student standards of conduct, will not look students in the eyes and explain to them, why they are expected to "model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!, and she is not.

She won't talk about hundreds of whistle blower complaints she and the rest of the board are denying their due process. The board promised whistleblowers individual review and approval of every single complaint, and have yet to review and approve even one.

She won't tell you "why" the ethically redacted public record of felony criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS police force, link, a publicly funded, private police force, is not available for public inspection. Not how they are being hidden; why are they being hidden?

She won't explain, defend, deny, or even acknowledge the board's opposition to "any audit that will individually identify" corrupt or incompetent administrators or board members.

She won't be taking any questions on the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

She won't be taking any questions on her part in the ongoing denial of due process for the Citizens Advisory Council petition, and for the effort to establish open and honest two-way communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve.

But, she will show up somewhere to talk about redistricting.

Her Praetorian Guard will show up
to make sure nothing else comes up.



photos Mark Bralley


In fairness to Korte, she is not the only member of the leadership of the APS who will not point to a time, a day and a place where they will respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to legitimate questions about the public interests and about their public service.

None of them will, not one.

Martinez finds Winston Brooks "embarrassing".

On Governor Susana Martinez' Facebook wall , link,
a message to her followers;

It was embarrassing that the superintendent of the state's largest school district was cheering against New Mexico last week to score cheap political points.

She was referring to a crack that APS Supt Winston Brooks' made when it was announced that the Martinez/Skandera application for a waiver from NCLB had been denied, link.



It passed finally, and now Martinez is getting some payback.

Nanny nanny boo-boo.

Not that either has much choice; if Brooks weren't bashing Martinez and Skandera, he would have to be explaining why he is blocking efforts to investigate standards and accountability in his administration.

And if Martinez/Skandera weren't bashing Brooks, they would have to be explaining why they're trying to bring an obsolete public education model, cemetery seating, into the digital age.




photo Mark Bralley

Supts scared of Skandera?

Hugh Prather, Ph.D., is a retired New Mexico superintendent and educational consultant. I accept Prather's credentials on their face; though the point is moot as his credibility doesn't play.
He has raised a legitimate question. Questions stand alone,
it doesn't matter who raises them or why.

Prather has released a report on the survey he conducted of New Mexico Public School Superintendents, link.

In the introduction to his survey, Prather wrote;

Many of you in private conversations have shared similar concerns with me as well, and yet the chilling effect of prospective retribution places each of you in very uncomfortable positions for publicly voicing such concerns.

This report card was compiled because of its author's concern about the chilling effect that the Secretary-designate's perceived retaliatory behavior has had on the educational leaders of New Mexico and potential sanctions that might befall them if they were to speak out actively on their own behalf.

There are only two possibilities;

Superintendents are afraid to express
themselves candidly, forthrightly and
honestly in opposition to Secretary
Designate Hanna Skandera,

or they are not.

Does it make any difference?

If we accept the premise that fear of retribution and retaliation is a bad thing, then yes, it does make a difference. The most emblematic of indicators of oligarchical ill health, is fear of retaliation and retribution against whistle blowers. Cultures of corruption and incompetence are based upon creating fear among potential whistleblowers.

A recent audit of the leadership of the APS by the Council of the
Great City Schools, found a culture of fear of retribution and retaliation against whistleblowers.

APS interest holders have yet to be surveyed.

If APS Supt Winston Brooks were evaluated by his subordinates, and they could respond to legitimate questions candidly, forthrightly and honestly, without fear of retribution or retaliation, how would Brooks score; what grade would he earn?

That's why Brooks and the rest of the leadership will never agree to any audit that individually identifies corrupt and incompetent administrators,

nor any other survey of their conduct and competence as public servants.

The survey on Skandera was only done because Hugh Prather felt like doing it and has the power and resources to pull it off.

Who can we get to do a survey on Brooks?

KOB did a survey and graded Governor Martinez, link.

Can anyone think of a good and ethical reason they cannot,
should not, or would not do one on Winston Brooks?

Let me know, I will post it here;

1. _______________

photos Mark Bralley

Teacher cleared; told to keep his mouth shut.

The Tony Hillerman Middle School teacher who was put on paid leave two weeks ago, is back at work, link. He has been cleared of wrong doing. The only thing not cleared will be the damage APS did to the teacher's reputation by their handling of whatever the allegation was.

A letter set to parents read;

“The accusations did not involve conduct with students and the investigation showed that the allegations were unfounded.”

