The alleged bully and strong arm robber and his lawyers had opportunities to speak to the press. APS administrators and their lawyers had opportunities. Where is the opportunity for victims of practicing bullies in the APS, to have their side published?In fairness, the victim in this particular case was afforded the opportunity to offer the obligatory; it didn't hurt. But what about other students at the school who have had their property stolen, who have has their faces slapped and worse, and it didn't make...
Bullying victims have no voice in establishment media
read more "Bullying victims have no voice in establishment media"
Was the APS wrestler a practicing bully?
Let me begin by stating that I have no more information about the specifics in this case than anyone who reads the paper and watches the news. That said, I taught in APS schools for a quarter of a century. I watched the bullying and the administrative failure to deal with it. I will bow to any controverting evidence; but in the absence of that evidence, I am comfortable in my insistence; if it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck ...in all likelihood, what we have here is a practicing...
Ortiz y Pino Bill encourages ignoring petty misdemeanors at school
State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino has sponsored legislation, SB 528, link, to amend school discipline policy requirements. It comes before the Senate Education Committee tomorrow morning, link. The newly revised discipline policy requirements begin on page 4, line 8.They will make it nearly impossible to hold (chronically) disruptive students accountable for their misconduct.The onerous revisions include the following language;Each...
Are we doing everything we can to make it EASY to earn a diploma?
If not, why not?I am sitting here listening to the Senate Education Committee debate a measure that would allow pregnant and parenting students a few more days of excused absences.One day, were struggling to kick students out of school because of their non-attendance, and the next day we struggle to get students who dropped out or were kicked out for non-attendance, to come back to schools, under circumstances requiring less rigid attendance.As I listen to Senators talk about the need to extract a pound of flesh from truant...
Table SB 306! Unless and until APS tells the truth.
A head cold and icy roads prevent me from attending a meeting of the Senate Education Committee this morning. Except for those circumstances, I would be there to speak against passage. I would speak against removing what little oversight there is, over the APS Police force leadership.The purpose of Senate Bill 306, link, is to enable the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education to create a publicly funded private police...
Rio Grande wrestler case pits student ethical standards against the law
According to APS policy, when APS students are suspended from school, they are suspended from participation in extracurricular activities as well. The intent of whoever wrote the policy could not be clearer. The wrestler had been suspended; he should not have represented his school and APS in the state wrestling tournament. All the stakeholders previously agreed, at least tacitly, to abide by the rule.Now a special case, special talent, special interest, and special influence.The outcome will not be determined according...
Incident with wrestler points to other problems
According to the Journal, link, an APS student was suspended for three days for taking money from another student and then slapping him across the face. The Journal reports the incident was witnessed by a Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy. They also report, previously;"... the deputy saw Chavez hit the smaller student’s lunch tray out of his hands, but did not intervene.More about that later.The bully? has been charged with...
Son out of wedlock not Domenici's biggest fail
I hold that public servants are entitled to private lives.The people are entitled to know how their power and resources are being spent by politicians and public servants. They are not entitled to ignore the Constitutionally protected human right to privacy; not without a warrant.Further, there are those who are arguing the it was so long ago, it no longer matters. Following that logic, a more recent failure is more important. ...
Korte calls me a stalker
I wrote a letter to the editor, link, about online learning and APS' investment in brick and mortar education. APS School Board Member Kathy Korte responded;As is very usual for Mr. McQuigg, he speaks without knowing facts. He insinuates that public schools are places where kids don't learn. Coming from a man with no children in public schools, his argument is laughable (another usual thing with Mr. McQuigg). It is a FACT that...
This is what passes for review and approval
The Audit Committee will meet Thursday night. On the agenda, link, discussion of Ethical Advocate Statistics, link.Ethical Advocate is APS' whistleblower program. It is a sham, link. It is fundamentally flawed in that complaints are adjudicated by people who have conflicts of interests - they are colleagues, sometimes subordinates, of the respondents in the complaints they are adjudicating.At one point, the school board addressed the appearance of a conflict of interests, by offering their personal review and...
The future of APS' Police Force is on the line
APS is pushing legislation, link, that will enable the board to certify their own police "department". Currently they run a police "force".The justification; that only as a police department, can they really guarantee the safety of our children at school, is unsupported.They would have legislators believe that only as a police department, can they train themselves to deal with students. In any other setting but a legislative...
Ballots sans signature create dilemma
Do we follow the rules or ignore them, just this one time?The law sez;you have to sign your ballot envelop if you want your ballot to be counted, for the same reason your signature is required when you vote in person.A significant percentage of voters, 13%, neglected to sign the envelope. Will an effort will be made to simply count these votes anyway?Blogger Joe Monahan implied as much this morning, link;Mayor Berry and the asleep-at-the-wheel city council need to protect the rights of everyone to cast a ballot....
The future of learning is online
Online learning is the future of learning. Until something better comes along, a Calculus II pill or some electromagnetic impulse "teaching", learners will be learning online. From the moment they leave school, they will be learning online.Forget for the purposes of this discussion the self evident brick and mortar considerations of learning. Obviously there are needs to address legitimate group activity and hands on learning. The open and honest public discussion needs to be about how we deliver the...
