Should the continuing lawsuits involving the Alamogordo Public Schools, School Board, and employees be of concern? You bet! This is a sign of systemic problems not being addressed. These are alleged issues but not confirmed by the evidence presented in court as of yet; however, they appear to be recurring issues known within our community. You can assess the issues and problems indicated.
The latest lawsuit involving APS et al is a major issue because it involves the treatment of employees, management of finances, and the release of requested information through the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). Under IPRA “[t]he court shall award damages, costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees to any person whose written request has been denied and is successful in a court action to enforce the provisions of the Inspection of Public Records Act.” NMSA 14-2-12(D). The statutory damages for violation of IPRA is $100.00 per day from the date of denial.
From previous articles, it was outlined how employees, specifically teachers, are working under intimidation & fear. To be clear, this is also known as bullying. This is unacceptable in any work environment because it can affect the health and well-being of those in this type of toxic environment. With their retirement at stake, silence is required. If any incidents are revealed by the ones who know what is going on, that person is in jeopardy of termination and the inability to find another job, possibly, unless they relocate. That is what is at stake for these people. Right now, it is a very difficult situation.
In the Sharon Scott lawsuit, D-1215-CV-2023-00679, filed 8/25/23, there are several issues to be adjudicated: “fiscal improprieties, mistreatment of personnel and policy/Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) violations” and “improper acts, such as “mismanagement and waste of funds.” In addition, there is the lack of responses to IPRA requests.
Ms Scott was in a position in Human Resources to know how situations were handled. Colleen Tagle, who was the previous head of Human Resources and at the time of these incidents was the Deputy Superintendent of Operations, would know the exact requirements of each problematic situation. Tagle was overseeing Ms Scott who was the Coordinator of Human Resources at the time.
It appears that Ms Tagle may have been working with her own policies instead of the known policies and procedures of APS and the State of New Mexico. Why would Tagle prefer to be dishonest in dealing with the status or termination of employees by informing them they would be returning to their jobs and then telling HR that they would not? It is highly inappropriate to lie to employees and not deal with the incident at hand. It appears Tagle was utilizing Administrative Leave (paid and unpaid) to manipulate the employees. Further, she was, according to the lawsuit, costing the APS District unnecessary funds in the process.
New Mexico as with other states has a policy of mandatory reporting regarding physical contact with students. This is supposed to be “reported immediately” to the “local law enforcement agency or the department.” “A person who violates the provisions of Subsection A of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978.” A “person” is defined as “a schoolteacher; a school official; a social worker acting in an official capacity.” These reporting requirements are known by every person in these categories. It is questionable whether incidents detailed in paragraphs 11-14 on page 4 of the lawsuit were reported as required. Paragraph 14 states “APS waited 365 days to turn in this violation to PED.”
In the mismanagement of financial transactions, according to the lawsuit, statuses of employees were changed in order to grant additional funds to employees through overtime, unauthorized “raises and monetary incentives without the proper procedures” and “reviews of continuing job functions.”
The Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is supposed to protect employees in their rights during employment, was ignored. Where was the “Union” when this was occurring? Are they closing their eyes to select issues while promoting other issues? Selective support or outrage in different situations?
According to the lawsuit, Ms Scott followed procedures in bringing these “unethical procedures” to the appropriate chain of command. Ms Scott stated “Ms Tagle was asking for her and her staff to violate APS policies, the CBA, and Public Education Department (“PED”) mandates.” The particular statute quoted was from “NM Stat, 22-10A-5, ‘Duty to report ethical misconduct; responsibility to investigate ethical misconduct; ethical report coordination.’” APS began to report incidents involving students after Ms Scott’s termination although APS “waited 365 days to turn in a particular violation to PED.”
Although the superintendent, Supt Moore at the time, was the appropriate person to report issues with Ms Tagle, the offender, Moore denied this request by Ms Scott. On January 14, 2022, Ms Scott was placed on Administrative Leave for “insubordination” by Moore who told her she “could continue with her grievance while on leave.” Ms Scott further stated she would bring her concerns directly to him “unless she believed he was complicit with the policy violations” and in that case would go directly to the President of the Board of Education, Judy Rabon.” In addition, she would be “filing a new grievance against Ms Tagle for retaliation and harassment” and was invoking the Whistleblower Policy.” Ms Scott had no allegations of misconduct against her but was the one being removed while the others were allowed to continue in their positions with filed grievances. Superintendent Moore, the direct supervisor of Ms Tagle, refused to listen to “Tagle’s policy violations and fiscal improprieties.” The next shocking thing was this statement, “Upon information and belief, Dr Moore then worked in collusion with Ms Tagle to place Plaintiff on administrative leave so that she would not have access to the information and materials needed to show her violations and to keep them covered up.”
On January 26, 2022, Ms Scott submitted a report to Judy Rabon, President of the School Board, detailing the improprieties and violations. No response was received so Ms Scott sent the information to the entire school board. On February 25, 2022, Scott sent another memo to Ms Rabon about how she had not heard from her original memos and Scott “needed to bring to her the concerns she had of unethical behavior, policy violations, and fiscal improprieties” she had listed previously. The plaintiff later learned that “a Dr Paul” wrote a report for APS who decided her allegations were unsubstantiated without conducting a real investigation.
In conclusion, an APS employee saw the apparent violations, tried to follow the procedure to report these violations required by law, was operationally “stone-walled” by Tagle and Moore, appearing to work in coordination, Rabon not responding to serious accusations regarding Tagle, a supposed investigation and report by “a Dr Paul” then it’s apparently sufficiently “covered up.” This is the appearance of details from this lawsuit. This is not acceptable in any way shape or form. This is not how serious complaints are handled. The taxpayers have a stake in “unlawful or inappropriate acts” because our dollars are being abused by those in authority. It is a sad day and more for the community if this is truly happening.
Alamogordo, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. As Judy Rabon famously stated, “Transparency in every area” is Not TRUE. We deserve much better than this! Has the APS district and Elected School Board gone rogue, circled the wagons, and thumbed their noses at the very people they are supposed to SERVE and interact with? CONVINCE US THIS IS NOT WHAT IS GOING ON! WE HAVE A RIGHT TO THE TRUTH!
