What good is a principle, if no one is willing to die over it?

Sacrifice is the currency of commitment.

You can say that you are committed to a principle,
but unless you can show us some of your blood, your sweat,
or your tears on the ground,

it is just "talk" about your commitment to the principle.

I submit as a principle worth dying for,
the hill upon which I am willing to die;

It is critically important that we show children
by our personal example,
what character and courage and honor look like.

And further,

Any educator that refuses to be held accountable
as a role model, is a threat to the ethical well being
of 89,000 of our sons and daughters in the APS.

Am I really the only person that cares about character counting in the APS?



The sacrifice you need to make on behalf of your belief that character counts, is to show up at the public forum at the APS School Board meeting, next Wednesday. You need to get there before 5pm in order to sign up to speak at the public forum.

You need to tell them that you expect them to explain, defend, or deny the fact that they removed the role modeling clause from their own code of conduct.

They struck the language which read;

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

This is a hill worth dying on.



Else,
explain to me in words that any student can understand,


... why you will not.

How many tax dollars are actually missing?

I have suggested on a number of occasions that,
the lack of standards, accountability, and record keeping
in the APS Finance Division reported by the Meyners
auditors have cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

APS will not respond, which illuminates a few possibilities;

1. the figure is correct, and millions have been lost or stolen, or
2. the number is even greater than I imagined; tens of millions.

The third possibility; that my estimate is too high,
would, you would think, generate some kind of response
from the APS; they would point to a lower amount.

They haven't pointed to a lower amount,
so apparently if the number is lower,
it isn't lower enough to bring them any relief.

One would think that as taxpayers,
we have a right to know the truth about the cost to taxpayers
of the incompetence and corruption in the APS Finance Division.

Monica Armenta's first anniversary passed without notice.

It has occurred to me that Monica Armenta's first anniversary
as the Executive Director of the APS Communications, came
and went without notice. She came into her position in June 2007.

In the following year,
she was paid $105K, at more than $50/hr and a million or so
more dollars were spent by the department as a whole,
"communicating" with stakeholders.

Let's take a look at the last year's communication.
The community still doesn't know;

• the truth about the Peanut Butter Gate scandal in the APS Police Department,
• that APS still has not surrendered evidence of felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators,
• that the upcoming expiration of statutes of limitation which will allow the good ol' boys to escape accountability for their misconduct in the APSPD scandal,
• the truth about connections between vendors that supported the administrative soiree at the Inn of the Mountain Gods, and the benefits they received in the form of lucrative APS contracts, link
  
• the truth about the student militia that was formed at Manzano HS to curb student fighting during lunch periods,
• why the leadership of the APS will not conduct an impartial administrative accountability audit that would expose corruption, incompetence and the practices that enable them,
• the administrative leaves of the former CFO and the subordinate who filed sexual harassment charges against him,
• students are in charge at schools, because the District has no written discipline philosophy, not even a bad one,
• one of the least user friendly websites on the planet,
• spending at the Uptown Complex, specifically on the still unjustified board room,
• the abysmal failure of Character Counts! in the APS, despite national success of the program,
• the truth about the relationship between the APS and the Modrall law firm, and their litigation against the public interests, in excepting APS senior administrators and board members from accountability to the law,
• the truth about Grade Gate,
• the truth about the principal shuffle,
• the truth about the lack of meaningful standards of conduct and competence for administrators and board members,
• the lack of any system that guarantees a principled resolution of any complaint made against an administrator,
• that auditors revealed a "culture of fear of retribution and retaliation" against anyone who files a complaint anyway,
• the lack of standards, accountability, and record keeping in the Finance Division,
• and the millions of tax dollars missing as the result,
• the real truth about the Meyners Audit,
• that the Director of Internal Audits was fired a month after he was vetted for, and promoted to, one of the highest ranking slots in the APS.
• the truth about the cancellation of fire safety inspections in schools, to free up money to build a fancy new board room outfitted with the finest electronic wizardry,
• the damage done to APS bond rating by the Meyners Audit results, and the cost to tax payers,
• the promotion of two subordinates in the APS Finance Division, who never blew the whistle on the irregularities in the Finance Division, to positions from which a cover up could be mounted,

The point is; if the question, or the answer, are inconvenient
Monica Armenta will not respond candidly, forthrightly and
honestly. She will not respond at all.

