Who owns the truth; an illustrative example.

Bird strikes. Every year, birds and planes collide.

Sometimes, planes crash; people die. link

The FAA keeps statistics on bird strikes. They can tell you how
likely it is that you will be injured or killed. There are airports
that are considerably more dangerous than others.

Some people might want to consider the danger when they
fly. But the truth has not been told to stakeholders.

Some government bureaucrat decided not to tell the truth,
"because it might alarm people".

Travelers have a right to the truth. It is their decision whether
to become alarmed or not. It their choice whether to fly or not
based on their alarm.

The FAA refused to release these records and it took a great
deal of pressure in order to see non-exempt public records.link

You shouldn't have to fight your government, for the truth.

You shouldn't have to prove your right to the truth in order to
see it, the government should have to prove that you have no
right to it, before they can refuse to tell it to you.

Tax day "tea party" was practice.

A blogger friend wants to write about the tax day tea party,
but is struggling to figure out what it really was; what were
they protesting? Obama, the stimulus package, taxes, what?

An editorial in the Las Cruces Sun-News link, proceeded on
the assumption that the tea party was a rally against excessive
taxes, and then went on to wonder, where were the tax
protesters when a meeting was held five days later, to decide
whether or not to raise taxes in Las Cruces even higher.

I would offer that the tea party was practice. We are practicing
an end run around a system which is unresponsive to traditional
methods of stakeholder input; largely limited to voting for or
against people or plans, every few years or so.

I have often argued that the systemic ills will not be remedied
through election. If the process of election had the power to
end corruption and incompetence in government, both would
have ended centuries ago, the first time people voted to retain
or replace the incumbents.

The simple truth is that the system cannot be repaired by
using the system. The system has fine tuned itself over time,
to be responsive only to the heavy hitters that are part of the
system. And if they have different agendas than the people,
it is their agendas which prevail; and they really cannot be
voted out at the next election.

We have no choice but to work around the system to fix the
system. And we practiced that on tax day. Tens of thousands,
perhaps hundreds of thousands of folks turned up on city
sidewalks to practice taking back control over power and
resources that are fundamentally their own.

They were unsuccessful, and will continue to be unsuccessful,
because they have no leaders. They have no one to tell them
what to do next. No one told them to show up at the meeting
where the agenda included a discussion of raising taxes.

Typically, the newspaper editors didn't step up to lead.
There was no editorial before the tax hearing, encouraging
attendance and participation in the meeting. The editors only
stepped up after it was too late to influence the outcome of the
meeting. They only stepped up to criticizing those who did not
attend.

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

If leaders don't step up soon, it will be too late.
It might well be too late, already.

Was the tea party a flash in the pan? Could be.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were the last tea party
that we will ever see.

The coward David Peercy

Policy Committee Chair,
David Peercy,
has the authority to put
standards and accountability
on the table at the next
Policy Committee Meeting,
Tuesday April 28, 7:30 am.

He has the authority to enable
an open and honest discussion
of administrative and executive
role modeling of the student
standards of conduct.


He will not.


Because he is a coward; at the absolute least.
Perhaps he is corrupt as well.

There are only two reasons not to step up to honest accountability to meaningful standards of conduct and competence;

• lack of character, and
• lack of courage.

If there is a third reason, I cannot imagine it.
And no one else can articulate it.

No one else. No one in the entire leadership of the APS,
can offer a good and ethical reason for refusing to allow an
open and honest discussion of standards and accountability.

They cannot, because there is none.

There is no reason to refuse to tell the truth about standards
and accountability in the leadership of the APS except

• a lack of courage,
• a lack of character, or
• both.

cc David Percy, of course.




photo Mark Bralley

UPDATE; as of 5/25/11, administrative and executive role modeling of the student standards of conduct still has not been put on the table for open and honest public discussion. David Peercy is still a coward.

APS graduation rates are falling; or, they are rising; or, maybe they're not changing at all.

In the Journal this morning, link, education reporter
Andrea Schoellkopf reports that a recent study called;
"Cities in Crisis 2009: Closing the Graduation Gap"
places APS 45th of 50 large city school districts in high school
graduation rates (somewhere on the order of 50% or fewer
students actually graduating from high school).