Had George Washington denied the allegation
When young George Washington was asked"Do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? "he owned up. At least according to fable and Parson Weems, wikilink, he admitted"I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet".He didn't know, when he accepted accountability for his conduct, that he would become a role model for entire generations of American children, of character and courage and honor.Students in public schools are entitled to good role models;not just adults reciting timeworn...
Korte's boggle to end
Every year, the APS School Board approves an Open Meeting Act resolution. The will pass another next month or the next. It will state the district's intentions with respect to its compliance with the requirements of the NM Open Meetings Act.For at least the last four years, they have passed resolutions requiring themselves to give interest holders only 24 hours notice with respect to their meeting agendas. Twenty four...
Defendant Esquivel offers inconsistency
In APS School Board Marty Esquivel's answers to my complaints, he writes;33. Defendant Esquivel denies that Plaintiff’s internet blog is “news-oriented.” and35. Defendant Esquivel denies that he reads the postings on Plaintiff's blog.His responses beg a question;If Esquivel doesn't read the postings on Plaintiff’s blog, how is he in any position to deny or confirm its news-orientation?If Esquivel doesn't read the postings, the proper...
"Class size" arguments miss the point.
There is talk in the legislature of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to reduce "class size". The money would be spend building more classrooms and hiring more teachers.A "class" in the usual sense means a group of students who are formed into "thought choirs" of various sizes, that will think and learn together for a year at a time. They usually find themselves seated in a formation of columns and rows suggesting headstones, and hence the name, cemetery seating.The students in most classes have only...
Maybe $800 a chair wasn't so bad after all.
Governor Susana Martinez just spent $260 apiece for some chairs and it caused a hullabaloo, link. So, if APS really did spend $800 apiece for some chairs, a helluva hullabaloo seems in order.Then comes this, link, a state legislator is looking for $200,000 to buy 70 chairs for her and her fellow legislators. That works out to somewhere around $2,858. 14 apiece.By comparison, APS' $800 chairs, link, don't seem so outrageous.Remaining...
Defendent Esquivel denies the effect of the "banning letter"
APS School Board enforcer Marty Esquivel has finally responded to the complaints I filed against him early last November. His response comes at the last possible moment. In so far as justice delayed is justice denied, Esquivel is dragging his feet for good reason; he is destined for his comeuppance.Good ol' boy philosophy explains his glacial compliance;every day you don't lose, is a day you win.In a document entitled;DEFENDANT MARTIN...
APS CNM election turn out 3.59%
That, according to County Clerk Roman Montoya.Total Eligible Registered Voters 496,522 Turnout 17,823Percentage 3.59% (emphasis added)There is no reason to expect that to change. About one in twenty voters cares enough about how their power and resources are being spent in the APS, to vote. Is, was, always will be.The proposed movement of school board, mill levy and bond issue elections November will raise the voting percentage but not the voter interest. They will vote ignorant of the issues; their ignorance...
APS "wins" prestigious award
APS Communications informs us, link, that the District has "won" a prestigious award by the Association of School Business Officials International. The award recognizes their "... skills in developing, analyzing, and presenting a school system budget."APS Communications reports the "win" followed "a rigorous review based on stringent criteria". I could be wrong, but it looks like, link, all APS had to do to "win" the award was meet commonly...
APS Ethics and Accountability Scandal, my imagination?
In the most general terms, there is a standards and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS. More specifically, there is an ethics and accountability scandal, according to the following argument.The proximate success of the APS depends upon the standards of conduct and competence that apply to decision makers; board members and administrators, and upon accountability to those standards. Too low standards are useless by definition, and even the highest standards of conduct and competence mean nothing if...
Do we really want to fix what's wrong?
It isn't so much what the APS School Board has done in the past, as it is, what will they do in the future.If you ask them if they want to fix what's wrong in the APS, the will say, yes. What they won't tell you is that they also want to cover everybody's asses. That is what they have done in the past; manipulate truth telling to their own advantage; unbound by allegiance to ethics or even the law.All else equal; a problem addressed by;open and honest public discussion; two way communication between the leadership...
Maes out, Duran squeaks by Robbins
Very occasionally, we are reminded that every vote counts.David Robbins, 1,209 votes, Donal Duran, 1,211, link. The future lies in the balance depending on the inevitable recount. Two votes one way or the other, and APS could take different paths for at least the next two years.If Duran hangs on, teacher and other site based interest holders will find a voice in the decision making that affects their interests.If Robbins pulls...
APS "not close", but "well on our way"
I hold in my hand, a flier. There is no indication who printed it or who paid for the printing. It carries the APS logo, suggesting APS' approval. It was one of a stack available in the lobby at 6400 Uptown Blvd.It is entitled;Albuquerque Public Schools: Keep On Keeping OnFor some reason I found myself humming the melody to "Truckin", wikilink, as I read.The flier purports;Albuquerque Public Schools has made lots of progress in the four and a half years since Superintendent Winston Brooks took the held in 2008. ...
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