Doesn't quite un-ring the bell.

The Journal reports; the teacher said in an e-mail that,
APS has told him not to make further statements to the media.

It reminds me of when the scandal was breaking in the leadership of the APS police force, link, and one of the first things then Asst Supt, Tom Savage did, was to order APS employees to keep their mouths shut.

I wondered then as I wonder now, how is it exactly, that the leadership of the APS thinks they have the authority and justification to tell employees who they can and cannot speak to, especially the press?

Skandera's report card one of a kind

NM PED Secretary Hanna Skandera
was the subject of a recent (unscientific) survey of NM public schools superintendents, link.

The anonymous online poll was
administered by an education
consultant gathering information
for his own purposes.

Superintendents gave Education
Secretary Hanna Skandera an
average grade of “D” for her overall performance.

The online poll was conducted anonymously to ease fear of retaliation against participants.

I find it interesting that superintendents admit fear of retaliation. Apparently the "culture of fear of retribution and retaliation" found in a recent APS audit, extends into the highest reaches of public school educators.

88 superintendents had the opportunity to participate; one more than half of them did. One fourth of those, gave Skandera an overall grade of "A" or "B".

Skandera was dismissive of efforts to get her to engage on the report card, arguing she was too busy advancing critical education reform initiatives in the legislature to discuss her grades;

• "D" training and preparation,
• "D" effectiveness leading the Public Education Department,
• "D" sensitivity to New Mexico culture,
• "D" involvement of superintendents,
• "C"communication with school districts and
• "D" demonstrated competence.

Skandera's lowest grade had to do with not "involving superintendents", where an overwhelming majority of them gave her a "D" or "F". Superintendents did not feel their input was taken seriously. Proving, if nothing else, superintendents can experience the same feelings that teachers do, on the issue of their input not being taken seriously.

Issuing a report card for a Secretary of Education begs a few questions. Why not have give Superintendents report cards? Why are they above evaluation? Why aren't school board members given report cards?

Never, is when superintendents intend that their subordinates will be surveyed. Never, is when they will willingly allow subordinate evaluation of their own conduct and competence.

Never, is when principals will be evaluated by their staffs.

The entire umbrella above teachers never gets evaluated by someone who doesn't have an interest in their subordinates looking good.

The Council of the Great City Schools auditors found APS

"... administrative evaluations are subjective and unrelated to promotion ..."

They found also;

"... a culture of fear of retribution and retaliation ..." in the administration of the APS, against people who allege administrative corruption or incompetence.

School Board President Paula Maes said she will never agree to any audit that individually identifies corrupt and incompetent administrators or board members.

Can you imagine her agreeing to subordinate evaluation as a matter of course in APS administration? Can you imagine why not?

Of all the indicators of administrative incompetence and/or corruption, the most emblematic is low morale.

When is the last time morale was measured in the APS?

According to the Journal, APS Supt Winston Brooks said he did not respond to the survey.

Nor will he respond if you ask him why he allows no subordinate evaluations of his own conduct and competence.




photos Mark Bralley

Westsiders are misguided

Westsiders want their own school board districts. It makes perfect sense. They feel under-represented.

Their misconception is that westsiders will be better represented by more west side districts. They are not represented by lines; they are represented by people. It is school board members that are failing them, not school board district boundaries.

Consider a parallel example;
the larger schools get, the less represented each student feels. Conversely, as schools get smaller, individual representation grows. Continue to the extreme; one school, one principal and one student.

Suppose that principal, for whatever reason, is unwilling to engage in two way communication. How is that student better represented by being part of a smaller school?

All seven school board districts could be on the west side, and if board members are unwilling to respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to legitimate questions about the public interests and their public service, how would westsiders have benefited from districts of their own?

The willingness of school board members to engage in open and honest two-way communication with interest holders is the overriding consideration. Their (un)willingness transcends every other consideration.

If the school board won't point to the time, the day and the place where they will engage in open and honest two-way communication with the community members they serve, then
"the community members they serve" have no choice
but to pick a time, a day and a place of their own.

I would suggest, as always, the public forum at a school board meeting.

There is one such, tomorrow; 5 pm

Board meeting Wednesday, no agenda posted

If you go to APS' awarding winning website looking for the agenda of the board meeting two days distant, link,
you will be disappointed.

Many agencies of government post their agendas 72 hours in advance; some post as built. Those who go beyond the bare minimum notice required by the law; 24 hrs, show more respect for the public interests and interest, than those who do not.