None of them will.

Journal finally covers APS Audit Director Scandal

The Journal has finally covered the story link, that
Larry Barker broke four days ago. link

The essential elements are there, except that no mention
was made of the fact the he was not just an "auditor" but
that he was actually the Director of Internal Audits, and
had just been vetted for and promoted to that position barely
one month before.

Neither did the Journal report that Kimbrell, who had
worked in the APS Finance Division for some 15 years and
never blew the whistle on any of the irregularities that were
identified in the Meyners Audit, and which
have likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

I stumbled onto Winston Brooks

He was being interviewed on govt tv by City Councilor,
Michael Cadigan.

The question was about APS' image in the community.

Winston Brooks was saying that he thought the Journal was giving the APS fair press and not just reporting on the bad things.

But, he said, APS' image still suffers because,
sometimes the bad news will "get out".

"get out", as in;
"get out", even though they tried their darndest
to keep it from "getting out",
"get out" even though they tried their darndest
to keep stakeholders from learning the "bad" truth.

For example;

Brooks never intended to tell the community that
he had to fire the Director of Internal Audits,
a month after he vetted him for, and promoted him to,
one of the highest positions in the APS Finance Division.



But it "got out" anyway; thanks to KRQE's Larry Barker.

And now everyone knows that he was hiding the truth,
again.

And the image of the leadership of the APS suffers for it,
again.

The Game Plan

There are standards, and there is accountability.

Given;

standards must be meaningful, and
accountability must be inescapable.

And that;

although it is in the public best interest for public servants
to be inescapably accountable to meaningful standards
of conduct and competence, they are not.

And further that;

for all practical intents and purposes, it is impossible
to change that reality by any imaginable means.

On the other hand,

it is at least within the realm of possibility, that by means of
public pressure, role models could be held accountable as
role models of a higher standard of conduct than the law.

If the school board could be held accountable as role models,
they would at once, be accountable as public servants as well.

Having set a precedent;

that public servants can actually be held accountable
to meaningful standards of conduct and competence,

public pressure could move to the next least powerful body
of public servants; perhaps the mayor and city council,

and then the county commission,

and then the governor and state legislature,

and then who knows; maybe the president and congress.


It all begins with holding the first body of public servants
honestly accountable to a higher standard of conduct than the law;

which is the lowest standard of conduct among civilized people,

and is which is on its face,
wholly inadequate for protecting the public interests,

from corrupt and incompetent public servants.




The second body will be easier, the third, easier still.

"It takes great courage to speak out loud

about things which on the quiet are known to everybody." unk

The significance of the secrecy.

APS fired a senior administrator without giving him a few hundred thousand dollars to leave quietly.

This is actually a step forward for the leadership of the APS.
This is in fact, the first time in my memory, that they fired
a senior administrator on the spot, and didn't soften the firing
with a cushion of cash.

Stakeholder faith in the leadership of the APS would have grown.

Why then, did they keep the firing secret until Larry Barker
got wind of it and exposed the whole thing to the light of day? link

Is this just the knee jerk reaction; the first inclination of
the leadership of the APS when the shit hits the fan? link

APS Deputy Superintendent Tom Savage's first order
to employees after the scandal in the APS Police Department
came to light, was to order employees to keep their mouths shut.

If one's top priority is always to keep a lid on things,
one's top priority cannot also be to fix the problems
on which, the lid must be kept.

The leadership of the APS had a chance to improve their
reputation with stakeholders. They had a chance to prove
to stakeholders that there really are consequences for even
senior administrators in the APS. And they blew it.

There is only one reason not to tell the truth.
And that is when the truth is worse than the lie.
Winston Brooks' administration still assigns the top priority
to keeping the truth from stakeholders.

And we cannot trust people who's top priority is to
keep us from finding out the inconvenient truth.

They had a chance to be honest with stakeholders, and
they chose instead to see if they could fire the second in
command in a Division in turmoil, without anyone noticing.



They failed, and now they look as bad as they ever have.

Worse;

if that is even possible.

You should read this, I think

It is an essay by blogger Heath Haussamen link
on the need for ethics reform in government.

