by Scot

I really, really am trying to never write a single word about K-12 education in New Mexico, ever, ever again. But NM Public Education Department (PED) pulls me back in like the Mafia or Sin Nombre tweet.

Reading Shelby Parea’s fine piece in the Journal this morning about the ongoing spat between PED and Albuquerque Public Schools regarding agreement on an “improvement plan” for Hawthorne ES that will supposedly create a learning environment in which the school will not get “F” grades from PED. Personally, I feel pretty strongly that the best “improvement plan” possible would be for Governor Martinez and Hanna Skandera-clone PED Secretary Temp Christopher Ruszkowski to go far, far away as fast as possible, but it appears both will continue swinging their emasculated lame duck around in a uniquely useless manner for a few more months.

To wit the following sentence from Shelby Parea’s story this morning:

PED has stipulated Hawthorne will move toward closure in the 2020-21 school year unless it gets a C grade or better in the 2017-18 school year. That stipulation was also included in PED’s letter to APS in April and May.

2017-2018? Wasn’t that the school year that ended a couple of months ago? PED and APS are finalizing a “plan” to help a school that has gotten “F” grades several years in a row, but the criteria for “move toward closure” is Hawthorne jumping all the way from “F” to “C” the school year before the plan is implemented?

I checked; that is not a “typo.” “Move toward closure” is based on Hawthorne’s score last year. As Better Burque tries to be professional and avoid words like ****, *******, and ************, it will simply, dispassionately point out that this is fucking insane.

Oh sorry. That just slipped out.

And they wonder why there’s a particularly acute shortage of teachers in New Mexico. Almost 600 openings at present in APS.

And now, because years of market research (i.e., checking “hits”) has shown that only BB posts with photos get read, here’s a shot from my old classroom. To quote Lindsey Buckingham: Never Going Back Again.