Ironically, the code of conduct that binds school board members because they are the senior-most if its role models, points to higher standards of conduct;

one's character is built and maintained by willingly doing
more than the law requires, and less than the law allows.

Maybe those standards are hooey, but they are the standards
they expect students to "model and promote".

APS acts decisively to protect students

A message was sent out to allusers in APS this morning. In order “to protect children” administrators will no longer have internet access to pornography, gambling, online dating, e-Bay, Facebook and Twitter.

Being the cynic that I am, I suspect it wasn't really children abusing access at "administrative sites".

To: All APS Staff
From: Lynn Harris,
Chief Information Officer
APS Information Technology

Re: Web Filtering

Beginning today, more stringent web filtering will be in place on all Albuquerque Public Schools computer servers. While schools have had this filtering in place for many years, all administrative sites will be included now as well.

WHAT WILL BE BLOCKED or FILTERED OUT? All adult content sites, sites that show explicit art, image servers, freeware and shareware sites, gambling sites, online dating, instant messaging, online auction sites like e-Bay, alcohol and drug sites, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and others.

WHAT WON’T BE BLOCKED or FILTERED OUT? Online classes, online shopping sites where there is a valid business need, banking sites, and others.

WHY IS THIS BEING DONE? APS needs to comply with the federal Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA: http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act ). CIPA requires school districts and public libraries to apply a number of information security best practices as a condition of receiving e-Rate funds. Web filtering is one of those best practices. If a school district does not comply with CIPA, its e-Rate funding will be frozen until the district comes into compliance. APS receives somewhere between $2 million and $3 million in e-Rate funding each year, which is used to provide IT infrastructure throughout the district. While web filters have been in place at the schools for many years, we need to apply those same web filters to the administrative network to comply with CIPA.

WHAT IF I HAVE A BUSINESS NEED TO ACCESS A BLOCKED SITE? Contact your supervisor for approval. If your supervisor approves, the request will be forwarded to the district Executive Leadership team. If the Leadership team approves, your request will be sent to the Information Technology Security staff to unblock the requested site for you.

Long ago, when character counted in the APS

School Board President, then and now, Paula Maes was the also the President of the Character Counts! Leadership Council.

United States Senator and Character Counts! Founding Father Pete Domenici had brought home some pork; $50K to spend on Character Counts! education. The still secret membership of that group spent the federal grant and then evaporated.

Some of that money, I believe, was spent buying a bunch of t-shirts to give to students when they completed Character Counts! training.

The shirt on its front and back read;

stand up for what
you believe in ...

even if you're
... standing alone.

When Marty "the enforcer" Esquivel stepped down from the board presidency, Paula Maes decided to continue to enforce the unlawful restraining order he has written.

She and APS' publicly funded private police force, will continue to deny my free exercise of Constitutionally protected human rights to assemble peacefully, to speak freely, and to petition one's government for redress of grievances.

Maes, as school board president, is the absolute senior-most role model in the entire APS of the student standards of conduct; model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts!

And here she is, ordering their police force to arrest anyone stands up for what they believe in, especially if they're standing alone.

And most especially if they stand up to ask her and the rest of the senior-most leadership;

Is there a single one of you with the character and the courage to hold yourself honestly accountable,
by a process over which you have no control, and powerful enough to hold you accountable even against your will,
to the same standards of conduct you establish and enforce upon students? the Pillars of Character Counts!

Any answer except yes, means no.




photos Mark Bralley

APS audit findings nowhere to be found

APS is "audited" several times a year.

There are different kinds of audits under different names. By audit, I mean, an impartial and objective search for the truth. I will divide audits into, financial and other. This is about "other" audits; the Caswell Report being one such.

The "findings" of auditors are public records; even if they individually identify corrupt and incompetent politicians and public servants.

If you go looking on APS' award winning website, for findings of public corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS, you will find them hard to find.

Nearly a year ago, I communicated with "webmaster", a still unidentified and apparently unidentifiable, public servant of ours.

From: Ched MacQuigg
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 5:22 PM
To: Webmaster
Subject: aps audits

I am trying to find results of the various audits done on APS.
Are they compiled anywhere on the website?

grateful for your time and attention

To which the one known as webmaster replied;

We are in the process of building out and migrating content for the Internal Audit department web site. There aren't any documents or information currently posted on aps.edu. Please refer back to the following page in the future, as that information may be listed.

http://www.aps.edu/departments/internal-audit

You may reach Internal Audit at (505) 880-3727 or you can also contact the APS Service Center at (505) 855-9040.

