Interesting analysis

[Concerned AA Parent]

I appreciate that Peter Hibbett has concerns about the management of Albuquerque Academy and its resources.

However, Mr. Hibbett’s tactics detract from any legitimate concerns he may have.

Mr. Hibbett claims to represent “a group of concerned Albuquerque Academy parents.” Who are they? Why are they remaining anonymous? How do we know Mr. Hibbett isn’t one person with an ax to grind?

Mr. Hibbett scraped over 300 email addresses, presumably from the AA web site, and sent an email blast to all of those addresses in the clear, without masking the addresses. This is an abuse of the personal information on the web site.

Mr. Hibbett compares Mr. Watson’s salary to various public institutions. I don’t care what Mr. Watson makes compared to those institutions. Where is the data on heads of other independent schools of similar size and quality?

Mr. Hibbett claims that “many Academy faculty and staff are discouraged and have lost faith in the Academy’s leadership.” On what basis does he make this claim? It’s easy to make dark assertions. Mr. Hibbett needs to back them up.

Mr. Hibbett presents his analysis as some sort of deep investigative reporting. All he has done is repackage information that the Academy has provided with his own interpretation.

There is room for legitimate disagreement on the appropriateness of the way the Academy has used its endowment over the last 20 years. There may be legitimate cause for concern about the Academy’s future and Mr. Watson’s leadership. Our institutional leaders should always expect their methods and results to be honestly evaluated in the public forum. Mr. Hibbett is not facilitating an honest evaluation.

[ABC123]

We applaud Mr. Hibbett for his concern for the Academy, and for bringing these issues to those of us who are not “in the know.” As for the need for anonymity, when your children are at stake, it only makes sense. Questioning the motives of someone who has taken the time to present some very real concerns about which the average person without a deep understanding of the school’s finances or inside information may not be aware seems a bit unfair and at the very least, unproductive. The issues are still real issues.

As for Mr. Watson’s salary, it would be hard to base it on “comparable” institutions. The institutions to which the Academy compares itself have major differences: 1) they are not uniquely situated to graduate National Merit Scholars, and 2) they are “feeders” to the Ivys and top schools, which the Academy is not. Due to the extremely small size of Albuquerque, the Academy is uniquely set up as the only private school for 1) APS gifted and all-day gifted (IQ 145+) students, 2) smart private elementary school students with driven parents (most of whom pay for SAT/ACT test prep), and 3) Santa Fe students looking for the top private school. Prior to the huge decline in the endowment, the school accepted only extremely bright students; even children of big donors were denied if not at the top by the school’s testing. While the school has drastically increased enrollment of full pay students (not long ago, 140 was the cap on entering 6th graders), it is still the only place for the “best and brightest” to go. The other private schools just don’t have the Academy’s history (or AP classes). So, linking Mr. Watson pay to National Merit Scholars or rankings (based in part of that), and “comparable” schools such as Harvard Westlake or Lakeside, denies reality. This is not to say that the Academy does not provide a rigorous and excellent education, it does, but partly due to the brilliant students who will naturally attend. This is also not to deny that Mr. Watson appears to be doing a good job “selling” the school. (Why we don’t mind the posting of National Merit stats, though the loss of postings this year about any other area of student accomplishment – arts, etc. – needs to be rectified). And, we need more big donors to keep the school going for generations to come, especially given the continuing decline in the endowment.

But, we also need to keep the faculty and staff who teach our children happy and engaged, and it is on them that we need to focus. They need to be rewarded for continuing the great work they do, with many more students, with a more academically diverse student body.

Let’s not shoot the messenger.

[ClassOf19]

Hi all,
We are still looking over very interesting information posted, but the financial stability of the school clearly appears to be in jeopardy. Is there a a recovery plan in place? Is it a really viable plan or just something that is in place to placify those in power at the “moment”? The mission that we, as parents, bought into with the Academy was a focus on the students, and not the enrichment of those in power. I have personally seen multiple organizations destroyed by the greed of upper management, and I sincerely hope that is not the case here. Again, still looking over the details presented.

[Churchill]

Thank you, “ABC123,” for your response. You’ve got it right. Mr. Hibbett knows that fear and intimidation are very much a part of the Academy’s climate, and he is justified in protecting both the parents in his group, and the faculty who wish to speak up and who risk their jobs for doing so.

“Concerned AA Parent” states that Mr. Hibbett has “repackaged information that the Academy has provided with his own interpretation.” Apparently “Concerned AA Parent” has not read Mr. Hibbett’s letter very carefully, because nothing could be further from the truth.

Mr. Hibbett has used publicly available data required by the IRS and compared it up to NAIS standards, the very standards that Mr. Watson, as NAIS trustee, has sworn to uphold. And by this comparison, Mr. Watson and the trustees have not done their job.

It’s that simple.

[Not Surprised]

Not really surprised. [this portion removed by administrator]

Good job on the letter, but finances are only the tip of this iceberg.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by savetheacademy.

[savetheacademy]

Reminder: We don’t wish to censor anyone, but abusive language will not be allowed. Thanks.

[TotheWorld]

Mr. Watson called an emergency meeting this morning at 7am, does anyone know what occurred at the meeting?

[TwoGrads]

If I had to guess, I’d say the meeting was called to close ranks and or threaten teachers about keeping quiet – the AA way.
Mr. Hibbert’s letter comes as no surprise to me, as it does not to alums and parents of AA students, past and present.
Mismanagement of the endowment is hardly a secret, it’s high time someone shined a light on it.

[Teacherese]

Mr. Watson gave a prepared speech. He didn’t take questions.

