Open Meetings resolution

The APS Board of Education is poised link to adopt
a resolution link outlining its intentions regarding compliance
with the New Mexico Open Meetings Act.

The purpose of Open Meetings Act requirements
is to ensure that anyone who might want to attend a meeting
is made reasonably aware of an upcoming meeting.

The first place one would reasonably look, would be the district's
piss poor website, one of the most useless and user unfriendly
websites in existence.

But they will not necessarily find the meeting posted there.
The notice may not be posted on the website,
because of qualifying language in the lengthy proposal;

"IT IS FURTHER DETERMINED that
substantial compliance with any one or more of
the foregoing alternatives which may be applicable
is reasonable notice,... " (emphasis added)

Which means that if the board would like to have a meeting
that no one knew about but them, they could advertise the
meeting by means of;

"Posting a notice of the date, time, and place in the
main lobby of the school district administration building ..."

where every interested stakeholder is likely to stumble across it
during the normal course of their day. Right.

Give me a break.

There is no reason in the world, that the board of education
cannot guarantee that notice of meetings, at the very least,
be posted on their website, and a full 24 hours in advance,
a requirement that they now, routinely ignore

regardless of how else, or where else, they post notice.

The APS School Board's part in the cover up

Almost two years ago, a scandal in the APS Police Department
was made public.

Almost two years later, evidence of felony criminal misconduct,
is still being kept from law enforcement.

We are within days of the expiration of statutes of limitation,
and senior APS administrators are about to escape
the consequences of their criminal misconduct.

Board members will argue that they have three,
and only three responsibilities;

1. approve the annual budget,
2. write district policies, and
3. hire a superintendent.

They will probably argue that the cover up of the
APSPD Peanut Butter Gate scandal is beyond their control.

The truth is that, anytime they want to,
they can write a district policy that requires district
administrators to step up to the consequences of their misconduct.

The truth is that, anytime they want to,
they can write a district policy that requires district
administrators to answer legitimate questions
candidly, forthrightly and honestly.


The truth is that, anytime they want to,
the board can write a policy that requires administrators
to held accountable as role models of the student standard
of conduct; a policy which requires administrators to
tell the truth.

They will not.


Several years ago,
I placed a legitimate motion before the APS school board.
It would have created a district policy that would have
required district administrators to tell the truth.

The motion was tabled by Robert Lucero
with the support of the entire board of education.

The Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education;

• Jon Barela
• Marty Esquivel
• Delores Griego
• Mary Lee Martin
• Berna Facio
• Paula Maes, and
• Robert Lucero

is tangentially complicit in an ongoing conspiracy
to cover up public corruption and criminal conspiracy
in the leadership of the APS (PD).

Superintendent Winston Brooks is directly complicit.

Somebody should do something.

Somebody should do something before statutes of limitation
expire, and the good ol' boys who broke the law,
go scot free. wikilink

Blood, sweat, or tears

Edmund Burke first wrote;

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

I would offer;

All that is necessary for every problem with government
to get much worse than they already are,
is for good men to do nothing.

If at the end of the day,
you cannot point to a single drop of your blood, your sweat,
or your tears on the ground,
you have done nothing to fix any of the problems.

It is time to draw a line in the sand and dig in our heels.

It is time to push back on a government no longer under our control.

NMRP Chair Weh disgraces himself one last time

After disgracing himself so thoroughly in Las Cruces
with his abuse the "rule of the gavel", Allen Weh has
apparently decided to continue the slide into personal disgrace
by preventing discussion by the NMRP Central Committee,
of some bonafide and legitimate amendments to
the NM Republican Party Rules, including one which
would put an end to "rule of the gavel" forever.

He has announced that his, will be the only amendment that
will be discussed at an upcoming meeting of
the NMRP Central Committee.

It suspected that he will again try to conduct the meeting
in secret from stakeholders and the press.

Doubly disgraceful in my book.

It occurs to me that the complaint against
NMRP Vice Chairman, Jon Barela still has not seen
a principled resolution.

Make that triply disgraceful.

City of Albuquerque to lay off 500

apparently, the Japanese have invented
a shovel that stands up by itself.

Did you smile? Did you laugh out loud?

The humor you found in that old joke, correlates directly
with your acceptance of the stereotype; that there really are
city workers whose job it is to defend shovels against the will
of gravity.

If you accept that the workers at the bottom of the hierarchy
are unaccountable, then you must also accept that the person
whose job it is to hold them accountable, has not been held
accountable for not holding his subordinates accountable.

You will find that his supervisor has not been held accountable
for not holding him accountable for not holding them accountable, and so on, and so on.

If you follow the chain of command, you will arrive at the office
of the president of the United States, and you will find that
he cannot be held honestly and immediately accountable for
failing to hold subordinates accountable.