Thanks for your inquiry.

APS Web Team

Now, nearly a year later in response to my further inquiry,
I am told by APS Director of Communications Rigo Chavez,
here quoted in significant part;

"... other audits conducted by the APS Internal Audit Office, ... have not yet been posted.

NCLB waivers and the achievement gap

New Mexico and ten other states applied for relief from strict accountability to NCLB bench marks. New Mexico's application was denied.

One of the reasons the application was denied; it did not address adequately, the elimination of achievement gaps between groups of students.

Government never questions the premise; students must perform "in groups".

Achievement gaps are individual; they represent the difference between individual potential and individual achievement.

Achievement gaps for groups; ethnic, racial, socioeconomic status, etc, exist only because someone decided to conglomerate individual statistics. Why conglomerate them?

The only gap we need to pay attention to is the gap between an individual child's potential and their achievement. If a "group" member closes their individual gap, the group statistic closes as well.

It is the government, not educators, insisting upon cemetery seating; five rows of six kids joined in a thought choir; thinking about the same things at the same time for twelve years. To prepare them for what? Where else in life will graduates be compelled to perform in groups of thirty people who have nothing in common but the year of their birth, moving at exactly the same speed, in exactly the same direction, for years at a time?

Education gets an A+ if it recognizes and addresses the individual needs of every student.

Public schools cannot succeed because of the oxymoronic relationship between individual student needs and the government's need for large group test performance.

There are entire industries built on addressing the education and testing of "groups" of students despite the abject failure of the premise; individual student needs can be met in large group settings. There is a lot of power and resources up for grabs. They will be split between the needs of individual students and needs of individuals employed in the industry of large group education and testing, in and out of government.

Education really is like herding kittens; especially in the primary grades. Students arrive with independent interests, abilities and motivation. Their kitten-like curiosity and excitement, rather than being exploited to teach them independent learning skills, is crushed instead by cemetery seating and group think.

You can't have it both ways. You cannot create lifelong independent learners and, insist upon herding them like sheep toward NCLB requirements based on their homogeneity.

Watch school board "due process"

Up on APS' award winning website; a link to the February 1st school board meeting. I have been told that I am not the only one who can't hear well, the audio on the board meeting video. This wouldn't be the first time the hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment and dual operators taxpayers have provided, have failed to provide the record we deserve.

At 37:00, James "Robbie" Robertson stepped up to the podium during Public Forum and petitioned the school board for redress of his grievance; the school board is denying due process to a legitimate petition carrying a hundred signatures in addition to his own.

At 39:05, retired Federal Magistrate Judge David Walker stepped up to the podium and petitioned the school board for redress of his grievance; the school board is denying due process to a legitimate petition carrying a hundred signatures in addition to his own.

Continue to watch, and you will see a teenaged girl step up to the podium and petition for redress of her grievance; administrative inconsistency, disrespect and inappropriate role modeling.

Six of the eight APS leaders on the dais ignored the petitions by the two gentlemen entirely. A couple more spoke to the courage and carriage demonstrated by the teenaged petitioner.

Board Member Kathy Korte was the first board member to speak to the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication petition. She begins at 54:35.

The long and the short of it is; Korte will obstruct the creation of a venue for open and honest communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve.

It is her opinion; the avenue for community members to take in involving themselves in schools, is to go "volunteer" in schools. And if they have other interests, like improving communication, they must "first" pay some dues by working in a school. How many hours must one volunteer in a school for each question they would like answered? Will it vary by the question? How many hours must one volunteer to get an answer to a question like; Why are you hiding the Caswell Report and the criminal investigation of felony criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS police force?

Board Member David Robbins begins speaking at 1:07:15. Though he finally conceded the need for due process for the petition, he spent a lot of time beating around the bush. His support is less than rock solid and I wouldn't be surprised to see it crumble.

Noteworthy; in response to the petition of the teenager; he suggested violating school board policy by having her submit her complaint to the school board rather than directly to the administration.

Ironically, in doing so, Robbins promised her exactly the same executive oversight over the handling of her complaint against administrators, that he is denying to more than 300 other whistleblower complaints against administrators.

He also suggested that rather than expecting school board members to answer legitimate questions during school board meetings, petitioners and the like should invite board members to speak outside of board meetings; where they will respond to questions about the petition.