This isn't going to end until enough people are willing
to go some where, some time, to do some thing.

A bunch of us.

Too many of us to ignore.


It is beyond naive, it is beyond even stupid, to suppose that
the good ol' boys are going to put themselves out of business.

Or that they can be put out of business at election.

Our servants are in rebellion, they are out of our control.

This will get done by us, or it will not get done at all.

All of us some where, some time, to do some thing,

together.



May I suggest ? a rather powerless pustule of arrogance;
the leadership of the APS.

Public servants who think
they can stonewall legitimate questions
about the public interests in the APS.

And get away with it.

"Silence gives consent." unk

Unless you cannot move,
it is time that you did.

The vetting of Michael Kimbrell

In June of 2008, APS Director of Internal Audits,
Michael Kimbrell was fired from the APS when it was
discovered that he was spending most of his work day
watching porn and playing slots. link

One month before that, Kimbrell had been promoted to the
position of Director of Internal Audits.

The leadership of the APS supposedly thoroughly "vetted"
Mr. Kimbrell. Presumably, Winston Brooks, or whomever,
carefully and thoroughly examined Kimbrell's character and
competence before promoting him to the second most senior
position in the APS Finance Division.

Unless you choose to believe that Kimbrell's penchant for
porn and slots, cropped up in the month between his vetting,
promotion, and then his firing,

APS' vetting process obviously leaves a lot to be desired.

The vetting process that preceded his promotion to one of the
highest ranking positions in the APS, also missed the fact that,
although Kimbrell worked in the division for 15 years,
he either remained unaware of all of the irregularities cited by
the Meyners auditors, irregularities that have likely cost
taxpayers millions of dollars, or he chose to ignore them.

Michael Kimbrell never blew the whistle on the corruption and
incompetence, of which he must surely have been aware.

APS' vetting process was evaluated by investigators from the
Council of the Great City Schools. They found that
administrators were being promoted with
no objective evaluation of their competence to do the jobs
into which they are promoted.

The CotGCS auditors wrote;

Administrative evaluations are subjective and
unrelated to promotion and step placement.

Now you have to ask yourself; if APS' vetting process for appointment to senior administrative slots failed stakeholders so badly in the case of Michael Kimbrell,

how many other administrative slots have been filled by men and women who have not proven by any objective evaluation process, that they are in any way qualified to do their jobs?

APS Chief Financial Officer Gina Hickman is a product of
this same vetting process. Did she have to explain, as part of
that process, why she never blew the whistle on any of the
problems cited by Meyners auditors?

An honest administrative standards and accountability audit
will reveal the names of every corrupt and incompetent
administrator in the APS.

APS' own vetting process clearly will not.

I'm glad that Senator Domenici's health has improved.

The Journal reports that Senator Pete Domenici's prognosis has improved considerably. link

Perhaps the Founding Father of Character Counts! can summon the strength to go to a board meeting and protect his Foundchild from the dearth of character and courage in the leadership of the APS.

The leadership of the APS have renounced any personal accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts! even during the few hours a day that they hold students accountable to that nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethics.

Perhaps Senator Domenici would like to at least make a public statement about his reaction to the fact that the leadership of the APS steadfastly refuses to hold themselves honestly accountable as role models of the Pillars of Character Counts!


And while were at it, where is
Character Counts (Q) Founding Father Marty Chavez?

Why isn't Mayor Marty Chavez defending Character Counts! as means of bringing honest accountability to the leadership of the APS?


It is my firm belief that Pete Domenici is fully aware of
this problem and chooses to do nothing about it; in effect,
Founding Father Domenici has abandoned his Foundchild.

It is my belief that the same applies to Marty Chavez.

Truth be told, Heather Wilson knows about it as well,
the only difference between her and them is that
she has never claimed to be a Founding Parent.


also among the no shows with guilty knowledge of the facts;

The APS Character Counts! Leadership Council,
A council who membership is still secret, and
which was led by Paula Maes.

It looks like the council was formed in order to get some kind of federal grant, with Pete Domenici's help. Like I said, the membership is secret and no body will answer any questions about the money, including Pete Domenici's office.

Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce President,Teri Coles,
a huge supporter of Character Counts! until she was asked
to do something about the APS mess.

