The crap gets deeper and deeper at APS after a newly hired deputy superintendent was fired after it was discovered he was a child sexual predator up on charges in Colorado. The three month tenure of the Superintendent Luis Valentino now looks pretty shaky to me, especially after he blamed his Human Resources Department for the mess, when in fact it looks like he was warned about the situation numerous times.
This has to be an eye opener for the School Board who have backed themselves into a corner by supporting their new pick to run one of the largest school districts in the nation. The new revelation will weigh heavily on them in a meeting they have scheduled for today.
At the end of the day it is evident that the new APS boss just let it get away from himself as he tried to take over, but he has really blown his credibility and should be given a graceful exit.
In a comment on my post yesterday someone opined that this is why we should have looked for a local person to fill that job. That is the same kind of thinking that got us Gordon Eden as the new APD police chief. We can see how that has worked out.
So, if a new search is needed for someone to head the schools, don't just look inside New Mexico, but let everyone with qualifications have a shot at this most important post. A line on a map shouldn't rule anyone out of the process.
And then we can all put our attention back on the well being and instruction of our students.
This has to be an eye opener for the School Board who have backed themselves into a corner by supporting their new pick to run one of the largest school districts in the nation. The new revelation will weigh heavily on them in a meeting they have scheduled for today.
At the end of the day it is evident that the new APS boss just let it get away from himself as he tried to take over, but he has really blown his credibility and should be given a graceful exit.
In a comment on my post yesterday someone opined that this is why we should have looked for a local person to fill that job. That is the same kind of thinking that got us Gordon Eden as the new APD police chief. We can see how that has worked out.
So, if a new search is needed for someone to head the schools, don't just look inside New Mexico, but let everyone with qualifications have a shot at this most important post. A line on a map shouldn't rule anyone out of the process.
And then we can all put our attention back on the well being and instruction of our students.
9 comments:
Jim my comment concerning" local "was followed by the word qualified. Something Eden is not!!! He was a political appointment and never will be qualified to be chief of anything!! I guess I could have said with much sarcasm, why do we need to go national? Don't we have any qualified crooks here. NM worst in everything but we find money to spend on nation wide searches then , reward the searchers with Deputy CAO jobs at APS. So I guess keep on keeping on
Why would it be so bad to seek locally qualified applicants. Most of the best and brightest college graduates leave this state after graduation because of the lack of opportunity and advancement here. So we continue the practice and that's OK? The city of Albuquerque is a perfect example of that , get rid of permanent employees and use contractors and temps. Thus ending any career ladder and when a top level mgr is needed hire someone from the outside cause no one is qualified to fill the position( because the career ladder has no steps left). Yes hire from the outside and then wonder why no one stays here to seek career opportunities. How quickly we forget where we came from. So yes hire another well qualified double dipper. What could possibly go wrong? We have hired so many well qualified outsiders in NM and we are still last in everything!!!
Let's not forget about the "missent" text scandal, which I hope won't be forgotten amid these latest more salacious developments. Hiring someone who has been arrested for child molestation is serious but there were already news reports coming out that raised serious legal and ethical questions about the new superintendent's judgement as well as about his judgement as does this latest news.
In the previous instance APS superintendent Valentino and/or the accused child molester Martinez -- it's not clear yet who all was involved -- mysteriously went around the school board to enlist the aid of the governor's political machine in doing away with the school district's chief financial officer, who, news reports suggest, raised one or both of their ires because he objected to their doing the school's business with "a tech company that had recently employed a former Denver Public Schools administrator accused of taking kickbacks. Martinez had worked with him in Denver." Quote from the Journal.
Valentino oversees a school district budget of $675 million. Why was among their first actions to want to do business with someone "accused of taking kickbacks?" Why is the school board president expressing supreme confidence in someone who attends to personnel matters by employing the language of a mafia hit man? Why is the board not concerned that the person who runs their district doesn't go through them before taking action but runs things through a political machine?
Also, and this might sound like nitpicking but this is all about educating children, after all, but why do we have a superintendent who can't manage to send a text to the right person and who seems to be semi literate. Recall that the missent text said Valentino meant to, again quoting the Journal, “go after” him for running “roughshot.” I think we need a chief educator who can master simple texting programs and doesn't run roughshod over the English language.
Hiring locally or from out of state doesn't matter if the person is wrapped in the tentacles of the Martinez/McClesky political machine, as both Eden and Valentino are.
It is amazing. People are hired who can be controlled and thus are likely to be corrupt. They sell themselves to the highest bidder. Why should we be surprised? Eden is a mere puppet for the Mayor's administration and the media who are connected all the way up to the Governor's office. The same must be true for the superintendent. Independence and integrity are not valued. In fact, they are abhorred. No one is calling them on it because the media is just as corrupt and ill intentioned. So what we have is the perfect storm. The public is tired and exhausted and sleeping through everything. Those who care and see what is happening are left shaking their head and waiting for the next insanity, knowing it will certainly come.
Jim, former APS board member R Lucero already talking about the fear of a buy out for Valentino. If my memory(what's left of it) serves me right Good ol Val stated at a news conference after being hired " I will not take any money to leave and you can remind me of that". So what's the big deal, let him go his merry way. Just have the sound bite ready to play to which ever bottom feeder lawyer decides to sue the good citizens of Albuquerque. I am suprised ( not really) that None of the media outlets remembered that statement. So let the search for a new Supt. begin.
Susana and Jay hired Valentino people have no idea how much Susana and Jay are controlling the whole state
So the board took swift and decisive action and felt it best to let it cook for a few days.
Superintendant Luis Valentino hasn't been seen. If he texted Mayor Berry for advice he's in the mayor's favorite motel room in Santa Rosa, but I'd search the bars of Juarez for someone face down on the table.
There has never been a QUALIFIED person for ANY job within City Government. It is ALWAYS the same people that go from position to position. It just putting a fox to guard a hen house. Recycled politicians is all we get, and its our own fault.
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