He promises something that doesn't exist, never has, and
likely never will; board members and senior administrators
willing to respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly to
legitimate questions about the public interests and about
their public service; in public and on the record.

If you are among those who believe in open and honest
communication the people and their public servants,
your next opportunity to stand up in support of that end,
to stand up for what you believe in for two minutes,
is less than a week away; February 15, 2012.

I would be there, but I'm still locked out according to an unlawful restraining order by School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel, School Board President Paula Maes, and APS Police Chief Steve Tellez, enforced by the publicly funded private police force they command.




photos Mark Bralley

Public School grades curving, more defense

Almost a month ago to the day, Governor Susana Martinez and Public Education Department Secretary Hanna Skandera rolled out their grades for public schools, link.


It was the same day I asked Skandera to explain, in words any middle school student could understand, why the grades were not only curved, but curved so much.

It can be explained to the average citizen, that the grades were "curved", they understand how grades can be curved. But the assumption upon which they base their evaluation of public schools does not include the possibility that the grades have in fact, been curved. KRQE interviewed a few parents and students, link, and they were clearly taken by surprise.

It is clear from watching KRQE's interview, that Skandera still has not figured out how to explain in plain English, the justification and magnitude of the curving; failure drops from 59 to 37%.

Skandera said; “I know what an ‘A’ means. I know what a ‘B’ means. I know what a ‘C,’ I know what a ‘D,’ and an ‘F’ means.” But if you asked stakeholders if they know what "A" means, there is wild disparity.

To Skandera;

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

To everyone else, and I mean everyone else;

A 90 100%
B 80-89 %
C 70-79%
D 60-69%
F 0-59%

Her justification bears scrutiny; the
state needed to set a benchmark,
and grading on the curve was
the best way to do it.

In other words,

the state needed to set a standard
of excellence, and putting
deliberately misleading spin on how
well we are doing, was the best way
to do it.

There are two frames of reference for measuring educational outcomes; criterion referencing and norm referencing; comparison to set standards, or comparison to everyone else's efforts to meet those same standards.

Norm referencing looks better for people like Skandera whose toes are being held to the fire, than comparison to actual, intellectually and philosophically determined goals; in particular if most schools aren't even coming close to reaching them.

Skandera argues, the top ten percent of schools deserve a politically correct "A", even if they only earned an intellectually justifiable "C". She is entitled to an opinion.

Her argument becomes jumbled when she expresses her aspiration that "... every single one of our schools is in the top 10 percent” a concept that is mathematically impossible if grades are curved. Only when measured against specific criteria, can every single one of our schools be in the top 10%. It could be argued, only when students have to meet meaningful criteria in order to earn an "A", will every school be in the top 10%.

Some parents apparently do grasp what Skandera is doing, and approve. "

Jessi Allen, president of the elementary school’s parent-teacher organization, said that although the new grading system is confusing, she understood why the state graded on the curve.

“This was the very first time the grades came out,” Allen said. “And I would think they didn’t want everybody to just throw in the towel. I certainly would have been devastated if a 67 percent would have said that Marie Hughes was at a ‘D.’ ”

People who "protect other people" from the truth are misguided.

Human beings have a right to autonomous decision-making.
Knowing the truth is fundamental to autonomous decision-making. Skandera and Allen advocate "protecting" us from the inconvenient truth, and in so doing prevent interest holders from participating meaningfully in decision-making that affects their interests.

They might want to spend tax dollars differently if the were told most public schools are failing, than if told most public schools are doing just fine (when compared to all other schools failing just as badly).

Half of our kids leave high school undereducated and unemployable. It doesn't make any difference that most other public schools aren't doing very much better.

One cannot solve problems while at the same time hiding them.

Skandera said the grading curve will once again be used in June when the official grade report is released.

It would appear that she will.

Skandera's PIO, Larry Behrens has not responded to two follow-up emails on the issues of the grade curving and the PED's release of Skandera's Advisory Council's, link, product; raising again the question;

do pios work for the people or the public servant?

photos Mark Bralley

Veteran must pay more dues before communications begin

James "Robbie" Robertson spoke to the School Board last
Wednesday evening. He spoke at the public forum, in defense of a petition he signed; the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication petition. He wants to see open and honest, two-way communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve.

Robertson served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. If anyone has standing to insist upon open and honest communications regarding the spending of public power and resources, Robertson does.

The fact is, both Robertson and a high school student that followed him to the podium Wednesday, have the same right to petition their government.