APS' Rose-Ann McKernan, Executive Director of APS
Research, Data and Accountability, is reported to have
said that the numbers are misleading because they don't
account for APS' increasing numbers of students that are on
five-year plans instead of the usual four-year stint in high school.

She said the APS data differ from the study because the district
tracks individual students from ninth grade to graduation to
come up with its rate, whereas the study used "enrollment
trends from grade to grade".

APS' own figures put graduation rates as low as 44%.

School Board President Marty Esquivel reportedly
offered as a mitigating circumstance; ".

.. the way graduation rates are counted is "just extremely
misleading, ..."

Why? After more than a century of practice, why can't the
APS come up with useful and reliable statistics?

Adding to the problem, the numbers that everyone is using
are no more recent than the 2005 school year. In an age of
super high speed computers, one has to wonder why more
recent data is not being used.

The bottom line; on yet another issue,
APS stakeholders don't know the whole truth, and
can't hold anyone accountable, even if they wanted to.

Worth noting;
the APS Research, Data and Accountability Division,
by their own free admission, has never formally surveyed staff
or students on the issues that stand between students and an
on time graduation.

All of this is entirely consistent with APS' long standing policy
of "gather no data" that can be used to actually hold anybody
accountable for anything.

A policy that so far,
has held the leadership of the APS in good stead.

How much is a Governor worth?

Or a university president? Or a head football coach?

More importantly, whose call is it?

Right now, the annual compensation for membership in the
privileged class is determined by other members of
the privileged class; and they are very impressed with
each others' work.

Who defends in these negotiations, the interests of the folks
who pay the greater taxes and higher tuitions that underwrite
this largess?

It is at the top of a very slippery slope that you expect
government to protect the interests of car buyers against
the interests of car builders' CEOs, CAOs, CFOs, and C?Os?

But in public service, where our taxes are paying the bills, it
would seem a little more reasonable to expect government to
involve itself more directly in protecting our interests.

Government can do that in in two acts; telling the truth, and
providing honest accountability to that truth.

It is preposterous that, in order to file a complaint against
a corrupt or incompetent public servant, we find ourselves
pitted against our own government (lawyers) and its unlimited
public resources.

Government must tell us the truth about what we are paying
our public servants (and their cronies), and then they must be
accountable to our outrage, when we finally learn that truth.

"Ethics" and a newspaper full of scandals, again.

"Ethics" is a word that means nothing, because it means
too many things.

I went to a talk yesterday evening entitled,
"Ethics reform, What is Happening in Albuquerque?"

It wasn't about ethics reform at all, it was about election reform.
The word really means nothing anymore.

I have been deeply involved in "ethics" training in the APS for
more than a decade. I have the training and the experience to
offer, if not an "expert" opinion, at least a very "informed" opinion.

I submit; if the word "ethics" has any honest meaning at all,
it means telling the truth.

Yet, no one who is talking about "ethics" reform, is talking about
telling the truth. No one is talking about telling the truth, at all.

I defy anyone to point to a "problem" in government that would
not be alleviated if the entire truth were on the public record.

I defy anyone to point to a legitimate agenda that does not move
forward on the day that we know the whole truth about
the spending of our trust and treasure.

The difference between ethics and laws, centers on ownership
of the truth.

Under "ethics", the truth belongs to stakeholders,
all of it*.

Under "the law", the truth belongs to its custodian,
and will be shared with stakeholders according to the law.
And the law allows the truth to be hidden from stakeholders
by means of loopholes, technicalities, and other forms of legal
weaselry.

It is time to abandon the use of the word "ethics" entirely,
and instead, start using the phrase "truth telling".

Ask any public servant if they are ethical, and their answer
will be, "Of course I am."

Ask them if they are telling the whole truth, limited only by
the spirit of the law, and they will say, "No comment".

I rest my case.


*There are a very few exceptions, they are defined according
to the "spirit" of open government laws.

