Taos Newsmakers
Dear Family and Friends,
Our Gary is finally at peace. He died peacefully at home this morning at 4:45am. Memorial service plans are being made for Saturday, Nov 20. Details will follow.
Love and Blessings to you all
Elaine
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, November 20, 2010, at 11 AM at Rivera Chapel in Taos, NM, with a reception to follow at Taoseño Restaurant. (Contact Susan at suzline@hotmail.com or at 776-8766 to help with the potluck.)
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Friends of Taos Charter School, P.O. Box 3009, Ranchos de Taos, NM 87557.
Taser News
Today’s Journal North (Nov. 12, 2010) features another story by reporter Andy Stiny, “Tasered Woman Sues Again,†about allegations of excessive force by the Superman-led Taos Police Department. Apparently, the Taos P.D. will pay the price for handcuffing and then tasing a supine suspect, who was allegedly drunk, but prone, facedown, on the ground. What kind of cops attack an allegedly over-weight woman with electric tasers because she was unresponsive while lying face down on the asphalt?
TMS
Inside the Journal North, the Taos Municipal Schools publishes a mandated advertisement—three full pages—detailing the annual reports about the federal AYP results. At this week’s TMS board meeting, board members suggested “site-based management†might be one way of responding to poor student performance.
Site-based management puts more control in the hands of principals, parents, teachers, and students. (The late Gary Embler was credited with the idea for site-based management in the Taos schools, according to board member, Stella Gallegos.) The idea met with stonewalling by CRAB Hall administrators, including the most recent school chief, Superintendent Rod “Red-faced†Weston.
There’s more. Taos Friction posts, below, a devastating letter from PED regarding district finances. The letter from PED Secretary Susanna Murphy confirms audits by Peter Baston, Moss Adams, and the State Auditor. In fact, the letter is the direct result of action taken by board members Arsenio Cordova, Lorraine Coca-Ruiz, and Stella Gallegos, who voted to 
pay for not one but three audits, due to suspicious behavior and cover-ups by administrators and prior school boards. The audits go back to 2004. The Citizens Oversight Committee estimates that documents for between 10 and 18 millions of dollars disappeared from the Enos Garcia school renovation project during the period prior to the current board’s election under the auspices of Mark Space, the prior board, and finance department.
Opposition to the three audits has surfaced in public meetings and that same opposition has been supported by current administrators, former school board members, and The Taos News. Indeed, the Town of Taos Mayor, Darren Cordova, asked for the removal of the current school board, as did minority members of the current school board because the majority called for “accountability.†Ensuing support for the “community cover-up†has been scandalous. Prominent local leaders, both elected and self-appointed, have pressured board members to continue a cover-up that short-changes the kids and creates divisiveness in the community.
Among others, Superintendents Marc Space, Loretta DeLong, Bobby Gonzales, and, now, Rod Weston—all share in the responsibility for circumventing local and state regulations.
Taos Friction applauds the courage of board members Coca-Ruiz, Cordova, and Gallegos for confronting the truth about district finances. As for student achievement, this writer maintains that administrators must be forced to concede that the current system has failed. Site-based management should be tried: It could be the beginning of something positive in the community. And we should salute the much maligned but apparently valid Baston analysis of the school system. The latter report has received high marks from the U.S. Department of Education and is being considered a model procedure for other districts.
According to Flavia, El Weston and La Rosa Martinez were seen driving to Santa Fe in an unmarked vehicle. Perhaps PED has called. Click on letter below for a look at PED’s request.