Founding Father Michael Josephson was asked to help
to bring some attention to the betrayal of Character Counts!
by the leadership of the APS.

He declined. He doesn't dirty his hands with local squabbles.
It's just not the way he rolls.

and

"Why are we surprised when the Fig tree bears figs?" unk

Does your APS board member vote?

I am always intently interested when votes are taken at board meetings.

They rarely have a roll call vote.
Robert Lucero is want to call for one if he wants to punctuate
his position on some issue or another.

In a voice vote, the chair demands;

all in favor say, I.

And then;

all opposed, same sign.

I watch their lips.

I swear that I have seen board members not vote at all
on more than one occasion.

I won't say who because I don't trust my eyesight,
and because they usually face down when they vote.
I might be wrong.

But I'm pretty sure that I'm not.

I think that if roll call votes are such a bother
that they won't use them,

perhaps they could meet stakeholders half way, and
at least raise their hands.


All in favor, say I.

Tony Hillerman Middle School

The board met twice Tuesday morning in back to back meetings.

In the first they approved a slightly rewritten policy covering
the process for naming schools. The policy guarantees that
stakeholders can participate meaningfully in the process.

In the second, they ignored the process that they had just
approved, and went ahead named the new west side
middle school after Tony Hillerman.

This is classic APS behavior; write rules and policies, and
then ignore them at will.

Board Member Delores Griego cast the lone vote against naming the school without following the process.










Board Member Robert Lucero can claim credit for pushing the immediate naming, despite the agreed upon, and then ignored, process for involving student stakeholders.


photos Mark Bralley link

A full scale, forensic accountability audit of the entire leadership of the APS

I have been asked to explain what I mean by the term "forensic audit".

I began with a Google to collect my thoughts and I decided upon;

Forensic; used or applied in the investigation and
establishment of facts or evidence,
appropriate for courts of law, or for public discussion
or argumentation.

Governor Bill Richardson said as recently as the last bond issue and mill levy elections, that the leadership of the APS has a state wide earned reputation for their lack of accountability.

Mayor Martin Chavez sees the accountability issue in the leadership of the APS as so profound, as to justify direct mayoral appointment of board members.

The Council of the Great City Schools auditors wrote that,

Administrative evaluations in the APS are subjective
and unrelated to promotion or step placement.

Those same auditors wrote that,

Anyone who filed any kind of complaint against a senior
administrator would would fall victim to
a "... culture of fear of retribution and retaliation..."

Every independent audit of the leadership of the APS
has reported significant problems with standards and accountability.

The leadership of the APS has never allowed any audit
of the conduct and competence of any senior admistrator
above the level of a Director.

The public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the
APS Police Department was laid on the Director,
and no mention was made at all of the senior administrator
that allowed that corruption to go on for ever.

The mess in the Finance Division was laid on a director.
No mention has been made of the senior administrator
that allowed that mess to go on for ever.

The Meyners Audit reported that billions of tax dollars have been spent

• without adequate standards, and
• without actual accountability, and
• without keeping adequate and complete records.

Barring a miracle of biblical proportion;
millions of tax dollars have been squandered or stolen.

The leadership of the APS refuses to respond to any questions
about any criminal misconduct that Meyners auditors
have exposed.

There is a reason that APS senior administrators are never fired,
except that they leave with a bunch of public funding for "education".

Gil Lovato got a half a year of administrative leave,
Micheal Vigil left with about a quarter of a million,
Brad Allison left with a bunch; and there are more. link

APS School Board President Paula Maes stood on the record in an open board meeting and said that she

... would never allow any audit that would name
the names of individual APS senior administrators
like for example; Tom Savage."

Almost two years later, the evidence of public corruption and
criminal conspiracy in the APS Police Department,
still has not been surrendered to law enforcement.
Statutes of limitation are about to expire, and good ol' boys
are going to get away with felony criminal misconduct, scot free.

There is no one in the entire leadership of the APS who will stand on the record and explain why they are obstructing an immediate, impartial standards and accountability audit that reports the public record.

The need for an impartial audit that reports to the public record
is incontrovertible.

Therefore; when I ask for a "forensic audit",

I mean an audit where the auditors work for the people,
and not for the people being audited.

