Anonymity

[Older parent]

Good thoughts. Clearly an open discussion in a public forum is necessary for anything close to resolution and consideration of all of these issues that appear actual.
Thank you for opening these discussions.

[Are you serious]

As an AA parent, I heard about this site and thought I would check it out. And all I see is a bunch of anonymous complaining completely devoid of any kind of analysis or backup. Starting with the letter that includes a fictional financial analysis that states an academic institution’s endowment, with the majority of its assets including the school itself in real estate, could somehow grow at the rate of the S&P 500. The condition of the school is not magical. We all know how real estate has done in NM since the great recession. Not well. So unless we sell all the real estate and rent back the school while investing in the S&P 500 (hopefully not for the last few days anyway) we aren’t going to get that rate of return. I believe a review of the investments is in order, but I certainly don’t think we should have a fire sale of real estate so we can invest in the S&P 500.

Ok, so let’s look at the financial situation of the school. They have operated at about the same deficit each year for the last many except when they receive large contributions. So what do we do about that. The largest expenses are teacher salaries and financial aide. It’s pretty obvious that most of the people on here don’t want financial aide cut so that leaves the teachers. Well I for one like many of the teachers that Academy has. And I applaud them for staying so long. With longevity comes higher salaries. So what do you all want to do? Fire all the teachers with seniority to cut the expenses and hire a bunch of teachers from APS?

Come on. While I think the deficit the school is running needs to be eliminated, it has to be done with common sense. We are not going to lose the great school we have because of unfounded accusations. I suspect the board has been trying to figure out how to cut cost without impacting what the Academy is. That is not going to be something easy and at the end of the day, you pay for what you get. No one rides for free.

[Jack]

Are you serious:

You wrote “complaining completely devoid of any kind of analysis or backup.”

Do you mind explaining what you think would constitute an acceptable analysis?

I’ve been reviewing these forums and Mr Hibbet’s letter as well, and have to say that my sentiment was quite to the contrary. I expected to see ranting and raving, but was surprised at how well moderated these forums are, and how thoughtful and detailed Mr Hibbbet’s 10 page analysis was. Genuinely curious to understand why you feel otherwise, maybe there something I missed.

You also write about “unfounded accusations,” but I think that at this point its evident that these accusations not entirely unfounded. I have to disagree with you there. For example, several of the concerns voiced here have cited communications from the board, verbatim. I don’t think people are making that up.

Completely agree with you that the bottom line is we need a review of investments. Preferably in an open forum with transparency and opportunity for questions.

Jack

[Melodiya]

Thanks for the productive post, Jack! You’re spot on about needing a transparent review of investments.

[Melodiya]

Thanks for speaking up, Teacher2. Please post more!

[Author]

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