"Ethics Reform: What is Happening in Albuquerque?"

is the title of a talk tonight at the Erna Ferguson Library.
The talk will begin at 6pm,

According to a little snippet in the Journal,
the League of Women Voters is sponsoring a talk by
David S Campbell (which could be this guy, link)


I wonder if he knows anything about;

Ethics Reform: What is Happening in the
leadership of the Albuquerque Public Schools?

The truth is that there is no ethics reform in the APS at all.
It is being obfuscated by APS' senior most role models of
the student standards of ethical conduct,
Winston Brooks and Marty Esquivel.
Obfuscation which they will neither explain, defend, nor
even acknowledge.



cc just for the heck of it; David S Campell

Prize winning calendars, or prize winning students?

It is a matter of simple priorities;
you can only spend a dollar once.

It is fair to ask where the priorities are.

When classrooms are starved for resources and staff,
why we are dedicating so much energy and so many resources
to publish a calendar?

A job easily and adequately done
by any high school graphic arts program.

Freeing up a whole bunch of people and resources that could
be used to erect and maintain an adequate website.

A job which a high school computer geeks could not do either,
apparently.




APS Executive Director of
Communications,
Monica Armenta, says the
calendar is their "biggest project."

Why?

Where are the priorities
of the leadership of the APS?


photo Mark Bralley

APS' World Class calendar

What exactly does the APS Communications Department do?

According to the minutes from the last District Relations
Committee meeting, link, they put out a world class calendar.

Update on Communication Effort –

Ms. Monica Armenta updated the Committee on some
of her department’s projects which include the following:

• APS Calendars – biggest project - The theme of the calendars this year is “APS graduates who have gone on to teach”.
• Parent Resource Guide – dedicating a full page to free and reduced lunch. Mr. Robert Lucero wants Board member information where parents can find it.
• APS Perspective – Published every single month – great way to communicate with staff.
• Parentlink – Hosting full day retreat on April 13th.
• Selfless Seniors - Response has been phenomenal from participating seniors.
• Web – Ongoing and will continue work.

Nowhere on the list of important things that APS' communication
workers do, is; provide candid, forthright, and honest answers
to legitimate questions.

Questions like;

• How much does it cost to publish a world class calendar?
• And, the Communications Department's "biggest" project benefits students and teachers how, exactly?

I would not be surprised if there comes a day, when teachers
will be told that there is no money left for copy paper.
Teachers who need copies for their students,
will then have to pay for their own paper.


They should mark that day on their world class calendar.

Dear everyone in the leadership of the APS,

by which it is meant; everyone above the rank of student;
but beginning with the President of the School Board,
and the Superintendent.

Marty Esquivel in the senior most
executive role model of the
Student Standards of conduct.

So far, he steadfastly refuses to
acknowledge on the record, even one of his
obligations or intentions as one of the
senior most role models for staff and students.




Winston Brooks is the senior most
administrative role model of the
Student Standards of Conduct.

So far, he steadfastly refuses to
acknowledge on the record, even one
of his obligations or intentions as
one of the senior most role models for
staff and students.



There are two standards of conduct in the APS;
one high, one low. One requires truth telling, the other, not.
One for kids, one for adults.

Unless they are prepared to speak in defense of this
circumstance, they must concede that, hypocrisy
this egregious, is as intolerable, as it is indefensible.

There are two choices; they can either raise their own standards
of conduct to the level of the standards they establish and
enforce upon students; either they can walk their talk, or,

they can lower the standards of conduct for students to
a level that is more comfortable for them;
one that does not require telling the truth.


This is it. This is the battle between good and evil.

And, you pick a side, when you don't pick a side.




photo Mark Bralley

Off to the dark side?

What happens that makes an apparently decent man turn
his back on his beliefs?

Marty Esquivel, one night at a policy
committee meeting, built a compelling
argument on the need for an independent
audit of the administration of the APS.

Paula Maes said, no swingin' way.

And the words accountability audit
have not slipped past his lips since.




David Robbins, one night at
a policy committee meeting,
laid administrative and
executive role modeling of
the student standards of
conduct on the table for
open and honest discussion.

