Albuquerque Public Schools

Employers and Employees – The Battle is Waged: The Fight is Important

Employers throughout the world, including Disney, American Express, Wells Fargo, and thousands more, have begun to battle their employees. Unionized shops, the battle has been waged for 50 years and shows no sign of relenting. Only recently have other employers joined the fray, not to help employees but to rid themselves of employees. These businesses are fighting employees against their employees for the company’s culture and soul. Couched in many a buzzword, political stance, and archaic practices, the employers want to rid their workforces of those they despise, and the battle is legal!

Make no mistake, what the employers are doing is immoral, unethical, and disastrous to those employees unfavored, but the actions remain perfectly legal, and this is the point we must understand. Laws have been changed against the majority for the selectivization and advancement of the minority. The fight is important because you might be next and never know your termination has been affected, but not enforced until it is too late. This article intends to raise awareness, not cover every particle in the fight or catalog every avenue an employer might take to attack an employee. Imperative to know and remember, as long as the actions are against individuals, no laws are being broken, and the employer wins when they can make the situation untenable, and the employee on the out quits or is forced out under a miasma of quasi-legal terms, so it appears that employee was treated fairly.

Never forget, a lawyer’s job is to make the illegal appear legal, and the legal appear illegal, so a judge must decide. Add in judicial activism and legislation from the judicial bench, and the trouble becomes apparent quickly. Unfortunately, the lawyers’ training has shifted, and the legal mind’s quality has slipped under the weight of many of the topics discussed herein. The vicious cycle can only be broken when the collective beliefs of the majority are re-established, not to the demise of the minority but the growth of the entire society.

Culture and Politics

As long as people have banded together into organizations, societies, governments, etc., there has been the push and pull of politics. All of recorded history bears truth to this fact. People have beliefs. They express these beliefs through representatives who rise and fall in different leadership positions, and societies change according to the expressed beliefs through which a society is governed (law). Pick a governing style (Communism, Socialism, Representative, Direct or Indirect Representation, Monarchy, Theocracy, etc.), and you will find the collective beliefs of the people expressed in how long a leader remains in power or the stability of the society so governed. Politics happens and is best described as the push/pull of collective beliefs expressed by populations. Economies rise and fall based upon the collective beliefs, expressed in the stability of the society and the government leader’s length of time as leader.

History has shown when a governing leader is short-lived, it is generally because they refused to follow the collective beliefs of the population, giving rise to the credit ratings of stable governments and societies being higher than for those who are changing leadership every couple of weeks or months. Those leaders who can tread the waters of public opinion maintain their jobs and, many times in history, their heads by following the collective beliefs in the morals of the people. The US Dollar’s stability is one of the strongest reasons this currency is one of the world’s benchmark currencies. Politics did that, and politics are the push/pull collective beliefs expressed by the citizens to their government leaders. The process is messy and needs to be messy for a reason; only in the expression of two divergent points can a healthy middle ground be established, and society can grow.

Culture is not politics, but politics and politically minded people can influence it. If politics is a society’s expressed beliefs, then culture is the expressed moral convictions as lived by a community. For example, many institutions have been built on the law that coveting (envy) is wrong, but the practices of the people living build a culture that accepts graft, bribes, and other incentives that, while violating the law, are accepted. Make sense? The closer the culture is to following both the letter of the law and the living of the law provides for a stable and influential culture to invest resources into.

How does one change the collective beliefs of a society and the living practices of that society; first, you capture the children. Bad ideas do not go away, they are either replaced with good ideas, or the bad ideas go into hiding, awaiting the time they can make a new appearance. Everything modern society is facing has been faced previously, and the difference is that the seeds for the current dilemmas were planted more than 100-years ago, but the bad ideas first captured the children. Why have these bad ideas advanced so rapidly? The education of children in social customs, collectively shared beliefs, and individual duty, has been eroded and attacked mercilessly since “progressive education” (the refusal to teach children to read, write, and perform math) began in the late 1800s with Dewey, who called functional illiteracy “Progress!”

One of the first words plasticized, twisted, ripped apart, and then put together to fuel tyranny through modular language was the term progress. Unfortunately, language has continued to suffer relentless attacks since the late 1800s, and more words have suffered the same fate in the modularization of language. Consider with me the history of Tea. Tea plantations in India were ruled by the iron fist of laws drafted in America and marketed with women in distress to the consuming nations geographically distant to where the crops were grown. The tyranny of slavery is the same tyranny we face with modular language. Nobody realizes this because to mention this connection is frowned upon by those making money off the tyranny of language. The tyranny of modular language fueled the oppression of entire populations to fuel an empire. The language led to actions (afternoon tea) and a host of other practices, words, and social customs to fuel the demand for Tea. Unfortunately, the tyranny of modular language also fueled hot wars in China, more geographically distant suffering from the population consuming Tea.

Language – Plastic Terms

Diversity, what is it; what does it mean in practice versus meaning from a dictionary; what value does it have for a business? Equity, same problem, fewer answers, more confusion. Inclusion, same problem, confusion, chaos, and eventual destruction. These are, but a small sample of current buzzwords strung together and causing problems in businesses. There are entire word classes set apart for plasticization, which sound good to the ear, and that people love to rally behind, but these terms cover a hidden agenda. They have been weaponized to destroy, not lift and build—tyranny through modular language, plastic words.

American Express is a perfect example of how DE&I efforts (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) have been weaponized to pick away, through politics, the non-politically affiliated, those who show up to their employment and merely want to work their job. The University of Phoenix is another company long captured by, and suffering from, DE&I tyrants. Both American Express and the University of Phoenix began their DE&I journeys with the best of intentions. Still, the result remains the same, the minority classes bring politics anathema to good order and discipline into the company, initiating change cloaked in DE&I. The result has been the discouragement and disenfranchisement of employees. The DE&I champions crow and cheer for these people leaving as it injects more DE&I hiring, and the new employees realize that unless they are politically affiliated, read that as aligned to a militant tyrant in DE&I, they too will be out of work very shortly.

Language matters, and when terms are plasticized, the only result is destruction and tyranny. Consider the teachers in the Albuquerque Public Schools System or the employees of the State of New Mexico; both populations stress DE&I initiatives under various names but with the same purpose. Who are the enemies of DE&I; those who do not wear their politics on their sleeves, acting as emotionally charged smart bombs of the media. Even if a person holds some of the DE&I beliefs, if they are not militant in their beliefs, they are ostracized by their language, judged, and removed from employment.

When the patients rule the asylum, the problems for all patients in the asylum double and triple, not improve. The same result occurs when the vocal minorities of a population gain power that is not theirs, and they make no concerted efforts to rule fairly and justly. One of the truths about any revolution is that those who initiated the revolution rarely (if ever) get to enjoy the fruits of their rebellion as they are so focused on fixing what they perceive as injustices, they miss that they have become worse in action than those they deposed.

