Oma on Board: April 2013

Esquivel defense illustrates the difference between "legal" and other, higher, standards of conduct

APS School Board President Marty Esquivel is being sued for violation of my constitutionally protected human rights to free speech, to be the press, to assemble freely, to petition my government, and ultimately, my constitutionally protected human right to due process.You can understand why he might want a "cost is no object" legal defense team assembled in his behalf; his own dream team on someone else's dime.The contract Esquivel has...

Brooks told Robert Lucero to "use a pistol" to "take me out"

If you go to APS' award winning website and then make your way to the video of the November 4, 2009 Regular Board Meeting, link, you will find the record has been unethically redacted. It ends when School Board President Marty Esquivel adjourned the meeting at 1:49:58 elapsed time.The whole record has been introduced in federal court.At 1:50 APS Supt Winston Brooks begins telling Board Member Robert Lucero about increased police presence...

Armenta "loses" key evidence against her; imagine that.

When APS' Executive Director of Communications and Defendant in a federal complaint, Monica Armenta was asked, who keeps track of APS when it shows up on media and social networks, she, by and through her lawyers who are charging taxpayers God only knows how much, wrote among other things, Defendant Armenta objects to the request because it seeks information about APS students.Say what? Are students being use to help Armenta keep...

Shopping the story around

I couldn't get KRQE to commit to doing a story about taxpayers' double billing for legal defenses for Marty Esquivel and most of the rest of the leadership of the APS.They told me to go ahead and shop it around if I wanted to. Shopping it around doesn't mean I expect anyone else will jump on it either, but because it's worth pointing out that they could and won't.I sent the following to KOAT, KOB and the Journal.Taxpayers are being double billed for litigation in defense of Marty Esquivel and, most of the rest of the leadership...

APS Board disses APS teachers in general, their union (leader) in particular

The APS School Board will meet tomorrow. link, to begin discussion on teacher (and school leader) evaluations. The discussion will not include the input of a single teacher, a single community member, nor even a student from APS Supt Winston Brooks' beloved student advisory council. The leadership of the APS has never offered to justify their decision to ignore teacher input, in particular on an issue so important to teachers...

On the table; superordinate evaluation in the APS

Well, "on the table" might be a bit of a stretch. According to the agenda, link, of Special Board Meeting tomorrow, they will begin;Teacher and School Leader Evaluation System (Discussion) Noteworthy; the discussion will be among senior administrators and the board; the great unwashed, in what amounts to a monumental disregard for their combined nearly 100,000 years of current teaching experience, are not invited.The only opinions that matter will come from;Shelly Green, Chief Academic Officer; Andi Trybus, Assistant...

Brad Winter's Distinguished Service Award - service to whom?

APS COO Brad Winter has received a good ol' boy award from the Council of the Great City Schools. They call it a Distinguished Service Award, link. According to APS Supt Winston Brooks;“Brad Winter has been committed to APS for more than three decades as a teacher, track coach and high school and district administrator,” What Brooks is most impressed with is, when Winter was asked if he would provide a candid, forthright...

Special deal for Marty Esquivel?

When APS administrators or board members get sued, they are represented by law firms that have responded to a Request for Proposal for legal services, link. The RFP delineates compensations and expectations of the firms which will share in a lot of money - the exact amount unavailable.One of the requirements of law firms is to provide "case analysis". You will find the requirements beginning on page 24, section 4.4.4. ...

A touring we will go, a touring we will go, heigh-ho, the derry-o , a touring we will go

APS Supt Winston Brooks likes to "gather community input". He loves to tour the district "gathering input", link, link, link, and link.On his list of achievements, he claims "dozens of community meetings to gather input ..., link.Brooks has let us know in his monthly Journal column, link, he has plans for more input; this time on school closings due to budget constraints. Oddly, a few days later, the budget problems that would...

Terrific news - Mayor Berry appoints Janice Arnold-Jones

Rep Janice Arnold-Jones has been appointed to fill the District 7, City Council seat recently vacated by Councilor Mike Cook. Republican Party of Bernalillo County Chairman Frank Ruvolo issued the following statement;"I’ve known Janice Arnold-Jones for nearly 40 years and can say with confidence Mayor Berry’s selection of her as the city councilor for District 7 is a good move for Albuquerque.In her four terms as a state representative...

Is the APS School Board out of touch?

APS Board Members, on occasion, say things that make one wonder if they really know what's going on in schools.At the meeting where the eCADEMY was being discussed, Board Member Lorenzo Garcia raised questions about whether students will learn how to debate ideas.“The challenge with this kind of setup is there isn’t an opportunity for debate. There isn’t an opportunity to kind of practice interactions with other peers, to be able...

APS eCADEMY students will not be allowed to work "way ahead"

Leave it to the leadership of the APS to take a perfectly good idea, an online high school, and find some way to screw it up.The Journal reports this morning, link, that APS' eCADEMY is a go, as long as it doesn't go too fast."The classes at the new school will be teacher paced, meaning students cannot work way ahead ..."How in the world are they going to stop them?Why in the world would they want to?Twelve thousand reasons come to mind. Every year a student goes to APS, APS gets somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand...

Journal editors had bad science and math teachers

Journal editors share their upset this morning, link, over what they believe is proof that teacher evaluation isn't working. They arrive at a correct conclusion, but by fallacious reasoning.They reason; if half of students are failing while 97% of teachers are getting satisfactory evaluations, then teacher evaluations aren't working, because, if 97% of teachers are teaching satisfactorily, then 97% of students, or nearly that number, should be succeeding.Clearly, the editors have never taught school. Despite the...

NM PED investigates La Cueva testing irregularities; KRQE offers the best coverage

Every spring, APS students take standardized tests. The tests are important; seniors have to pass them in order to graduate and, both schools and teachers are evaluated based on students' scores. There are incredibly rigid and rigorous rules governing the administration of the tests. For example, students are apparently escorted to restrooms if the need to go during a test period. There is concern over students sharing answers...

APS talking school closings

In APS Supt Winston Brooks' monthly Journal column, link, Brooks revealed;"... one of the most controversial changes that we’ll be talking about is closing some of our schools. We’ll approach this topic strategically, making sure families, staff and the community all have input before any decision is made."APS is in a financial bind; Brooks claims all the easy fixes have been made; the "band-aid" repairs. He claims to have clipped...

APS eCADEMY, finally

APS' Policy and Instruction Committee will meet tomorrow night. On the agenda, link,Proposed Virtual High School (Discussion)Presenter: Shelly Green, Dave WellsDisc brief Virtual HS.pdf, (link)eCADEMY Board Presentation 2013-04 Short.pptx, (link)Presenters Wells and Green are looking for approval of their proposal; offering a full time online high school with face to face support for students.Currently, they accept only students who are retaking classes.They propose accepting 150 full time students next year.They will...

APS graduation rates, smoke and mirrors?

The industry of education creates a lot of data. Some of that data is useful in determining whether a school district is more or less successful in their endeavor to prepare students for life after high school.APS is pointing currently, to their graduation rates and how they're gradually creeping up. The assumption is students who graduate are actually prepared for work, training or further education.Some would argue, a better...

APS just can't seem to lead on open meetings notice

The leadership of the APS would have interest holders believe that they are abundantly transparent.One measure of transparency of institutions such as the APS is the notice they give on public meeting agendas. As measures of transparency go, it's a pretty good one.The institutions who care the most about making sure their constituents are as informed, do more than the law requires; they post their agendas "as built"; as soon as they...

Brooks and Esquivel resign!

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