And the words,
rolemodeling of the Student Standards of Conduct
have not slipped past his lips since.

David Robbins ran for office on the promise of a honest
independent administrative audit.

And the words, administrative standards and accountability
audit, have not slipped past his lips since.

What makes an apparently decent man turn his back on his principles?

If you stand up to the leadership of the APS, at some point
you will come toe to toe, nose to nose, eyeball to eyeball,
with some really powerful people ('s lawyers),
people who can do some real damage to your life,
people every bit capable of creating "a culture of fear of
retribution and retaliation",

who tell you to, back off or else.


And then most people do.
The good ol' boys that run the APS
depend upon it.




photos Mark Bralley

Is it time to lower expectations for APS students?

APS students live and work under a set of high expectations;
they are expected to "... model and promote the Pillars of
Character Counts! link.

The highest among those standards is, the expectation that
students are to tell the truth. (Note please, the huge
difference between the student standard; telling the truth,
and the would be adult standard; not lying.

I say "would be" because, if one believes in the requirements
and obligations of role modeling, then the adult standards are
the student standards (at the very least).

That is the whole point of the role modeling clause which reads;

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

The adults don't want to tell the truth.

The hypocrisy in holding students accountable to higher
standards of conduct than adults can only be resolved by
making one or the other, of two choices;

• raise the adult standards of conduct, or
• lower the student standards of conduct.

It is clear that the adults are not going to raise the standards
of conduct to which they are willing to be held honestly
accountable. They will never be held accountable, voluntarily,
to any standard of conduct which does not allow them to hide
the inconvenient truth.

Therefore, the only other option is to lower the standards of
conduct for students.

How low should they be lowered?

They need to be low enough that adults are willing to be held
honestly accountable to them.

The record shows that the leadership of the APS is not willing
to be held accountable even to the law; they pay lawyers to
litigate their exception to the law. I am not making this up,
the allegation is proven in the public record. That proof is
the reason that APS will not surrender the record of the
litigation by Modrall lawyers that has excepted senior APS
administrators and board members from accountability to
the law.

It would appear then that the student standards of conduct
must be lower even, than accountability to the law.

The problem is that there really is no standard of conduct
lower than the law.

The only choice left to Winston Brooks and the board then,
is to avoid the open and honest discussion of either student
standards of conduct, or adult standards of conduct.

One can get away with just about anything if one can but
keep it all a secret.

What is Winston Brooks willing to do to reach Goal 2?

Winston Brooks has eight goals; link, the second reads;

Goal 2
... develop and implement a plan to change the perception
and build the confidence (in the leadership of the) APS ...

The perception is that APS lacks standards and accountability.

• Governor Richardson pointed to APS' statewide earned reputation for its lack of accountability.
• Mayor Marty Chavez at one point was advocating for mayoral appointments to the APS School Board, as the only solution to the accountability issues in the APS.
• Bond and mill levy issues pass by smaller and smaller margins each time they come up.

At the same time, Winston Brooks is doing everything he can to keep standards and accountability from being openly and honestly discussed in public. Witness his ongoing refusal to discuss the Student Standards of Conduct, and his honest accountability to them.

Most important among the Student Standards, the Pillar of Trustworthiness and its requirement to tell the truth in response to legitimate questions.

Winston Brooks steadfastly refuses to point to a time, a day, and a place, where he, or any of his subordinates, will simply sit and answer legitimate questions.

If Winston Brooks is not willing to tell stakeholders the truth, and if he is not willing to publicly discuss standards which would require him to tell the truth, what is he doing to improve the public perception of the leadership of the APS?

Apparently, all he is willing to do is to not talk about, any issue which might hurt APS' reputation.

According to the Student Standards of Conduct, Brooks is
specifically and explicitly denied this choice; link,

Sincerity.

Sincerity is genuineness, being without trickery or duplicity.
It precludes all acts, including half-truths, out-of-context
statements, and even silence, that are intended to create
beliefs or leave impressions that are untrue or misleading.

It is clear that Winston Brooks will not only allow beliefs and
impressions that are untrue or misleading,
he is deliberately cultivating them.