80-20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule is known by many monikers, but always it is the same rule, in different wrapping – 80% of a population will be controlled by 20%. In standard terms, the minority is setting the culture for the 80% to follow, and they hope you will never realize you are stronger without the vocal minority than with them. Take the recent changes at Disney. There is a vocal minority demanding change, couching the changes in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the Disney business model is about to self-destruct. The same is true of American Express, where if you are male and white, you are not welcome. But, if you are one of the members of any number of protected classes, you are welcome. When politics interferes in professional pursuits, 80% will always suffer under the tyranny of the 20%. What happens when the vocal minority becomes the majority, they fang themselves to death, and nobody is left to care because that 80% majority has left them to their own devices.

It should go without saying, but I will make plain, I am not against diversity. I do believe that diversity for diversity’s sake is wrong, immoral, unethical, and anathema to good order in a society. Diversity of thought should be preeminent as the diversity of thought transcends skin color and lifestyle choices. Diversity of thinking includes the desire to see all succeed on merit, character, and individual action. I abhor in the strongest terms picking a person solely based on their gender, skin color, religious preferences, disability status, culture, or any variable that supersedes accomplishment, education, and learned skill set. The same is valid for inclusion and equity; when people cannot compete solely upon achievement, education, and intellectual skill sets, this creates an imbalance in the population.

Hence roadblocks to education must be removed, character-defining and building experiences should be shared and taught, and achievement recognized. What is missing from schools from K-12 and up; is accomplishment, education, and learned skill sets. What has replaced these; is DE&I, where the vocal minority is destroying with no thought for what replaces the institutions, societies, corporations, and more. Iconoclasm in its most destructive form has taken over employers, and these companies are committing suicide to pacify, tranquilize, and placate a small population at the expense of all.

Inherently, change is not bad but growing, productive, and useful change requires inputs from a diverse population. Inclusion is not inherently a bad thing, but the current demands for inclusion, only for the sake of inclusion, make the activities of the vocal minority lethal to the entire social body. Equity is a prerequisite for society to grow, develop, and be stable long-term. This is why societies built on slavery, or those muzzling 50% of the population, are inherently ripe for hostile takeovers.

The actions of the vocal minority in employment right now are precarious at best, suicidal at worst, and permanently immoral and unethical. The models they promote have no substance and enable unfair, unjust, and unequal systems. Worse, companies that flout their customer base, which is the largest stakeholder in any business, will find smaller profit margins and higher expenses as employee churn increases.

One truth that should give hope to the employees affected is that when the minority becomes the majority in a body and does not have any substance, they destroy themselves. C-Leaders, are you sure you want to take the company you have been placed in control over down this dangerous path? On my first day at American Express, new hires were introduced to the rich, proud, and stable company history and core values. How sad it is to witness how fast this company has fallen! Who will replace these companies? Will their replacements learn from the failures of the past?

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

NO MORE BS: Child Abuse in K-12 Education

Problems The child abuse I witness in K-12 Education makes me want to weep, pull my hair in frustration, and become irrational in demanding change! K-12 education in America, and much of the world, has been deliberately designed to abuse your child since the late 1800s! Almost since the inception of government-mandated “free education,” the methods of teaching and educating children has been captured by the enemies of America and been planting the seeds of America’s demise.

An astute reader asked me how I can draw a line of congruence between how a student is treated in public school and child abuse. The reader maintained this needed to be explained and clearly spelled out. Hence, this is the explanation as to how and why K-12 education is abusing children.

Abuse of children occurs through the constant lowering standards, bell-curve grading, and wasting time on non-school related topics, all while not teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Want more on how K-12 Education abuses your child; I recommend reading, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America – a Chronological Paper Trail. The link takes you to the digital edition. The book is well worth your time!

Tools Without Head Start programs, most American children will be in school from age 6 to age 18. Twelve years to master the basics of society, the history of their country and state, understand a social order exists outside the home, learn to read, write, speak, think, and perform to an academic standard. Each child has but a single chance at K-12 education. When a public school spends valuable time on lesser value topics in place of reading, writing, and arithmetic, that student’s time is wasted, and their potential is hindered, hampered, and harmed. As the parent or guardian, do you understand the classroom distraction is deliberate, to dumb your child to the level of compliant pudding?

What are those “topics of lesser value?”

Does a child in third-grade need to know how to put on a condom? Does a child in first-grade need to know some families have two-mommies or two-daddies? One curriculum for second-graders mystified me; the students would spend a year recognizing and defeating the “internal-bully.” Fourth-Grade science was all about caring for the environment and race or overcoming white privilege. Unfortunately, each new school year brings more egregious examples of leftist ideology into classrooms. A school district in America showed a pornographic film for sexual education to young children; sure, the film was “discussed in the classroom,” but how many students understood or had the mental capacity to draw conclusions on sex?

Detective 3 I talked to some Albuquerque Public School (APS) parents and senior and junior level high school students about the quality of education they are either receiving or witnessing in APS classrooms. Here are some examples and how these examples are child abuse:

I heard stories about verbal assignments where the student memorized a standard response in the APS classroom, and this standard response was acceptable for participating in the classroom discussions.
- Classroom participation is where a teacher gains evidence that the material presented not only makes sense but that the student can then apply the material in a variety of ways and means. Verbal memorization is a useful skill. But memorization does not equate to participation, nor does memorization reflect critical thinking skills where materials are applied.
- I still remember the work I put into memorizing a poem for a school assignment, which also included a poem recitation contest. The classroom assignment was to memorize a multi-stanza poem, and the classroom grade was not dependent upon the performance in the poetic competition. Memorizing a multi-stanza poem took me weeks, lots of heavy mental lifting, and tons of effort. I took fourth in the contest for sixth-grade students, out of four participating students. I spent too much time memorizing and not enough time speaking the poem to improve delivery. These are “other” lessons learned in a school environment.
- Memorizing a set classroom response for “participation” points is the epitome of mental abuse and a waste of a student’s time. Wasting valuable classroom time is an indirect method of abusing the student. Consider a student is in a classroom for 50-minutes, with a 10-minute break to move to the next class. If that teacher does not maximize the learning time, all those attending that class are abused because their time was wasted.
- I saw my first R-rated movie in school, not about an educational topic. Still, the teacher thought it was a good movie and obtained permission to view the film in multiple consecutive classes, and then we “discussed” the film to complete the assignment. I don’t remember the movie’s name, but I remember being bored out of my skull during these three weeks and still wonder why we had to participate in this lesson.
I heard about verbal book reports because the APS teacher claims not to have the time to grade written book reports.
- Verbal book reports do not require critical thinking to produce, nor does an oral report reflect a deep understanding of the material or scored upon an objective, non-biased scoring system. From experience, I know how to bluff a verbal book report; you read the back flap and pull a couple of cool quotes, and an improv speech is easily assembled. I learned how to do this in school for oral book reports, five-minutes before the report was due.
- Remember time is critical; 12- years include summer vacations, all the Federal Holidays, winter/spring break, Teacher Conferences, Parent-Teacher week off, etc. These reduce the number of days a student is physically in the classroom. Thus, every minute counts, every assignment counts, and not capitalizing upon the student’s time is abusing the child.
- Common core classrooms are focused upon the materials presented, dreamed up by a group of disconnected bureaucrats, and do not capitalize upon the “other” lessons learned in school. For example, how can a student be expected to form good habits about reading, or a love of reading, while not reading, not learning through phonics, and not being exposed to the vast array of books? Reading remains a key metric in measuring learning, but reading is not focused on the classroom. Reading develops imagination, critical thinking, evaluation, and so much more, yet common core continues to refuse to acknowledge these “other” lessons a student learns when they read and draft a report, focusing only upon teaching to a test, e.g., the ACT or SAT.
I heard about and witnessed APS classrooms that have churned through 5 or more teachers in a single year.
- Classroom continuity builds confidence, relationships, and cohesion in the learning process. Teacher churn, specifically in the Albuquerque Public School District, is remarkably high. But APS refuses to address the why behind teacher churn, insane policies, dumb procedures, and a horribly political environment where teacher innovation is all but punished. The teacher creativity that does not strictly adhere to APS rules, guidelines, and mandates means the teacher is not in charge of the classroom but the school board’s bureaucrats. The stress teachers, educational assistants, and other teaching staff are experiencing are ruining teachers. This stress is witnessed by the students who are harmed by teacher churn, teacher frustration, and the byzantine quagmire APS has produced in which teachers exist.
- Teacher churn is wasting student time, destroying student relationships, and wasting considerable student time; thus, by abusing the teachers and teaching staff, APS indirectly abuses children.
An educational assistant (teacher’s aide) told me stories about a verbally abusive APS teacher who constantly bad-mouthed the students to the student’s faces. But, because that teacher has been around forever, the words used and disparaging tone and teacher attitude are not illegal; the district refuses to remove the teacher from the classroom due to the teacher shortage and allowed the teacher to retire with full retirement benefits.
- Another example of child abuse, only this time that damage is directly observable by students and parents and required immediate remediation, but the teacher was allowed to skip. Yet, APS told the principal not to initiate removal of the teacher, hampered all attempts to move the teacher to non-teaching roles, and the teacher’s verbal haranguing has only gotten worse over time. Thus, we see another example of how APS is abusing children both directly and indirectly.

Theres more Parents, how many times are these stories repeated in your child’s school district? How many times are race and poverty being blamed for low classroom educational attainment? The reality is that the teachers are suffering because of the abuse they receive from the school district, and the teacher abuse is being passed onto the students. If a teacher was sexually molesting your child, would this anger and excite you to action? If so, why doesn’t the abuse inflicted upon your child by indirect, direct means that waste their time and deny their innate potential? Your child gets a single opportunity for education, and if the foundational blocks are not correctly set in K-12 classrooms, your child will be hindered for life.

Three of my younger brothers were constantly told they had no value, could not learn, and were passed anyway from grade-to-grade. All three of these people are convinced they cannot learn and only deserve jobs that abuse them. Except, all three have IQ scores. Their academic potential was measured and found wanting by a teacher who did not have the time to explain and teach adequately due to the requirement to teach a test.

Detective 2 I substitute taught, for a short season, high school students. I met a brilliant young lady who the school leadership forced into alternative high school because her parents were poor and lived in poverty. The school leadership demanded she go to work to support her family and study “elsewhere.” I met jaded students whose attitudes were programmed into them because they were deemed less likely to graduate. Those jaded students were forced into trade classes as options for learning. The teachers and school board were using their parents’ economic circumstances in judging these students’ potentials. Their education rights were systematically stripped from them until they believed they had no potential, no future, no abilities, talents, and skills.

I asked these parents’ questions in drafting this article and remain astonished that the parents cannot make the connection between lost opportunity, poorly taught lessons, and life-altering educational abuse. Want to pay less for food stamps and other government subsidy programs; improve education in K-12 classrooms. Want to improve your student’s potential; help them read using phonics, develop a love of literature, help them write with critical thinking, and do the math per formulaic logic. Want your tax dollars spent on education to return a more significant dividend for your investment; hold the school district accountable for every poor decision, bad policy, and ridiculous practice forced upon a teacher in the classroom.

America is the Land of the Free because we do not believe that their parents limit their children’s potential. America is the Land of Liberty because we never believed that a person could not improve, grow, change, and become better. Yet, this is precisely what is happening behind the classroom doors in America’s unbelievably expensive school systems. Our children are being taught that their potential is limited if they were born into poverty or are not the right race, their “American Dream” is being chained to falsehoods, and mental abuse is heaped upon them.

The school boards across America have abused our students enough. The corporations involved in selling technology and textbooks have abused our students enough. The government has abused our children enough, and the perpetrators need to be held accountable! The school system desperately requires change. From the Department of Education to the local school board, the totalitarian education system in America must adapt or disappear. The abuses of the school district are creating a bloated welfare state and hostile dependency upon government subsidies. If America is to remain the land of the free, home of the brave, and a source of educated free-people, we must improve K-12 education in America today!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

NO MORE BS – Local Elections: The Key

Duty Several years back, on a conservative social media site, I discussed the importance of elections with a person. Their position was that the only elections that mattered were Federal elections, as these are the only elections that the liberal leftists have the power to steal freedoms. I begged to differ then, and I continue to maintain that local elections are more critical, and the most important elections are mayoral and school board elections. All I ask here is to explain; if you disagree, please let’s discuss your thoughts openly; just hear me out, please.

When it comes to taxes, the most noticeable are those experienced locally, Gas Tax, Property Tax, Sales Tax, etc. The local additions to taxes make the national taxes so onerous to pay, but these taxes are all decided by your neighbors and local elections. For example, Phoenix, Arizona, has an 8.6% sales tax, of which 5.6% belongs to the state, and 0.7% belongs to Maricopa County, leaving 2.3% of every penny of purchased goods taxed by local officials. This is just the sales tax, not including all the other government fees, which are taxes, but the government couches these as fees, that oddly enough, sales tax is charged.

Theres more When measuring elections, and based solely upon taxes, the more critical election is the local election for city and county offices. I spent four years studying the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) while residing in Albuquerque, NM. What I found shocked, amazed, frightened, and blew my mind. I do not know your school districts; however, I would presume many of the same problems found in APS are alive and well in your school district. Hence, APS is used here as a warning and a proof of concept that local elections have more dramatic consequences than Federal Elections.

The residential property tax rate in Albuquerque, NM., is 1.05%. With a total grant budget of $1.6 Billion, no numbers have been found for the amount of tax revenue APS is handed; the school district is undoubtedly well funded. From the 2018-2019 school survey on APS performance, we find a common theme from the citizens to the APS school district, reduce administration costs. The answer from APS school administrators was to “Increase Counselors, Social Workers, Security, and other staff to support our student’s mental and physical health … Increase Custodians across the schools [sic].” The Albuquerque Journal reports that APS is the lead agency for taking tax dollar revenues. With Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque, plus property taxes, all collected at ridiculous rates, APS must be getting a significant chunk of revenue. Still, APS demands more money, “For the children.”

