Oma on Board

Will Marty Esquivel commit perjury?

Or will he instead, finally admit that he has no intention to be held accountable as the senior-most role model of APS student standards of conduct?

Note; student standards of conduct is lower case. There is no such thing as "APS Student Standards of Conduct".

There is a place, the APS Student Behavior Handbook, where students are told they are expected to "model and promote" the Pillars of Character Counts!

There are no higher standards mentioned in any document any where in the entire APS.

School Board Member David Peercy likes to pretend, link, that he and they are accountable to "higher standards" than students, but he is yet to point to them.

Whether the Pillars of Character Counts!, link, should be the standards of conduct for students is moot. The simple fact is they are the standards of conduct for students. They "are" by unanimous school board resolution, link.

Unless and until the board rescinds their unanimous acceptance of the Pillars as the standards for students; unless and until they lower student standards of conduct by no longer expecting them to "model and promote" the Pillars, the Pillars will remain the student standards of conduct.

And for as long as the Pillars are the student standards of conduct, they are the standards of conduct for every "role model" in the APS.

For as long as Marty Esquivel is the School Board President, he is the senior-most role model in the entire APS, of the student standards of conduct. For as long as the Pillars of Character Counts! are the student standards of conduct, they are Esquivel's standards of conduct.

Esquivel does not agree. He told me; he isn't a role model of student standards of conduct because he isn't "an educator".

NM Development Department Secretary Jon Barela, then a school board member, was in the meeting, link; he heard it too.

Try as I may, I cannot get him to admit his abdication in public. I asked him in board meeting after board meeting. I asked them all;

Why are students expected to hold themselves honestly accountable, at the risk of the forfeit of their good character, to a nationally recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical conduct, and you are not?

Forget about "promoting" character; good character is promoted by people who model good character and by no other method. Character is taught by example; character is taught only by personal example.

How does one role model any standards of conduct,
except by holding themselves personally accountable to them?

There is no equivalent gesture.

You can't expect children to hold themselves accountable to higher standards of conduct than their role models. Those who believe a kid can be told, do as I say, not as I do, and do it, believe in something that is not, never was, and never will be.

The ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS remains unknown to stakeholders because Journal Editor Kent Walz would rather see APS Supt Winston Brooks get a hero of transparency award, than be held accountable for hiding the Caswell Report; credible evidence of felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators in their Praetorian Guard.

The standards and accountability crisis remains a secret because the establishment media steadfastly refuses to investigate APS administrative and executive standards and accountability, and report the truth to stakeholders; voters, taxpayers, and community members.

In the next month or so, Marty Esquivel is going be deposed in the federal complaint process against him. He is going to raise his hand and promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The truth is; he cannot summon the character and the courage to hold himself honestly as a role model of honest accountability to the Pillars of Character Counts!, by due process, and powerful enough to hold him accountable even against his will.

And he is either going to admit it on the record,
or commit perjury.

The same can be said for APS Supt Winston Brooks; the senior-most administrative role model of the Pillars of Character Counts.

He also will be deposed, he also will testify under penalty of perjury. He will admit that he cannot summon the character and the courage to hold himself honestly accountable to the same standards of conduct he establishes and enforces on students, or perjure himself in hiding the truth.

The same can be said for the entire leadership of the APS.

Unfortunately, only Esquivel, Brooks and their co-defendants, Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta, the APS Chief of Police Steve Tellez, and Communications Director Rigo Chavez, and former School Board Member David Robbins will be answering the questions with one hand in the air and the other on a bible.

Yeah, I know, they don't use the bible anymore.

Maybe they won't even have to swear an oath.

photos Mark Bralley

Board meeting video not posted

Taxpayers have invested a great deal of money in video equipment and salaries in order to make video recordings of board meetings and whatever else they feel like taping. The district has made a commitment to post the video by the following Friday; yesterday.

A check on APS award winning website, link, reveals that not only has this week's video not been posted, neither has the one from the previous regular board meeting. Nor from the meeting before that, nor the one before that, nor the one before that.

If you choose to watch the meetings streaming live on their award winning website, you will be greeted with buffering issues that make the viewing useless.

APS has fielded complaints about the buffering issues and so far, has not corrected them.

We will have to wait and wonder about what had Supt Winston Brooks so worked up.

APS postpones progress reports

On the agenda at the APS School Board meeting yesterday, two progress reports.

APS' highly paid Executive Director of Communications Monica Armenta was scheduled to defend her progress in reaching the third of the districts four goals;

Family and Community Involvement; APS will meaningfully engage families and enhance partnerships with the community to maximize student achievement.

Also on the agenda, the highly paid Chief of Police Steve Tellez.

He and APS' highly paid COO Brad Winter were scheduled to defend their progress in reaching the fourth goal;

provide a safe and supportive climate for learning and working that maximizes student achievement.

Tellez would also explain how his publicly funded, private police force needs stand alone certification (in order that they can resume investigating their own felony criminal misconduct).

He would not be there to answer any questions about evidence of felony criminal misconduct by senior APS administrators in the APS Police force, or about why that evidence still has not been surrendered to the District Attorney for prosecution.

Armenta would be there to spin APS' million dollar a year communications effort.

She would not be there to answer any questions about why there will be no place in the entire APS, where the people are allowed to "petition" board members , individually and collectively. There will be no place where an interest holder can ask legitimate questions about the public interests and their public service, and where they have any intention to respond at all, much less candidly, forthrightly and honestly according to their expectations for students.

The people's right to a forum where questions can be asked, was defended by a representative of the Albuquerque Tea Party. Judge David Walker (ret) introduced himself as the head of their education "action team". Walker reiterated the interest in a Citizens Advisory Council on Communications. The Council would help create a venue for open and honest communication between the leadership of the APS and the community members they serve.

School Board Vice President Kathy Korte was running the public forum. She is the tip of the spear in the board's resistance to creating any venue where they might have to sit and take questions on their spending of power and resources that belong fundamentally to the people; the CACoC in particular.

Korte could not bring herself to call Judge Walker by his title. People who know the judge, call him judge out of respect. She repeatedly acknowledged him only as "Mr".

As School Board Vice President, Korte is the second highest role model in the entire APS, of the Pillar of Respect.

... more or less.

The presentations were tabled at the request of APS Supt Winston Brooks who was still visibly upset over something that had happened earlier and which had board members publicly apologizing.

Nothing in the Journal.

APS still can't live stream their board meetings without buffering issues. This despite taxpayers' investment of tens of thousands of dollars worth of state of the art equipment.

We don't know exactly how much it cost, because Winter is yet to produce a candid, forthright and honest accounting of spending at 6400 Uptown Blvd.

photos Mark Bralley