It is the nature of public service in these united states*,
and it is the proximate cause for the waste of perhaps 20%
of tax dollars spent by government.

The straightest path to honest and efficient government
is to establish real and meaningful standards of conduct and
competence for public servants, and then to actually enforce
those standards on everyone,
from the guy holding up a shovel four hours a day,
to the office of the president.



*

The possible exception to this scenario would could be the
military, where there is apparently some real accountability.

Because the military have actual standards of conduct and
competence, and for the most part, they actually enforce them.

On; (Alb Journal) newspaper editorial writers

"All newspaper editorial writers ever do is to
come down from the hills after the battle is over
and shoot the wounded."

unk, from
The Third and Possibly the Best 637 Things Anybody Ever Said
selected and compiled by Robert Byrne

The generation now in school will be the first

in the history of the United States to leave the system
less well educated than their parents.

The system is failing.

It is failing in part because it has not changed with the times.
It is virtually unchanged in a world that is greatly changed.

The systemic intransigence is due in part to the resistance
of the incompetent and the corrupt, who fight the necessary
systemic changes because those changes would,
among other things,

expose their corruption and their incompetence.


For example;

• complete and absolute transparency,
• meaningful standards of conduct and competence, and
• honest accountability at every level in the system.

the same changes that politicians eschew with as great a vigor.

Testing the character of APS administrators and Board Members

Curious about whether or not any particular administrator or
board member is a person of character and courage?

Ask him or her, whether or not they would be willing to
hold themselves honestly accountable as a role model
of the Student Standard of Conduct,
for the few hours each day the they enforce that standard
of conduct upon students.

If they say yes,
then they are a person of character and courage.

If they say no, then obviously, they are not.

Any answer except yes, means no.

No, is not an acceptable answer to that question

• from the senior most public servants in the APS, and
• from the senior most stewards of the public trust and treasure in the APS, and
  
• certainly not from the senior most role models in the APS.

There is no reason to eschew accountability as a role model,
except a lack of character and courage.

If there were, someone could point to it.
If there were, someone would point to it.

An additional and equally effective test question;

Would you support an immediate, impartial, full scale,
forensic audit of the entire leadership of the APS?

Any answer except yes, means no.


There is no reason to oppose an audit except to protect the corrupt and the incompetent from the consequences of their corruption and their incompetence.

No one in the leadership of the APS has anything to fear from an audit, except the corrupt and the incompetent.

If there were any good and ethical reason at all
not to commence an administrative accountability audit
someone could point to it;

someone would point to it.

There are people in the leadership of the APS who read this blog

Some, because I email a courtesy copy of a post.
Some, because I have given them notice by email
of their opportunity to explain, defend, or deny an allegation.

For example;

I allege that, there is no one in the leadership of the APS
who has the character and the courage to be a role model
of the APS Student Standard of Conduct.

And that there is no reason for them to eschew accountability
to the student standard of conduct, except that

• they are corrupt and/or incompetent,
• an enabler of corruption and incompetence,
  out of indifference,
  
• or, they lack the courage to stand up and be counted.

Now if I were an APS administrator or board member
who has been alleged to be lacking in character or courage
I would defend my honor. I would not let the allegation go
without rebuttal.

If I were accused of lacking character and courage because
I have not stood up in support of an accountability audit

and I had a good and ethical reason for not having stood up,

why wouldn't I post it, anonymously or otherwise,
as a comment on this post?

Someone give me a good and ethical reason that an accused
administrator or board member would not respond by means
of a comment on this post?


There is no good and ethical reason not to audit.

There is no good and ethical excuse for not standing up to demand one.

Is there is any other reason why anyone in the leadership of
the APS will not stand up in favor of an audit,

except that they lack the character and the courage.


If there is any other reason at all, post it here, now.


cc Winston Brooks; @ superintendent.aps.edu
School Board Members; @ board.aps.edu

APS Board sez "no" to role modeling

Below find my presentation during the public forum.
The leadership of the APS declined to be held honestly
accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct.

Before you is a pamphlet entitled
CHARACTER IS THE HEART OF NEW MEXICO

You sanction it, you are accountable for its contents.

Turn please to inside panel three.

You will find eight requirements for engaging students on
their character.

You will notice number two which reads, in significant part;

“… students need to see adults “walk their talk.”

It is time to walk your talk.

Immediately following the public forum, during
"Matters of Information", you have the opportunity
to speak about what ever you want,
for as long as you want.

As a matter of information,
I would like to know whether you intend to
hold yourself honestly accountable as a role model
of the student standard of conduct.

A simple yes, or no will do.

Yes you are willing to be held honestly accountable
as a role model of the Pillars of Character Counts!

or

No, you are not.

You are not willing to accept accountability as a role model
of the student standard of conduct.

I would suggest, that any answer except yes, means no.