Problems An Educational Assistant (EA; Teacher’s Aide) was called upon to be a substitute teacher in Seventh Grade math; because APS is bereft of substitute teachers and is experiencing a teacher drought. The EA is not a licensed substitute teacher; thus, when asked how this is legal to have an EA substituting outside her legally licensed work and expertise, she said she “didn’t know” and then acknowledged this is standard practice. The EA further elaborated that when she asked for a substitute teacher because her teacher was out or off, she had a very low probability of ever getting a licensed substitute teacher and generally had to teach the class, with no extra money for doing extra work. The EA has worked in four other states in the US as an Educational Assistant/Teacher’s Aide and has never been licensed to be a substitute teacher; yet, somehow, in APS, she can be regularly called upon to substitute teach.

Scared Eyes! In discussing teacher performance, another classic APS child abuse issue was concerned, all while a good teacher is being forced out of her position. Because of the teacher drought, APS is experiencing, and due to reduced registrations in a bilingual education school, an illiterate teacher in both Spanish and English, who had to pass a state-mandated test to get the license to teach bilingual students, is going to keep her job for another year. This intellectually challenged teacher has been reported to APS more than a dozen times for swearing, insulting, and not being able to teach. Still, this teacher was just offered a full-time position to teach bilingual students when she cannot speak/read/write in either English or Spanish at an academically acceptable level. Due to falling registrations, a Kindergarten teacher, who was the last one hired at this school, is being terminated. The teacher being released is a stellar teacher, works hard, is well-liked by staff, parents, and students. Since joining APS, this phenomenal teacher has been assigned to “catch” those students from the most impoverished homes and get them up to speed academically. As reported by all who know this teacher, she is exemplary in her assigned duties, fully 180-degrees separate from the illiterate teacher who landed her job under shady circumstances or nepotism. Yet the bad teacher is being kept and the good discharged.

The EA discussed above was called to substitute teach, spent 90-minutes after work writing notes to the regular teacher, and will not be reimbursed for her extra time. Please note, this is 90-minutes on top of her regularly scheduled, non-paid, mandatory overtime. Thus, every day this EA loses 90-minutes of pay at the end of the day and between 60 and 90 minutes at the start of the day, with no reimbursement to cover this employer-mandated time. With a regular school year average of 38-weeks, 5-days per week average worked, and roughly 150-minutes per day unpaid, an average EA salary of $15,116.50 ($9.95 per hour), this EA is losing approximately $2,836.70 each school year

Wasting Time During the summer of 2019, for the first time in 15-years, APS full-time licensed teachers received a pay raise. Not for the first time in 15-years, the teachers saw a slew of additional requirements, mandates, and reductions in alternative licensure to “pay” for the teacher pay raise. All while the school board received yet another pay increase. The voters have already told APS NO on a slew of tax increases and bond sale schemes, yet, in November 2019, APS was trying again to raise taxes, raise money, and raise administrator salaries.

Detective 4 Understanding checkpoint, we have more than one instance of a teacher unable to perform their duties and verbally abusing students. We have a functionally illiterate teacher who landed her position based on either shady circumstances or through nepotism. We have a recorded phenomenal teacher being summarily discharged during a teacher drought. We have citizens, parents, and a concerned community begging for reduced administration, where APS then responds they are increasing administration. Then we have non-licensed staff forced to work outside their licensure because the administration cannot obtain substitute teachers. Plus, the teaching staff is forced to work extra hours without proper compensation.

Where are the more essential elections to focus upon, Federal or City/County/State? The local elections strip more money and freedoms from a person than the federal elections. The local elections represent a template of how national elections are stolen. The provincial election process is where direct and visible harm comes to the citizen. Yet, some people will only vote in federal elections.

If the BS government throws at the people is ever to be culled, we the citizens need first to get control and a positive handle upon the local elections. Make the school board election process more transparent and more responsible to the community they serve. These are your neighbors causing you pain, cheating (abusing) your children of their educational opportunities, and costing you thousands of dollars in tax revenues. The local teacher you meet to discuss your child is stuck in a proverbial maelstrom. The administrators are dictating, the student doesn’t understand, the teacher does not have time to explain, and your child is left behind and abused, all because of how the school board operates!

Blue Money Burning APS holds two titles for performance, APS is the largest school district in New Mexico, and APS has the worst-performing students academically. Why? Not because there are insufficient funds to operate, but because of the elected leaders and the labor unions interfering with how teachers teach! Annually, America spends, per education data.org, on K-12 schools $612.7 billion, or $12,612 per pupil. Federal, state, and local governments spend $720.9 billion, or $14,840 per pupil, to fund K-12 public education. Where does the money spent per student go; the United States spends a higher percentage on non-teaching educational staff, including school administrators.

Based solely upon the school board performance, what elections are more critical federal or local? It would be best if you decided this for yourself. As for me, I am going to continue paying more attention to the local elections, spending time getting to know candidates running for local offices, judgeships, school boards, mayor, county board, sheriff, and dog catcher, because at the end of the day these are my neighbors. They need to be called out for government malfeasance, theft, and child abuse! I believe that local elections can win or lose the country long before a president takes office.

Per a collection of articles published by Forbes.com, California is the US State with the most out of control debt at $248.67 Billion in liabilities, with $53.05 Billion in assets, or five times more debt than it can pay off if forced into receivership. Who holds that debt remains a murky question due to how each state calculates their debt, who they sell bonds to, and other debt financing options? What is clear is that too often, the states with the highest debt have the most out of control spenders in elected offices. Want an eye-opening experience? Look up your city/town/county debt as a portion of the state debt, and ask the elected officials who hold those debt markers? If that politician can even give you a straight and intelligible answer, you are doing better than every other city/town/county in America.

Boris & Natasha Please, pay closer attention to who is running for public office at all levels of government. But, when faced with critical resource shortages, pay more immediate attention to local elections. By careful design, many local elections have been purposefully made to appear inconsequential, not worth investing your time, and of such extreme unimportance that voting is considered a waste of time. But, from studying history, I know these are the elections where the most attention needs to be paid, and time invested in preventing government overreach, tax burden increases, and loss of rights and liberties.

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the photos displayed.

Uncomfortable Truths – More News from Albuquerque Public Schools

Some friends discovered I was attempting, again, to work as a substitute teacher for Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) and told me to not waste my time and talents. They then shared with me some of the recent changes and more issues at APS that shocked and horrified me. I do not have a student in the APS school district; thus, all I can do is relate their stories here in the hopes of generating enough angst that someone in the Department of Education will rip the scab off the injury called APS, and begin some sunshine disinfectant.