One doesn't have to earn the right, it is protected under the First Amendment.

Enter Board Member Kathy Korte. She let Robertson and others who want to form the CACoC know, if she wants to hear from them, she'll let them know. In the meantime;
"... when people ask to be more involved with APS, and 'we want more communication' what I would like to see them do first, is getting that background check, going into a school in their neighborhood school and asking that school principal, how can I help you? ..."

Korte is apparently deeply confused over her authority to tell citizens what they must first do, before she recognizes their Constitutionally protected human right to petition their government and expect a good faith response for their legitimate petition.

Korte is among APS' senior-most role models of student
standards of conduct. Among other things, she is supposed
to be showing students how government of, by and for the
people is supposed to function.

She is supposed to be modeling and promoting the Pillars of
Character Counts!; Respect, Fairness, and Citizenship.

However short she falls, she says she's doing the best she can;
providing damn little consolation to those whose First
Amendment rights are being ignored, and to students in search
of role models of participatory democracy.




Korte photo Mark Bralley

Policy Committee meeting cancelled

On Wednesday night, during Matters of Information, School Board Member David Robbins, alluded that Policy Committee Chair David Peercy and the committee, have some obligation in providing due process for the CACoC petition.






Co-incidentally, Peercy's next meeting of the Policy Committee has been cancelled without explanation or apology, and rescheduled, link; from the day before the next school board meeting, until late in the week after the Board meets on February 15.




photos Mark Bralley

Citizens Advisory Council on Communication

More than one hundred citizens have signed and submitted a petition to the leadership of the APS. Those citizens feel that communications with APS can be improved, and
have proposed an eminently workable plan to do just that.

The plan begins with an open and honest discussion of the expectations of citizens, politicians and public servants, with regard to transparency in the spending of public power and resources.

The petition and plan were hand delivered to the school board by Rep Janice Arnold-Jones, during a public forum in August, 2011.

The petition is being denied due process. Whatever else “due process” includes, it includes at the very least; public discussion and a roll call vote on a legitimate petition.

Citizens who have

• assembled peacefully, and exercised their Constitutionally protected human rights to
• speak freely and
• petition their government,

are being ignored.

How can the Constitution protect citizen's right to petition the government without creating a corresponding obligation on the part of government to respond in good faith to the petitions they receive?

Never mind, for the moment, the Constitutional violations;
consider the violations of their own code of conduct they create
by their denial of due process to the petition.

Their code of ethics, link, reads in significant part;

Establish an open, two-way communication process
with students, staff, families and all segments of the
community.

How does obstructing the efforts of the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication, establish open, two-way communication?

And,

Make the education and well-being of students
the basis for all decision making.

How does denying due process for the CACoC petition contribute positively to the education and well-being of students?

The denial of due process for the CACoC contributes only to the well-being of people who are trying to avoid having to sit down somewhere and respond candidly, forthrightly and honestly, to legitimate questions about the public interests and about their public service.

And,

Accept responsibility and accountability for one’s own
actions and behaviors.

There are board members and senior administrators who have not accepted responsibility and accountability for their actions and behaviors. The violation of their own code of conduct is as blatant as it is egregious.

And finally,

Avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance thereof
and refrain from using the board position for personal
... gain.

There is personal gain in their decision to withhold due process,
for every board member and senior administrator who is
unwilling to be held honestly accountable to meaningful
standards of conduct and competence within their public service;

... a subject that just might come up if open and honest communication between the leadership fo the APS and the community members they serve, ever gets underway for real.

The truth about John Milne Boardroom spending still secret.

It has been about two and a half months now, since APS COO Brad Winter promised to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of the tax dollars spent on the John Milne Boardroom, link.

I still haven't been told the truth.

You may wonder why I care about spending that took place almost six years ago.

Perhaps because the first time I asked, how much did you spend? was almost six years ago.

They (the leadership of the APS) have been hiding the truth
ever since. Although the amount of money they spent on the boardroom instead of on portables at Susie Rayos Marmon Elementary School is still important; now it's more about the cover up.

When I ask them,

Did you spend $800 a piece on the chairs the board
members sit in twice a month for a couple of hours?

they don't answer. Why would they not answer, if the answer is no? Perhaps because the truth is equally indefensible; maybe even higher.

Why will Brad Winter not tell the truth except that
the truth is an embarrassment they need to hide?
Incompetence? Corruption? What is he hiding?