I would suggest, that stonewalling means no;

and is prohibited by the student standard of conduct
because it is dishonest, and therefore, unethical.

There are a number of students in the boardroom this
evening (two dozen?)

You require students to respond to legitimate questions,
by answering candidly, forthrightly, and honestly.

Will you or will you not now
show them what that looks like?

During the "Matters of Information", they chose one and all,
to not answer the simple, and absolutely legitimate question.

Which means; no.

My thinking has been challenged.

There is agreement that the issues are character and courage.

The disagreement centers on my expectations regarding courage.

I have written many times about the culture of fear of retribution
and retaliation in the leadership of the APS.

I know first hand what happens to those who stand up
in favor of honest accountability for administrative role models.

Any administrator who stands up for a standards and accountability audit will pay for their insubordination.

Life's a bitch.

Michael Josephson wrote;

If it were easy, everyone would do it.

Truth is,
as soon as a few people stand up,
everyone will stand up in a rush not be be the last,
and no one will be retaliated against.

The corrupt and the incompetent will be in no position
to exact revenge on anyone.


I stand by my demand for men and women of character
in the leadership of the APS, to stand up and be counted.

After all, it is they who decided to have us give kids a tee shirt,
that on its front and back read;

Stand up for what you believe in,
Even if you are standing alone.

A student struggling to do the right thing in the APS
should have an adult behind them, offering their support,
an adult beside them, to share their burden,
and an adult in front of them, showing them what it looks like,

leading, by their own personal example.

"Students need to see adults "walk the talk"."

That truth is repeated verbatim, in a pamphlet that the leadership of the APS distributes to stakeholders.

The pamphlet is entitled;

CHARACTER IS THE HEART OF NEW MEXICO

The leadership of the APS represents that the pamphlet
reflects the truth about what is going on in the APS.

Instead, the pamphlet deliberately misrepresents the truth.
It is dishonest by the very standards it purports.

The leadership of the APS has no intention of "walking the talk".
Never has, never will.

They removed the role modeling clause from their own standard of conduct. They are no longer required to hold themselves accountable as role models of the student standard of conduct. They struck the words which used to read;

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

The Student Standard of Conduct is the Pillars of Character Counts!
It is a nationally recognized, accepted, and respected code of ethical conduct.

Students, according to the APS Student Behavior Handbook, are required

" ... to model and promote
the Pillars of Character Counts!"

Their most senior role models are not required by their
code of conduct, to model anything at all,
much less a higher standard of conduct than the law.

Not any more.

Not since they struck the role modeling clause from their own code of conduct.

The truth is that there is not a single "leader" in the entire APS who is willing to hold themselves honestly accountable to the same standard of conduct that they enforce upon students; not even for the few hours a day that they hold students accountable to that standard.

That simple truth is central to every problem in the APS.

There is no legitimate agenda that does not move forward on the day that these public servants find themselves honestly accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence.

There are only three kinds of administrators in the APS;

1. the corrupt and incompetent,
   
2. those with guilty knowledge of corruption and incompetence,and
3. those who are standing up demanding an immediate, impartial, full scale audit of standards, accountability, corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APS.
   

So far, group three is empty and likely to remain so.
Ergo, there really are only two kinds of administrators;

1. the corrupt and incompetent, and
2. those who are not themselves corrupt and incompetent,
   except for the fact that they tolerate and enable corruption, incompetence, and the on going betrayal of the public trust because they lack the character and the courage to stand up for what they believe in.

An administrator, or school board member in either group,
is reasonably disqualified to be a role model for
89,000 of our sons and daughters, and 12,000 employees.

Any administrator who does not qualify as a role model, especially if it is by their own deliberate choice, has no business assuming the role of role model in the APS.

They should resign or be fired.



Character counts in the leadership of the APS?
Right, and a pint of Häagen-Dazs serves four.

School board minutes are inaccurate

APS video tapes its board meetings. There really is no reason
why those video tapes cannot be the official minutes;
except that they represent the incontrovertible truth.

Instead, someone, I'm not sure who, is tasked with creating
an anecdotal and subjective impression of what happened.

I submit as evidence, the minutes which will be approved
at the meeting tonight. link

My public forum presentation, where I again asked
the leadership to set a time, a day, and a place where they
will answer any legitimate questions, candidly, forthrightly,
and honestly, was cleaned up before public dissemination.

The anecdotal impression reads;

Charles MacQuigg asked the APS Board of Education
to find a place, time, and date when it will address
the issue of Character Counts.

Close, but not the actual truth. It lacks the punch of the
actual presentation.

I cannot challenge the accuracy of the minutes because
the leadership of the APS will not allow their minutes to be
challenged; they approve them before the public forum begins,
and they will not allow public comment before the public forum.