Government Largess 2 An Educational Assistant (EA; Teacher’s Aide) was called upon to be a substitute teacher in Seventh Grade math; because APS is bereft of substitute teachers and is experiencing a teacher drought. The EA is not a licensed substitute teacher; thus, when asked how this is legal, to have an EA substituting outside her regular work and expertise, she said she “didn’t know” and then acknowledged this is standard practice. The EA went on to further elaborate saying that when she has asked for a substitute teacher because her teacher was out or off, she had a very low probability of ever getting a licensed substitute teacher and generally had to teach the class, with no extra money for doing extra work. Why does the NM Professional Licensure classify licenses, and charge horrendous fees for licensure, if EA’s can be “regularly called upon to substitute teach?” My friend has worked in four other states in the US as an Educational Assistant/Teacher’s Aide, and has never been licensed to be a substitute teacher; yet, somehow in APS, she can be regularly called upon to substitute teach.

While discussing teacher performance, another classic APS child abuse issue was uncovered, all while a good teacher is being forced out of her position. Because of the teacher drought, APS is experiencing, and due to reduced registrations in a Bi-Lingual education school, an illiterate teacher in both Spanish and English, who had to pass a state-mandated test to get the license to teach bilingual students, is going to keep her job for another year. This intellectually challenged teacher has been reported to APS more than a dozen times for swearing, insulting, and not being able to teach; but this teacher was just offered a full-time position teaching bilingual students, when she cannot speak/read/write in either English or Spanish at an academically acceptable level to teach others. Due to falling registrations, a Kindergarten teacher, who was the last one hired at this school, is being laid-off. The teacher, being terminated is a stellar teacher, works hard, is well-liked by staff, parents, and students. Since joining APS, this phenomenal teacher has been assigned to “catch” those students from the most impoverished homes and get them up to speed academically. Reported by all who know this teacher, she is exemplary in her assigned duties; fully 180-degrees separate from the illiterate teacher who landed her job under shady circumstances or nepotism. Yet the bad teacher is being kept and the good discharged. APS, and by extension, the NM Professional Licensure board, are committing child abuse on such a scale, there should be criminal charges.

I have been in business a long time, and one of the fundamental rules of business is if people are assigned to work, and mandatorily required to put in extra time, those people must be paid for their extra time. In discussing job mandates and requirements with more than forty-different full-time, substitute, and EA instructional staff members of APS, a regular theme arises; if the school mandates the instructional staff is required to work, they will not be paid for their extra time. For example, the EA discussed above, was called to substitute teach, spent 90-minutes after work writing notes to the regular teacher, and will not be reimbursed for her extra time. Please note, this is 90-minutes on top of her regularly scheduled, non-paid, mandatory overtime. Thus, every day, this EA loses 90-minutes of pay at the end of the day and between 60 and 90 minutes at the start of the day, with no reimbursement to cover this employer-mandated time. With a regular school year average of 38-weeks, 5-days per week average worked, and roughly 150-minutes per day unpaid, an average EA salary of $15,116.50 ($9.95 per hour), this EA is losing approximately $2,836.70 each school year. Where is the NM Department of Labor? Where is the NM Legislature? Where is the NM Public Education Department (NM PED), who also happens to be in charge of overseeing licensure? As I understand this is a widespread general practice for all teaching staff, but I can attest that the administrators leave promptly on time and arrive on time, and if they must work late they are reimbursed for their time. Why is the teaching staff treated differently?

Government Largess 4 With a total grant budget of $1.6 Billion, no numbers have been found for the amount of tax revenue APS is handed, the school district is certainly well funded. From the 2018-2019 school survey on APS performance, we find a common theme from the citizens to the APS school district, reduce administration costs. The answer from APS school administrators was to, “Increase Counselors, Social Workers, Security and other staff to support our student’s mental and physical health … Increase Custodians across the schools [sic].” The Albuquerque Journal reports that APS is the lead agency for taking tax dollar revenues. With Bernalillo County and City of Albuquerque, plus property taxes, all being collected at ridiculous rates, APS must be getting a significant chunk of revenue; still, APS demands more money “For the children.”

Understanding checkpoint, we have more than one instance of a teacher unable to perform their duties, and verbally abusing students. We have a functionally illiterate teacher who landed her position based on either shady circumstances, or through nepotism, and we have a recorded phenomenal teacher being summarily discharged during a teacher drought. We have citizens, parents, and a concerned community begging for reduced administration, where APS then responds they are increasing administration. Then we have non-licensed staff forced to work outside their licensure because the administration cannot obtain substitute teachers, and teaching staff forced to work extra hours without proper compensation. Where is the public outrage? Where are the lawyers? Where are the politicians demanding answers? These problems are not new to APS; why the silence?

You're Fired During the summer of 2019, for the first time in 15-years, APS full-time licensed teachers received a pay raise. Not for the first time in 15-years, the teachers saw a slew of additional requirements, mandates, and reductions in alternative licensure to “pay” for the teacher pay raise. All while the school board received yet another pay increase. The voters have already told APS NO on a slew of tax increases and bond sale schemes; however, in November 2019, APS is trying again to raise taxes, raise money, and raise administrator salaries. Albuquerque, the next time Bernalillo County, City of Albuquerque, or APS asks you for more money, ask them when they will deliver education to students, a reduced administration, and fix the teacher drought? It is blatantly apparent to me that when APS, City of Albuquerque, or Bernalillo County claim, “It’s for the children,” they really mean they want a pay raise on your blood, sweat, and tears; tell them no!

The images used herein were obtained in the public domain, this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

One Chance – How Albuquerque Public Schools is Abusing Children: Shifting the Educational Paradigm

Government Largess 2 An astute reader asked me how I can draw a line of congruence between how a student is treated in public school and child abuse. The reader maintained this needed to be explained and clearly spelled out. Hence, this is the explanation as to how and why K-12 is abusing children by lowering standards, while not teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Most American children, without Head Start programs, will be in school from age 6 to age 18. Twelve years to master the basics of society, the history of their country and state, understand a social order exists outside the home, learn to read, write, speak, think, and perform to an academic standard. Each child has but a single chance at K-12 education, and when a public school spends valuable time on topics of less value in place of reading, writing, and arithmetic, that student’s time is wasted and their potential is hindered, hampered, and harmed.