I mean a standards and accountability audit;

1. Are there meaningful standards of conduct and competence for the senior public servants in the APS? and
2. Is there honest accountability to those standards under an impartial system powerful enough to hold even the most powerful public servants accountable, even against their will?

I mean an audit that reports to the public record.

I mean an audit that would make it impossibly difficult
to hide corruption and incompetence.

I mean an audit that would make it impossibly difficult
for APS senior administrators and board members
who have betrayed the public trust,

to continue to hide their names from public knowledge.

APS' Character Counts! Conundrum

Conundrum;

"A paradoxical, insoluble, or difficult problem; a dilemma."

The leadership of the APS handouts out a pamphlet entitled;

CHARACTER IS THE HEART OF NEW MEXICO

In one place in the pamphlet, the importance of role modeling
is thoroughly substantiated.

In another, the Pillar of Trustworthiness is outlined
including the tenet of honesty.

In the past, the leadership of the APS had a role modeling clause in their code of conduct. it read;

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

The language bound them as role models
of the student standard of conduct.
It was removed; deliberately, and with forethought.

Someone in the leadership of the APS has to summon
the character and the courage to be a role model
of the Pillar of Trustworthiness,
including the requirement to be honest,

about why they have abdicated
as role models of the student standard of conduct.

They have to role model the character and the courage
to explain, defend, or deny,
that they have excepted themselves from accountability
as role models of the student standard of conduct.

You see their paradoxical, insoluble, and difficult problem;
their dilemma?

They are damned if they do, and they are damned if they don't.

The worst part of the latest APS scandal

Michael Kimbrell spent a lot of hours watching porn and
playing slot machines, while he was being paid tax dollars
to be protecting taxpayers from exactly this kind of corruption.

"As KRQE ... investigative reporter Larry Barker found out,
it seemed no one was watching the watchdog." link

That's bad enough, but it is at most; manifest
human weakness.

On the other hand, and far worse;
the system did not prevent or even detect the corruption.

Were it not for a whistle blower,
he would still be playing slots and watching porn on our dime.

If the system enables this kind of corruption and incompetence,
if the system did not detect corruption on this scale,
how can we expect the system to detect corruption at all?


This scandal flows from a lack of standards and accountability
in the leadership of the APS.

A standards and accountability audit would end corruption
and incompetence once and for all.

Too bad that the ones with the power to start the audit,
are the same ones who will be destroyed by it.

Otherwise, there would be an audit.

An apology to Jon Barela

Jon Barela and I had a very interesting discussion this morning after the policy committee meeting.

Our meeting began with an air clearing.

Jon Barela took umbrage with my use of the word "homie"
a previous post link.

I have apologized to him in person, and apologize now in public,
for my ill advised use of the term.

Beyond that, Jon Barela still impresses me as one of the most competent board members in board history. He is knowledgeable, articulate, and runs a meeting more efficiently than anyone in my memory.

Now if we could just get together on the whole
"administrative role modeling of the student standard of conduct" thing.

APS Offices Can't Be Called Spartan

It is a matter of perspective.

Jolene Gutierrez Krueger's Journal headline link read;

"APS Offices Can't Be Called Luxe"

(luxurious, elegant, sumptuous deluxe)

Mine reads;

APS Offices Can't Be Called Spartan

(simple, frugal, austere, rigorously self-disciplined or self-restrained)

One could argue that,
for as long as there are classrooms with paint peeling off the walls,

there should not be administrative offices with custom
hardwood paneling on theirs.



It's all in your perspective.

There is no legitimate agenda that does not move forward

on the day that public servants, within their public service,

are finally honestly accountable
to meaningful standards of conduct and competence,

by an impartial system, powerful enough
to hold them accountable even against their will.


There is no downside, except for those who's record
of public service, is one of incompetence and/or corruption.

Only good could come

If either Bob Clark, or Jim Villanucci wanted to,
they could get hundreds, maybe thousands of people to go
to a board meeting to demand that the leadership of the APS
invite stakeholders to a town hall meeting
where they will answer any legitimate question
candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.


If they wanted to.


Where's the downside?


Except for those in the leadership of the APS
who's record of conduct and competence as a public servant
must be hidden from public knowledge.