The boardroom was built at the expense of students attending school in leaky portable classrooms being used to three times their design life. It is an important thing to know; most of the players in the administration and on the school board, are still there.

Back when the Journal was still reporting APS' darker side, link,

they let readers know that the boardroom was $500K over budget and brought the grand total for fixing up administrative digs in a building that was supposed to "save taxpayers money", to "about $5 million".

The money they wasted remodeling their apartments in the sky, was capital funds; they could have been used to build classrooms but not to staff them with teachers.

The money they are going to waste litigating an exception to the Inspection of Public Records Act for the truth about the money spent there, will come from operational funds; money which could be spend on teachers and teaching assistants in those classrooms, if we had built them instead of a new boardroom.




photos Mark Bralley

Due process hard to come by for "accused" middle school teacher

I don't know the details of a middle school teacher's administrative leave from Tony Hillerman Middle School.

But, you don't need to know the details to get the picture;
the teacher has been accused of some thing by some one,
and his life has been recklessly, perhaps deliberately
destroyed as a result.

The teacher says he has "done nothing wrong" and has "no idea what he is being accused of." The district had not contacted him (two days after ejecting him from APS property). He was yet to see a shred of due process. He wrote;

I am very confused, hurt, and angry right now. I feel violated by my employer and disrespected by the administration. I was presumed guilty and treated like a criminal from the beginning without due process. My character is being attacked. My name and reputation are being tarnished, and my career jeopardized. I'm being tried in the court of public opinion before I even know why.

Steve Buford's life will never be the same, regardless of his innocence or guilt.

He continues;

APS has handled whatever this situation is in an irresponsible and reckless manner. As usual, they are creating more fires than they extinguish. My family and I are being unjustly humiliated and attacked by the district. I’ve done nothing wrong and deserve fair treatment. I will be exonerated and hold whoever is responsible for this situation accountable.

He is wrong on that last; he will likely never "hold whoever is responsible for this situation accountable".

At least that has been my experience.

"Never pick a fight with a man who buys his ink by the barrel",
and by logical extension; never pick a fight with administrators
and board members who are friends with a man who can bury
serious complaints against them, deep inside the newspaper,
link, assuming he prints them at all.

Kent Walz, Journal Managing
Editor, covering up the lack of
due process in the administration
of the of the APS.




frame grab Mark Bralley

No video posted since November

Despite the APS school board's commitment to post video of board meetings within three days, the Friday following Wednesday board meetings, they have not.

If you check on their award winning website, link, you'll find they haven't posted a video in more than two months.

... without apology, explanation or excuse.

You missed a great public forum

So did I. I had to watch APS' live stream at home.

The video is supposed to be posted on APS award winning website, Friday.

That's how long it takes two guys and $159K worth of really cool digital electronic recording equipment to make the keystrokes that make it happen.

It's fair to reflect for a moment on the reason why APS doesn't post meeting archives immediately. I am going to suggest it is because they are doing everything the law allows and a little as the law requires, to open government to the oversight of the people.

When it is posted, you will see three people stand up at the podium for the purpose of petitioning their government for redress of their grievance.

The last speaker was a high school student. She came to
complain that the administration at her school was inconsistent
in dealing with teachers. If APS was still giving kids the t-shirt
that read; "stand up for what you believe in, even if your standing alone." she would have earned one for her service above and beyond the student minimum standard; "modeling and promoting the Pillars of Character Counts!".

The first speaker was James "Robbie" Robertson. He came to defend a petition that he and more than 100 other citizens had signed and is being denied due process by the school board.

Within his two minutes, he pointed to his standing, his right to be there; his service in three wars defending his country, his Constitution and his right to petition the government.

The contrast between Robertson and the high school student
could not be greater, yet they both have exactly the same
right to assemble there, to speak freely and to petition the board for redress.

In the middle, in the forum and in this photo, a retired Federal Magistrate Judge, David Walker. He came to defend the same petition for standing for the Citizens Advisory Council on Communication.

The CACoC seeks to create venues for open and honest two-way communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve, on issues of public interest.

The Judge looked APS Supt Winston Brooks in the eyes when recounted his arrest on Brooks' orders for; "... standing mute and holding a sign" protesting the denial of due process for his petition.

After the Public Forum, you will watch Matters of Importance.
The Supt and Board Members have an opportunity to respond to questions that might have been asked despite their explicitly expressed prohibition against the asking of questions.

Mostly they don't; mostly they didn't last night.