I was talking to some Albuquerque Public School (APS) parents and senior and junior level high school students about the quality of education they are either receiving or witnessing in APS classrooms. Here are some examples and how these examples are child abuse:

I heard stories about verbal assignments where the student memorized a standard response in the APS classroom, and this standard response was acceptable for participating in the classroom discussions.
- Classroom participation is where a teacher gains evidence that the material presented not only makes sense but that the student can then apply the material in a variety of ways and means. Verbal memorization is a useful skill, but memorization does not equate to participation, nor does memorization reflect critical thinking skills where materials are applied.
- I still remember the work I put into memorizing a poem for a school assignment a poem recitation contest. The classroom assignment, memorize a multi-stanza poem, and the classroom grade was not dependent upon the performance in the poetic competition. Memorizing a multi-stanza poem took me weeks, lots of heavy mental lifting, and tons of effort. I took fourth in the contest for sixth-grade students, out four participating. I spent too much time memorizing and not enough time speaking the poem to improve delivery. These are “other” lessons learned in a school environment.
- Memorizing a set classroom response for “participation” points is the epitome of mental abuse and a waste of a student’s time. Wasting valuable classroom time is an indirect method of abusing the student. Consider a student is in a classroom for 50-minutes, with a 10-minute break to move to the next class. If that teacher does not maximize the learning time, all those attending that class are harmed, because their time was wasted.
- I saw my first R-rated movie in school, not about an educational topic, but the teacher thought it was a good movie and obtained permission for us to view the film in multiple consecutive classes, and then we “discussed” the film to complete the assignment. I don’t remember the name of the movie, but I remember being bored out of my skull during these three weeks and still wonder why we had to participate in this lesson.
I heard about verbal book reports because the APS teacher does not have the time to grade written book reports.
- Verbal book reports do not require critical thinking to produce, nor does an oral report reflect a deep understanding of the material, or be scored upon an objective non-biased scoring system. From experience, I know how to bluff a verbal book report; you read the back flap and pull a couple of cool quotes, and an improv speech is easily assembled. I learned how to do this in school for oral book reports, five-minutes before the report was due.
- Remember time is critical; 12- years which include summer vacations, plus all the Federal Holidays, winter/spring break, Teacher Conferences, Parent-Teacher week off, etc. all reduce the number of days a student is physically in the classroom. Thus, every minute counts, every assignment counts, not capitalizing upon the time the student is in class is abusing the child.
- Common core classrooms are focused upon the materials presented, dreamed up by a group of disconnected bureaucrats, and does not capitalize upon the “other” lessons learned in school. For example, how can a student be expected to form good habits about reading, or a love of reading, while not reading, not learning through phonetics, and not being exposed to the vast array of books? Reading remains a key metric in measuring learning, but reading is not being focused upon in the classroom. Reading develops imagination, critical thinking, evaluation, and so much more; yet, common core continues to refuse to acknowledge these “other” lessons a student learns when they read and write a report, focusing only upon teaching to a test, the SAT.
I heard about APS classrooms who have churned through 5 or more teachers in a single year.
- Classroom continuity builds confidence, relationships, and cohesion in the learning process. Teacher churn, specifically in the Albuquerque Public School District, is very high. But APS refuses to address the why behind teacher churn, insane policies, dumb procedures, and a horribly political environment where teacher innovation is all but punished. The teacher creativity that does not strictly adhere to APS rules, guidelines, and mandates means the teacher is not in charge of the classroom, but the bureaucrats on the school board. The stress teachers, educational assistants, and other teaching staff, are experiencing are ruining teachers, and this stress is witnessed by the students who are harmed by teacher churn, teacher frustration, and the byzantine quagmire APS has produced in which teachers exist.
- Teacher churn is wasting student time, destroying student relationships, and wasting considerable student time; thus, by abusing the teachers and teaching staff, APS is indirectly and directly abusing children.
An educational assistant (teacher’s aide) told me stories about a verbally abusive APS teacher who constantly bad-mouthed the students, to the student’s faces; but, because that teacher has been around forever, the words used and disparaging tone, and teacher attitude are not illegal, the district refuses to remove the teacher from the classroom due to the teacher shortage, and allow the teacher to retire shortly.
- Another example of child abuse, only this time that damage is directly observable by students and parents, and requires immediate remediation. Yet, APS has told the principal to not initiate removal of the teacher, has hampered all attempts to move the teacher to another non-teaching role, and the verbal haranguing of the students by the teacher has only gotten worse over time. Thus, we see another example of how APS is abusing children both directly and indirectly.

Government Largess 4 Parents, how many times are these stories being repeated in your child’s school district? How many times are race and poverty being blamed for poor classroom educational attainment; but, the reality is that the teachers are suffering because of the abuse they receive from the school district and the teacher abuse is being passed onto the students. If a teacher was sexually molesting your child, would this anger and excite you to action? If so, why doesn’t the abuse inflicted upon your child by indirect, and direct means that wastes their time, and denies their innate potential? Your child gets a single opportunity for education, and if the foundational blocks are not correctly set in K-12 classrooms, your child will be hindered for life.

I asked these questions of parents in drafting this article and remain astounded that the parents cannot make the connection between lost opportunity, poorly taught lessons, and life-altering education. Want to pay less for food stamps and other government subsidy programs; improve education in K-12 classrooms. Want to improve the potential in your student; help them read using phonetics and develop a love of literature, help the student to write with critical thinking, and do the math per formulaic logic. Want your tax dollars spent on education to return a more significant dividend for your investment; hold the school district accountable for every poor decision, bad policy, and ridiculous practice forced upon a teacher in the classroom.

You're Fired The school boards across America have abused our students enough, and the perpetrators need to be held accountable, and the system desperately requires change. The totalitarian education system in America from the Department of Education to the local school board must adapt or disappear. The abuses of the school district are creating a bloated welfare state and hostile dependency upon government subsidies. If America is to remain the land of the free, home of the brave, and a source of educated free-people, we must improve K-12 education in America today!

The images used herein were obtained in the public domain, this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

The Ugly Face of Government Largess – The Bureaucrat!

Charles A. Reich, an American legal and social scholar as well as an author who was a Professor at Yale Law School, in his paper “The New Property” writes about how government largess created the bureaucrat. The same bureaucrat who invents rules to exercise authority creates problems to stop work, and generally acts in a manner conducive to a feudal lord over the taxpayer, to pick winners and losers through government magnanimity, rather that specific individual bureaucrat’s magnanimity. Well, the bureaucrat has one thing correct, their enmity is destroying America!

New Mexico is facing a severe teacher shortage, Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) is facing not only a significant teacher shortage but also remains completely clogged with bureaucratic drones that thwart efforts by people to help meet the teacher shortage and improve education in New Mexico’s largest public school district. With a regular need for 300+-substitute teachers and pages of teacher openings, logic would say, “Let us innovate, create, and participate actively in alternative teacher licensure programs to fill this teaching gap.” Herein is the mind of the bureaucrat most obvious; APS refuses to participate, sponsor, host, or help those seeking a teacher license a path forward to obtain a teaching license through alternative licensure.

Government Largess 2 The APS bureaucrats did three things this Summer, they hired Kelly Education Services to attempt to improve the substitute teaching pool. Except, the contract with Kelly does not go into effect until October 14^th, the better part of two months after the school opened for a new year. The bureaucrats over substitute teaching, never changed the convoluted and insane practices to reduce costs and help those seeking licensure to afford to become substitute teachers. The school board approved a much-needed pay raise for fully-licensed teachers; while minimizing the opportunities for alternative licensure, and increasing the paperwork and procedures to become a licensed teacher. As well as making the current teachers suffer more under onerous district mandates. The mind of the bureaucrat is entirely on display, and APS’ actions constitute child abuse!

