Reader Writes: APS Ethics Scandal

The following was submitted by Ched MacQuigg. Readers are welcome to submit pieces. I try to post them as quickly as possible. Stay tuned for more reader submitted news concerning an ongoing dispute over the value of one of New Mexico's most well known movie sets.

The School Board and Administration have recently lowered the standard of conduct to which they will be held accountable. Students are accountable to a code of ethical conduct. 

The Board and Administration have changed board policy, eliminating the phrase, …in no case shall the standard for adults be lower than the standard for students…  They are now accountable only to the law, the lowest standard of acceptable conduct. The Board and Superintendent were asked at the last board meeting if they would hold themselves honestly accountable to the same standard of conduct that they have established and enforce upon students.  They refused to answer. 

They will not be held accountable to the same ethical standard as students. This choice is diametrically opposite to this communities expectations regarding the obligations of APS board members and administrators to model before children, the behavior that they expect from children. Worse, the Board and Administration simultaneously refused to be held accountable to a code of ethics in their roles as stewards of taxpayer support for education.  In the next year, the board and administration will ask for a half a BILLION tax dollars to spend as they please.  Yet not one of them will agree to be honestly accountable to spend that money ethically. The newspapers will not report on this scandal.  Neither will the TV news programs. 

There will be two elections in which voters will select board members and obligate themselves to increased taxes.  They have a right to know the truth.  The papers have a responsibility to report it.  The community trusts news to tell the truth and that trust has been betrayed. I need your help.  The Board and Administration have an interest in keeping this scandal secret.

I can’t get the word out by myself.

1)  If you have influence with the media, please exercise it now.  Tell the editors and news directors that you want to know the truth about the APS ethics scandal.

2)  Copy this letter and give it to someone else, give it to a lot of people. Email it, blog it.

3)  Go the next meeting of the school board, and the next, and the next, and the next.  Keep going at least until the issue is made public. (first and third Wednesdays, 5:00, uptown)

4)  Stand up and be counted.  Sign up to speak at the public forum.  Write letters to the editors. These “facts” have never been disputed by anyone at APS.  They were presented to the board on Wednesday July 26th.  The Board was asked if they wished to dispute any of the facts.

I received the following response. “I was out of the office Wednesday through Friday last week.  I will not have time to do the research and respond before the Board meeting on Wednesday.”

1. Students are currently accountable to a widely recognized, accepted and respected code of ethical  conduct; the Pillars of Character Counts.

2. Students are required by the Student Behavior Handbook, to “model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts.

3. Board Members and Administrators are not required by any written policy to “model and promote the Pillars of Character Counts”

4. The Board removed language from the Employee Standards of Conduct which read …in no case shall the standard for adults be lower than the standard for students…

5. Neither the Board nor the Administration is currently accountable, by board policy, to any code of conduct that uses the word “ethical”.

6. A motion was placed before the Board which would have, as a matter policy, required the Board and Administration to obey the same truth telling requirements as students.  The motion was disposed of by Robert Lucero without public discussion or vote by the board.

7. A motion was placed before the board which would have, as a matter of policy, required the Board and Administration to hold themselves honestly accountable for ethical misconduct.  The motion was disposed of by Mary Lee Martin without public discussion or vote by the Board.

8. APS procedural directives once provided for outside impartial investigation of complaints made against administrators; they no longer do.

9. The Whistle Blower Policy passed by the Board, does not protect individuals who expose ethical misconduct by Administrators or Board Members.

10. The Board, by and through its attorneys at Modrall, have denied a “principled resolution” (the truth of the allegations was never adjudicated) of complaints of ethical and criminal misconduct by Board Members and senior Administrators.

11. According to board policy (which requires students to model the Pillars of Character Counts) students are taught that “stonewalling”, ignoring legitimate questions, violates the requirements of the Pillar of Trustworthiness. It is my belief that there is ample time to “research” these facts and that it is simply a manifestation of the board’s unwillingness to tell the truth.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Ched MacQuigg cmacquigg@comcast.net