The culture of fear of retaliation is real.

The Council of the Great City Schools did an audit of the
administration of the APS.

In the report on that audit, they wrote that there is a culture
of fear of retaliation and retribution in the APS for anyone
who stands against an administrator or board member.

Culture is their word, not mine, and it is a powerful word;

The behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular
group. The sum total of ways of living built up by a group
of human beings and transmitted from one generation
to another. The totality of socially transmitted behavior
patterns. The predominating attitudes and behavior that
characterize the functioning of a group or organization.

My recent post, link, on APS' culture of fear of retribution and
retaliation has drawn a greater number of comments than most,
and they all agree with the premise.

The latest ended their comment with;

Fear of retaliation permeates the entire culture of APS.

The leadership of the APS will not comment on the issue.
They will stonewall the issue. They will pretend that the
issue does not exist.

And it will never get any better, it will never go away.
And there will never be a principled resolution of any
complaint filed against any administrator or board member.

Smoke and mirrors, but mostly smoke.

Try to get David Peercy to talk about role modeling of the
APS Student Standards of Conduct, or role modeling of
the Pillars of Character Counts!, and you will get smoke;
vague references to existing policies and procedures,
which he claims already surpass anything that accountability to
the Student Standards of Conduct would add.

Ask him to point to even one; you get nothing.

The APS Student Standards of Conduct require truth telling.

I defy anyone to find the concepts of truth telling or honesty
even mentioned anywhere in any policy or procedure
that applies to adults.

I defy anyone to point any place in the APS where a legitimate
complaint can be filed against an administrator, and where
that complaint is guaranteed a principled resolution.

They do not exist.

There are no standards of conduct anywhere in the entire
APS that are as high as the standards we set for students.

If there were, someone could point to them.

If you could get anyone in the leadership of the APS to actually
tell the truth, the truth is; students are accountable to
higher standards of conduct than adults.

And that truth is utterly indefensible, except by hiding it
behind screens of smoke and bullshit.

I double dog dare, anyone in the leadership of the APS

to use the phrase "Character Counts!", or
the "Pillars of Character Counts!" or even,
"APS Student Standards of Conduct",
in the same sentence with the words; "I" and "role model".

David Peercy is at a fork in the road.

At the school board meeting tonight,
Policy Committee Chair David Peercy,
will find himself at a fork in the road.


He will have three paths from which to choose.






Following one path, he will honor the commitment that has
been made to put administrative and executive standards and
accountability on the table for open and honest discussion.

Following a different path, David Peercy will tell the truth
about why he will not honor the commitment to put
standards and accountability on the table for honest and
open discussion.

And by the third path, David Peercy will stonewall the issue.

According to the APS Student Standards of Conduct,
stonewalling is specifically and explicitly identified as a
dishonest path.

Because stonewalling is dishonest, students are taught,
it is unethical, and therefore done at the expense of their
good character.

So here he is, at his moment of truth.

David Peercy will put standards and accountability on the table
for open and honest discussion.

or

David Peercy will tell the truth about why he will not put
role modeling of the Student Standards of Conduct
on the agenda for open and honest discussion.

or

Or David Peercy show students what dishonesty looks like.

Dishonesty followed by, shirking accountability for dishonesty.

A far different story than the one students hear at school
about George Washington and a cherry tree.




photo Mark Bralley

APS to give update on Goals.

According to an (unlinkable) article in the Journal this morning,
School Board President Marty Esquivel has asked the
administration to update the board on their progress in reaching
the eight goals that had been established for the district, by
APS Superintendent Winston Brooks last summer.

By way of review, the goals are;

1. Three-year academic plan - Brooks wants to develop the plan with measurable targets by the end of the 2010-11 school year. He wants to focus on improving student achievement, narrowing achievement gaps, increasing graduation rates and improving attendance. Administrators will work out the plan and present it by the end of September.

2. Build confidence in APS - Brooks wants the administration to improve relations between the school district and the community, media, other organizations, business and government. The plan for that is due by mid-October.