APS is also suffering from a school principal and other administrative staff shortage. Between NM State and APS, the bureaucrats have created a system of public education geared to keep those students in poverty, as far away from education as possible. To continue to actively seek ways to prevent students from learning, by providing lower student standards, less emphasis upon reading, writing, and arithmetic, all the while continuing to rely upon “magic-bullet” expensive programs that cannot deliver, due to the bureaucratic interference, by APS. The NM State Professional Licensure programs are replete with hurdles to stop, thwart, and actively protect the APS bureaucrats. Hence, NM State is guilty of child abuse, by protecting bureaucrats who keep students from becoming educated.

Today, I drove from Albuquerque, NM to Santa Fe, NM, specifically to the New Mexico Professional Licensure Bureau, to have a conversation with the state officials regarding alternative licensure for teaching, and to renew my substitute teachers license. My conversation lasted less than five minutes, with a bureaucrat who represents the epitome of a useless bureaucratic drone. The bureaucrat fell back on answers using policy, blame-shifting tactics, that included answers that provided no information and was intended to frustrate the applicant; all while acting like I was an interruption to her day. The cubicle secured room behind the “service-window” has piles of work laying in dusty dormant heaps throughout the office walkways. The office ambiance resembled a sleeping cave, where the lights are turned low, and with tall cubicle walls; thus, it is apparent the bureau is not home to efficient work. The office has a “service-window,” where the applicant can approach and attempt to conduct business. But, to contact this State Office, you must first run the gauntlet through rent-a-cops with Schutzstaffel (Nazi-Germany SS Para-military troops) wannabes standing “guard” in the front of the building.

Department of Homeland Security, you have created a monster, and the blame is all yours! SCG, no website found, is the current contractor to Homeland Security for the Federal Buildings in Santa Fe, NM. These Rent-a-Cop Bureaucrats think that they can judge how a person is feeling, and deny access to a Federal Building based solely upon their discretion, and personal opinions of the citizen entering the building. I have now had this same issue at three Federal Buildings in NM. While I was very disgruntled the first time this occurred, by the 15^th time, I can only say, “Department of Homeland Security, please cease hiring snowflakes, rent-a-cops, and thugs as “security” for Federal Buildings.” Better still, train them in professionalism, dignity, and how to do the job you have hired them to perform, without hassling the citizen trying to conduct business in a Federal Building. Security at a Federal Building should not be the first hurdle a citizen must navigate to reach the bureaucrats.

I asked for a supervising officer when the “security officers” began hassling me, and was told, “You can be detained for trespassing in a Federal Building.” I asked them, “Under what charge?” Then was told a bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo, that was not accurate! One officer pulled out a cell-phone and supposedly called the officer in charge (OIC), and related a bunch of lies to inflate his reasoning why he was hassling me, and refusing to allow me entrance. I asked again for an OIC and was provided a lecture in a wild attempt to justify their continued unprofessional behavior, for my attempting to enter a Federal Government building. I was threatened, again, with being detained, and then they “mercifully allowed” entrance, provided I was escorted to the NM Professional Licensure Bureau, to ensure I was not going to “cause an unprofessional scene.” I was followed to NM Licensure Bureau, and one of the officers entered into the bureau to report me as a “difficult person” to the staff in the office.

Government Largess 3 The mind of the bureaucrat looks for every opportunity to thwart a citizen in interacting with the government, that citizens hired through the ballot box, where the bureaucrat can then pick winners and losers in receiving government largess. The best line of this interaction, “We are here to protect the workers in the back, from people like you.” I was then told how disgruntled people, frighten, scare, intimidate, and disrupt a “professional” workplace. Upon exiting the building without any answers or receiving assistance, I saw the woman who kept popping her head up on the second-floor atrium where the elevators let you off, who witnessed this interaction, talking in hushed and hurried tones with the single officer remaining in the front, as the officer that “escorted me” was still not back on duty at the security checkpoint.

To recap, a “security officer” considers it his duty to be off-station, at a two-man security post, to attempt intimidation of a citizen needing to conduct business. Two “security officers” harass and hassle a person entering the Federal Building because they collectively decided the citizen’s attitude was not “sufficiently professional” to obtain entrance. The “security officers” do not know the law, and cannot execute the law faithfully and without bias. The only recourse available to the citizen is to swallow this abuse, harassment, and profiling, to rescue their day and complete the work they need to accomplish to obtain employment.

Department of Homeland Security, you are directly responsible for the wasted time, energy, and the idiocy of the two “security” officers at 120 S Federal Place, Santa Fe, NM on duty on 19 September 2019, at 1300. Just as I hold you in contempt and responsible for the continued actions of bureaucratic “quasi-security officers” in Albuquerque, and I have filed more complaints against the unprofessionalism and ridiculous disregard that oozes from the pores of every single rent-a-cop in Federal Buildings experienced in New Mexico. I cannot fathom how or why I have these access problems only in the Federal Buildings in New Mexico. I have not had a single issue in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and a host of other places across America. I will congratulate, and thank you, for the attempt at correcting the issues at the Federal Buildings in Albuquerque, as that situation has slightly improved; now fix the rest of the bloody Federal “security officers” in the state of New Mexico.

America, we have a significant problem with the government, it started in the 1930s when the government took advantage of a catastrophe to seize power from the citizens, and this problem has only increased in the almost 100-years since. The bureaucrat that works in serving the public is an extension of the officers elected in the ballot box. Thus, I implore; please hold those elected accountable for the drones, the power-hungry, and those who consider their work on the public’s behalf as executing government largess, responsible and, accountable.

“We may define a republic to be … a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people; and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure, for a limited period, or during good behaviour” [Emphasis added]. – James Madison

Only those elected can positively influence the actions of the bureaucrat hiding in their cubicles lording their power over citizens. Only those elected can be held accountable and responsible for what the workers and staffs do in the name of those elected. We, the legal citizens of America are the government we elect, and I advocate the position that I am not a peon, serf, or “huddled mass” beholden to the government. The government, from the local dog catcher, school board, and judge to the President of the Republic of these United States, is beholden to you and to me. Those bureaucrats hiding in offices that make your life so difficult are obligated to us as well.

I refuse to be the property of the government, standing like Oliver Twist, begging for slop from fat and repugnant government officials. America, we deserve a more responsive government, our Constitutional Rights declare that the power over the Government is ours to hold, and the government must come to us to ask for more. Let us use the control we hold and demand accountability and responsibility from those elected. Where those elected are requiring compliance, and keeping those working in public service accountable for the abuse and mistreatment the citizen receives at the hands of bureaucrats.