It was clear that he was hurt, offended and angry, and he particularly singled out the fact of the letter’s timing (just a few days till enrollment contracts go out). He was angry about the anonymity of this blog, too; he assumes that anonymity will cause people to be aggressive and untruthful. (on a good note, I notice the blog folks took down part of a post for being “abusive” last night) He said that the letter and docs would hurt the Academy and wondered if Mr. Hibbett and the people he “claims to represent” (Watson’s words) were malicious or just ignorant of the harm they would cause. He said students would be harmed by lost opportunities if they don’t come to AA because of the letter.

He didn’t seem too sure about some things; he said Mr. Honegger and the board “may respond” to the letter “in time.”

Mr. Watson also took on the issue of his own salary; he said that the letter misprepresented his pay for the years of the salary freeze (he says he didn’t get raises, there was something else going on? I didn’t understand). He also said that he’s taken pay cuts in the “last couple of years.” He said he would have to confer with the board about how and what information to release about this. No info is publicly available about it at the moment.

That’s most of what I recall. Anyone who remembers more information or remembers the speech differently, please post it.

[Concerned donor]

Teacherese, Thank you for sharing.
We can only hope the Board of Trustees legitimately looks into everything that has been addressed and shares its findings with the entire AA community. There needs to be transparency.

[ClassOf19]

I would be “hurt, offended and angry” too if it was exposed that I was taking pay raises while financially running the school into the ground. I suspect there is a tipping point where if the endowment drops below a certain point, there is no recovery – and it looks an awful lot like that time has come and passed. Shame on the board for allowing this to continue for so long. In any normal (financially responsible) business, heads would have rolled long ago – cut by the board to prevent this type of “deep damage”. True shame.

[AtTheMeeting2]

I agree with the information posted regarding the meeting. I will add that Mr. Watson made remarks that people/Mr. Hibbitt were basing his salary on not understanding how to read the IRS Form 990s. Not sure how the info can be misunderstood. There are boxes for salary, benefits, bonus compensation. Seems rather clear.
He also said how sad it is that people don’t come directly to him (or other members of leadership) or the board for open, honest discussion. People have. I have. I was met with defensive and dismissive remarks. In no uncertain terms, “If you don’t like it here, go somewhere else.” I no longer engage in any more than what is required of me and I save my love for teaching and this school for my students. (Which I do have a lot more of than ever before and with a greater span of ability than ever before). This is not what working in an independent school is about. I remember when I would never flinch when asked to pitch in, help out, stay long hours and weekends, and I did it with excitement, love and care. I don’t feel the love much now from leadership. Thankfully, my students are keeping me excited about my subject and teaching.

[Just Wondering]

I’m curious why people keep their kids at a school to which they seem to have great antagonism.

[ClassOf19]

As Posted: Response to Open Letter by A. Honegger, Addressed to the Academy Community, January 31, 2018

Dear Members of the Albuquerque Academy Community:
As the Chair of the Albuquerque Academy Board of Trustees, I am writing to
respond to the email and letter that Mr. Peter Hibbett sent out yesterday,
January 30, 2018.
Let me start by saying that we respect the thoughts, opinions and feelings
expressed by Mr. Hibbett and apparently on behalf of other concerned
parents as well as other members of the Albuquerque Academy
community. That being said, the Trustees regret that Mr. Hibbett chose to
address his concerns in this manner without attempting to address or to verify
them first with me or the Board. In my term as Chair, I have personally been
very willing to meet with anyone who has concerns regarding our school. The
Trustees strive to be responsive to inquiries we receive from members of the
school community and external community and we are always happy to
discuss matters. Any information distributed to the broader Academy
community needs to be fully accurate, in keeping with communication
policies, and in line with our mission.
We believe the appropriate place to first address the types of concerns Mr.
Hibbett raised is through in-person discussions. Often such discussions allow
us to come to a common understanding concerning the facts and issues,
which is in line with the spirit of respectful discourse that we try to instill in our
students. The Board disagrees with many assertions made in the letter and
believe those could have been addressed and clarified had he contacted the
Trustees before sending the correspondence. These matters are incredibly
complex, with many factors to consider, and are not easy or necessarily
appropriate for the Board to address in an email. We have already reached
out to Peter, and will work diligently to facilitate an in-person meeting with Mr.
Hibbett and the other concerned parents referenced in his letter as soon as
possible.
The Board would like the community to know that we are encouraged by the
school’s current academic outcomes, faculty commitment to our students, and
its financial position. Our students continue to thrive and achieve great
things. We also have the utmost confidence in and support for Head of
School Andrew Watson and the leadership team he has in place. We
appreciate the support and trust that all of you provide to the Albuquerque
Academy and we commit to remaining transparent as we address the issues
raised.

Are you serious? Watson has lost approximately $167.8M of the schools life-blood, and you are ‘encouraged by the schools financial position’ have the ‘utmost confidence and support for Andrew Watson”. You sir, are an incompetent boob.

[In Response to Just Wondering]

Many of us chose not to keep our child at the Academy. The Academy has lost some good, extremely bright, supportive and wonderful kids and families with their decline of transparency and lack of integrity. Academic excellence is not setting the bar high enough…Academy students and parents deserve to have a Head of School and an Administration that lead with integrity, honesty and fairness. The hypocrisy of the administration does not go unnoticed by students or parents. As morale continues to sink with teachers and they endure instead of enjoy teaching, their lack of buy-in will wear off on the kids too. The financials as mentioned early on are just the tip of the iceberg.

[Author]

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