3 (tie). Create a communication plan - Brooks wants the administration to develop a communication and evaluation plan between the district and the community, media, school board and others. The plan for that is due by mid-October.

3 (tie). Schedule board training workshops - Brooks wants to train the school board on the role and responsibilities of a school board, creating a more student-focused organization. The first workshop is due for mid-November.

5. Review and enhance facility upgrades - Brooks wants plans for facility upgrades to be completed and publicized by mid-October.

6. Improve the district's money management - Brooks wants a "transparent, sound and effective financial stewardship plan" with well-documented processes in place, with reports due every quarter starting with the 2008-09 school year.

7. Transition APS from site-based management to district-based management - Brooks wants the plan to include fair distribution of resources. The plan is due in the spring.

8. Enhance school crisis plans - Brooks wants a template for crisis management provided to all school and non-school sites, and wants those sites' administrators to create and file a crisis plan based on that to the district offices.

I would like to focus on three; goals 2, 3a, 6.

6. Financial transparency.
Winston Brooks still will not tell stakeholders the truth about
spending at the Uptown Administrative Complex.

Honest grade; F

2. Build confidence in the APS.
Winston Brooks traveled all around the district, schmoozing
stakeholders. He is a very affable guy. Confidence in the APS
has probably improved.

However, if the Journal were reporting the truth to
stakeholders, and they knew that there was still secrecy
surrounding the spending of tax dollars, and if they knew that
the leadership of the APS has abdicated as role models of the
Student Standards of Conduct, and is currently refusing
to lay administrative and executive standards and accountability
on the table for an open and honest discussion, the public
perception of the APS would not have improved one iota.

Apparent grade; A
Honest grade; F

3a. APS' "communication" plan.
APS is as inaccessible as it ever was. Their website is as useless
and user unfriendly as it ever was. And, there is still no one in
the entire leadership of the APS who will point to a time, a day,
and a place, where they will sit still and answer legitimate
questions, candidly, forthrightly and honestly.

Apparent grade; who knows?
Honest grade; F

The administration is scheduled to begin their defense of their
progress on the goals at the board meeting this evening.

The Journal is suing the NMDOT over public records.

According to the Journal, link, the Journal has filed a
lawsuit against the NM Department of Transportation
over their failure to surrender public records as required under
the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

According the the Journal, their complaint alleges;

"The department has violated the IPRA in order to derail and obstruct an investigation into potential corrupt practices and incompetent management of public funds by high-ranking public officials in the employ of NMDOT," the complaint states."

"The complaint claims the defendants engaged in a pattern and practice of secretly withholding public records, falsely denying the existence of public records that had been requested and violating the records inspection act by failing to explain their decision to withhold documents that had been requested"

Noteworthy if you are a taxpayer;

• You will be paying the salary of the lawyers who defend your public servants against charges that they were acting against your interests.
• In the unlikely event that they are fined, you will pay the fine, not the public servants who tried to hide public records from public knowledge.
• In the likely event that the Journal insists that their legal fees and court costsbe paid by the NMDOT, the money will come out of your pocket, not the pockets of anyone who deliberately hid documents.

Have a great day.

Why in the world would you believe Winston Brooks?

Winston Brooks has a monthly column
in the Journal.

The Journal offers no opportunity for
anyone to rebut anything that Brooks
writes. Brooks has free license to claim
whatever he wants to, without having
to explain, defend, or acknowledge
that there are questions about what
he has written.



In this morning's column; Take a little time to do things right
Winston Brooks informs stakeholders that there is a boat load
of stimulus money on its way to the APS.

Winston Brooks promises stakeholders that the funds will
be spent "transparently".

Yet, if you ask him how many tax dollars were spent on the new
and completely unjustifiable Board room, he will not respond
by telling the truth.

If Winston Brooks will not be transparent about the past,
why would you believe he will be transparent in the future?

Never, ever forget;
Winston Brooks steadfastly refuses to be held accountable as
a role model of the Student Standards of Conduct,
primarily because those standards require truth telling
specifically, explicitly, and unequivocally.




photo Mark Bralley