This is problematic, because in their invitation to the community
to participate in the forum, they invite people to speak to a specific
agenda item if they so choose; except that they will not
allow anyone to speak on the record against two specific items;
approval of the agenda, and approval of minutes.

They did this in my opinion, because the board room is full
of all of the people that they are honoring at each meeting,

and they want them all to leave the room before
the public forum begins.

It is patently dishonest,
and par for the course.

There is a board meeting tonight, and the agenda still isn't posted.

The agenda will include a public forum,
and your opportunity to stand up to demand meaningful
standards of conduct and competence, and
honest accountability to those standards.

Meeting starts at 5 pm, the public forum usually begins
about 5:30.

If you want to speak at the forum, you must sign up before
5 pm.

If not you, then who?
If not now, then when?

Journal editors grow a pair.

Today, they are rightfully upset that a student has fallen
victim to arbitrary and capricious decision making by a high
school principal. link

Jo Ann Coffee is the same principal who let APS tennis courts
be used exclusively by the husband a fellow principal for his
personal business. link

I wish I knew what it would take to get the Journal editors
to be upset about the leadership of the APS simply deciding
that they would no longer be held accountable as role models.

As proven when they removed from their own standard of conduct, the phrase and the expectation that;

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

APS Board Meeting Wednesday, December 3

The agenda was not posted today on the APS website.

They are required by law to post an agenda
for 24 hours before the meeting.

Oops, their bad.

Journal Editors write kudos for APS leadership

The editors wrote kudos wikilink to Winston Brooks this morning link.

The editors are rightly impressed that APS fired their Director of Internal Audits, Michael Kimbrell without months of administrative leave, a pay off, or any of the other nonsense that normally surrounds the firing of an APS senior administrator.

I agree.

Unfortunately, a firing of this type is a fluke,
and no one can point to a similar firing.

An optimist might see this as new beginning.

Their steadfast refusal to name a time, a day, and a place,
where the leadership of the APS will respond to legitimate
questions; candidly, forthrightly, and honestly,

and their steadfast refusal to stand up as role models of the
student standard of conduct; a nationally recognized, accepted,
and respected code of ethical conduct,

paints the real situation in its true colors.


The Journal editors chose not to mention the fact that
the firing was kept secret from stakeholders by Winston Brooks,
and that the only reason we know about it at all is because
Larry Barker broke the story, and only after APS spent
a month jerking him around on the surrender of public records
(the pictures taken by the APSPD) . link

photo Mark Bralley link

cc Winston Brooks upon posting.

APS' SilentWhistle

There is an article in the Journal this morning. The Journal
has not provided a link. It is on page B2, and is entitled;

"Report APS activity with SilentWhistle."(one word)

The gist of it is;

People who have information about possible illegal, unethical or inappropriate activities within the APS can report same to SilentWhistle, who will then relay the information to the APS Internal Audit Department.

The immediate problems are;

1. There is no code of ethical conduct to be violated. The leadership of the APS steadfastly refuses to point to a code of ethics to which they will be held accountable; not even the Student Standard of Conduct, which is an ethical code of conduct.
2. SilentWhistle then shoots the complaint back to the good ol' boys. It goes directly to the now thoroughly discredited Internal Audit Department, to be adjudicated by someone who is not too busy playing slots or watching porn. It creates a blatant appearance of a conflict of interest -APS' stock and trade.
   

So beside the fact that there are no rules to break, and
beside the fact that good ol' boys will (not) be actually
holding themselves accountable for their misconduct,

what is left, but another deliberate deception about standards
and accountability in the leadership of the APS?

I will file a complaint with the Journal over their misrepresentation, for what ever good that will do. Emailed upon posting, to accuracy@abqjournal.com.

Dear Sir or Ma'am,

On page B2, you have a story; Report APS activity with SilentWhistle

The story mistakenly implies that APS enforces a code of ethics.

If you investigate this at all, you will find that the APS
does not have a code of ethics, to which they admit accountability.

ched macquigg

Mary Lee Martin is kaput.

If Mary Lee Martin is inclined to run for re-election to her
seat on the school board, she will find that she is up against
some stiff competition;

David L. Robbins
www.ImproveAPS.com link

When asked if he would hold himself honestly accountable
as a role model of the student standard of conduct,
he answered yes, emphatically, and without hesitation.

Update; Robbins, once elected, morphed into a sniveling coward and reneged on his promise.

Mary Lee Martin won't answer at all;
which means; no.



cc. Mary Lee Martin upon posting.

Different strokes for different folks.

There are at least some public forums, where if you want to speak, you just join the line, and if there is time permitting,
you get to speak.

The APS board requires that you sign up before the meeting
and enforces that rule vigorously.

I can only suppose that it limits the number of people who
can speak, and specifically to those who can get off of their
work early enough to sign up.

If there is a good and ethical reason, it escapes me.