Reference

Charles A. Reich, The New Property, 73 Yale L.J. (1964). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/ylj/vol73/iss5/1

The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

Poverty and Race Do Not Dictate Ability: Shifting the Educational Paradigm

Government Largess 4 From the 1960s, educators began believing and living a belief that poor minority students cannot succeed or learn to the same quality of rich white children. This belief changed how K-12 Education was funded, supported by the government, and directed resources for education in America’s cities and towns. Back in 1995, Milwaukee, WI., Douglas B. Reeves forever sundered the fallacious belief that poverty and race do not chain a student’s mind. Except in 2019, the lie continues that if you are not white and rich K-12 education is going to be forever out of reach, that your poverty status means you cannot achieve, and your race will dictate how smart you are. Race and poverty are still the demographic drums used to bleed resources, damage education, and stifle educational innovations. Well, I say it is past time to cease the madness and demand those in education either reform or leave; for they are committing child abuse with their racist lies for personal gain and political power.

Referring to the Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessments of Students (1990), a parent can find five areas of scoring a student’s teacher for quality of classroom efforts. These five standards include:

Is the teacher prepared before they instruct the class?
1. This includes support from the school principals and the administrative staff at the school board level.
2. The student should be evaluating themselves for preparation before classroom instruction for their personal desires to learn and work assignments completed.
3. The teacher’s preparation should include written activities to measure student performance and be graded against a standardized scoring system.
Does the teacher use a variety of activities and approaches during the instructional time to aid student comprehension? If so, what activities are being used? If not, why?
1. Get this answer early and check with the student often for compliance.
2. Use the teacher-parent conference to obtain the teacher’s input.
3. Never allow a teacher to single-mode and done a learning activity, this is a sign of a lazy teacher.
What is the teacher doing to connect with students after instructional time activities?
1. Student aid with long and short-term goal attainment.
2. Communicating student strengths and weaknesses clearly to students and parents.
3. Being engaged in curriculum correction with the principal and the school board.
Are the teacher’s advice, comments, and suggestions being sought by the school principal and their administrative staff for both the local school and the school board? If not, hold the school board accountable and the principal responsible for ignoring the needs of the teacher.
1. Teachers have first-hand accounts of how the environment, building facilities, technology, etc. are influencing and affecting the student learning process.
2. Teachers are not the sole reason student’s fail, struggle, or succeed.
3. If it takes a town to raise a child, then the teacher should be considered as a tool, a small part, in building the child, and while the teacher is often the face of the school, the teacher is part of a team. Know who to hold responsible!
What is the teacher doing in the broader community of educators?
1. This question goes beyond simple professional development and continuing education.
2. This question points to the support the school and the district provide time to the teacher for involvement, and encouragement to pursue professional opportunities.
3. Ask the teacher how well they are encouraged and supported to pursue professional involvement. Just do not lay the blame with the teacher if they express they are not fulfilled professionally.

Nowhere in those assessments of a teacher is the race of the child considered, the financial aspect of the children’s family regarded, or any other demographic considered. The Standards for Teacher Competence provides for measuring teachers, why does the lie regarding race and poverty remain so prevalent; the answer lies in the school administrations, the amount of money available, and the expensive cars parked at the school district headquarters. The school administrations have become fat and stifling upon the tax dollars used in education, the size of the school administration is killing education, robbing teachers of funds for the classroom, and ruining children’s opportunities for growth; precisely the opposite of the job the school administrators was hired to perform.

Reeves (2003) cites Peters and Waterman (1982) “In Search of Excellence” for the role and duties of the school administrators.

Focus upon academic achievement
Provides clear curriculum choices and support teachers
Opens the schedule for frequent assessments which provide students multiple opportunities to improve
Emphasizes nonfiction writing
Employs collaborative scoring of student work using standard grading guidelines
Builds a learning environment focused upon persistent, consistent, and reliable assessments reflecting student efforts and teacher support

Nowhere in Peters and Waterman’s (1982) work is race a contributing factor in brains or abilities. Nowhere is the financial situation a student arrives at a classroom from reflecting a causal variable in classifying a student who can and cannot handle workloads in K-12 education. That the belief that race and poverty influence abilities to learn is a lie has been known since as early as the mid-1960s; yet, this pernicious belief continues to saddle minority and poverty students with ever-decreasing standards, less focus in education upon factors that can improve the student’s ability to learn, and activities that challenge the student to excel.

Government Largess 2 Here is what the lie regarding poverty and race looks like in practice, using Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) as an example. Please feel free to use your public schools as an example to rate the school district, the school principal, and the teachers of your communities’ children.

APS is the 31st-largest school district in the US
- 20% of New Mexicans age 16 and older have literacy skills at level 1, the lowest level on a scale of 1 to 5.
- New Mexico ranks 50^th out of the 50-American States with a D- or a score of 66.2%.
- As the biggest school district in New Mexico, APS has nothing to crow about as they are central to the low scores and literacy problems in NM.
Capital budget: nearly $1 billion in both new educational facility capital projects as well as improvements and refurbishments in the district’s schools between 2010 and 2016.
Current Projects: FD&C currently has 146 projects in design or construction totaling approximately $378 million
Square Feet: approximately 15 million square feet of traditional school buildings, portable classrooms, and administrative offices and facilities
- From the Bernalillo County website, there are several graphs worthy of attention. Specifically, Figure 12: Bernalillo County, NM Detailed Education Attainment Breakout by Race (Age 25+).
  - 9% of Hispanic populations do not have a high school diploma or GED equivalent.
  - 3% of the American Indian population does not finish high school or attain a GED.
  - 3% of the white demographic does not complete high school or attain a GED.
- Speaking volumes of the efficacy of the school board to address the problems in APS, and even more about the “10% dropout” rate APS crows about as a success factor. How many of those graduating are functionally illiterate and unable to obtain work after graduation?
- Having spoken with teachers, it is blatantly evident that APS passes students who do not possess the skills, because of the restrictions placed upon the teachers to teach to the students, and not to a program, a system, or a process.
- With nearly 50% of the population in Bernalillo County identifying as Hispanic, and almost 50% not finishing high school, when Reeves (2003) cites the equity gap caused by the lie that poverty and race dictate educational ability, here is the gap illustrated.
- Yet, for all the billions of dollars APS oversees for education in Bernalillo County, the gap has not shrunk, ever.
APS believes in “magic-bullet” programs to “fix the gap;” proving again that insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly expecting different results. New in 2019 in APS school systems is yet, one more sure-fire, quick-fix, strategy to fix the poverty and race gap in education, and the results will be the same next year and the year after that, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

America, you are the power that keeps the school districts alive. Use the five points provided to assess the teachers, use the six-points above to evaluate and measure the school board, school administration, and principal, and then every time you see a school board, teacher, or principal out of compliance, demand change! There is no excuse for an almost 60-year old lie to continue to thrive. There is no valid excuse for failing to teach students in the K-12. Poverty and race do not hamper or hinder when teachers are prepared, and schools are appropriately led, focused, and each student is assessed for consistent, persistent, and reliable growth. Demand better; our kids deserve more!

The images used herein were obtained in the public domain, this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

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