Board member David Robbins did. He suggested that the petition might be unworthy because David Peercy's Policy Committee was rewriting board policy, and the policy the petition cited as one of several justifications for advisory committee standing, K.01, link, might be changed and therefore no longer apply. (They just did the same thing when they rewrote school board policy to deny whistle blower complaints due process and their final review).

K/01 reads in significant part;

Citizens Advisory Councils will exist to provide for greater community involvement in the educational planning process.

Without one word of public discussion of the petition, he's suggesting that the CACoC would not serve an "educational planning" function and was on that basis as well, unworthy of standing.

Kathy Korte spoke to the petition. She was not in a good mood. After the board meeting she was on her way to meet with two community groups who are really upset over the board's redistricting decision. Apparently, Lorenzo Garcia was the only board member willing to accompany her to defend their decision.

She is not a big fan of open and honest two-way discussion between APS leadership and interest holders. She actually said, when she talks about involving the community, she doesn't mean involving them (in open and honest two-way communication), she means petitioners like Robertson should, instead of wasting their time with an advisory council,

get a background check", go to a school classroom and volunteer teaching kids how to read

To Korte and the rest, a citizen standing at a public forum, who may or may not get a response and who must then wait another two weeks for another public forum, to do it all over again, is communication enough.

It's not, and it's not her call.

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




photo Mark Bralley

Legislative webcasting - three years later

It has been three years almost
to the day, since Rep Janice
Arnold-Jones carried a webcam
into the Roundhouse.

Before Arnold-Jones kicked in the door on legislative webcasting, there was at least some outrage that New Mexico is among the last few states to begin webcasting.

The obstructionists made some concessions to dampen the outrage, rudimentary coverage of parts of the process and no archive; searchable or otherwise, and now, nobody but the Governor seems to be fighting for the robust webcasting the people deserve.

Until the legislature gets around to providing webcasting and an archive, the Governor has taken it upon herself to create an archive of her own on her website.

Obstructionists point to the potential for the Governor to selectively compile and edit the record; a charge denied by the Governor's pio.

The argument would be moot if the legislature created its own webcasting and archiving.

The people who obstructed webcasting then, obstruct webcasting now.

Sen. Linda Lopez, Chairwoman
of the Senate Rules Committee,
says, if they allow themselves to
be recorded doing the peoples'
business, the truth about how
they are doing it "will be used
for campaigning."

The truth is the truth. It doesn't
make any difference who wants
to see it or why they want to see it.
Either the people have a right to the truth about the spending of their power and resources, or they do not. The line between do and do not is the prerogative of the people, not of their servants.

The Journal reports, link;
"During a Senate hearing this
week, Senate President Pro Tem
Tim Jennings noted the coming and going of a Governor’s Office employee filming the committee and alleged the cameras are intended to 'catch us for political purpose'.”

He says that like it's a bad thing.

Because of the obstruction of Jennings, Lopez and others, there is no robust webcasting to searchable archive.

Lopez argued, “To me, if the governor is going to be doing this,
she should be at every hearing.”

No Senator Lopez, the Governor
should be webcasting the
Executive Branch up to the
limits of the law, and you Senator,
you and the legislature should be
webcasting the legislature.

You mind your business Senator,
and the Governor will by held
accountable for minding hers.

The Journal reports;
"Last year, top-ranking Senate Democrats sponsored a largely symbolic bill that would have required webcasting of Martinez’s Cabinet meetings. Also Senate Democratic leader Michael Sanchez of Belen instructed a staffer to shoot video of the employees filming for the Governor’s Office."

Martinez does not emerge from the Journal article unscathed. Her pio is reported to have disputed the claim that the Governor's Office is selectively editing the record by asserting; "... recently archived videos posted on the website do not appear to be edited." emphasis added

Two too many qualifiers for my taste;

1. "recently archived" Can we infer that the ones "not so recently archived" may have been selectively edited to manipulate the truth?
2. "do not appear to be edited" Is it even possible to create more wiggle room than the words "do not appear" allow?

The people of New Mexico are entitled state of the art webcasting and archiving of politicians and public servants within their public service in the Roundhouse.

The likelihood of ever seeing robust webcasting is remote.
The fire for reform has died down to embers.
Point to a single newspaper, broadcaster or blog complaining
about the fact that three years after webcasting was dropped
into the legislative punchbowl, we still don't have any way
to watch our business being done in the legislature except by
tuning in real time, and only then for some meetings and not others.

And, we don't seem to be getting any closer.




photos Mark Bralley