- This topic has 15 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by .
-
Posts
-
“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.”I felt the need to start a new thread regarding the content of the response that Adam Honegger provided following the call to action stated in Mr. Hibbett’s amazingly thoughtful letter (thank you Mr. Hibbett for you concern for the health of the Academy).
I am an AA alum and perhaps the most important lesson I learned there was how to construct an argument and support it with cogent evidence. After reviewing Mr. Honegger’s flippant and condescending response to Mr. Hibbett’s fully supported set of concerns, I am doubtful of his aptitude to hold a position of such importance to the Academy.
My issues with his response are as follows:
1) “…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.”
I find it hard to believe that Mr. Hibbett’s first attempt at getting the attention of the administration would be to document five key points of concern, research them thoroughly, develop pointed questions, locate supporting evidence, collate them into an eleven page document, AND create an open forum blog for community members to voice their opinions.
No. A far more believable narrative is one that involves multiple attempts to bring these issues to the attention of the administration — multiple attempts that were met with the same lack of concern, motivation, and respect that is so clearly indicated by Mr. Honegger’s response.2) “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.”
The assessments provided in Mr. Hibbett’s assessments were entirely sourced from publicly available records (please see included citations for the sources). What aspects of the letter do you disagree with? A statement like this is meaningless without clarification and support. I think you mean to say that you believe you could have censored Mr. Hibbett had he contacted you before sending the correspondence.
3) “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.”
What is incredibly complex about an evaporating endowment? What is incredibly complex about doling out raises to the headmaster while freezing faculty salaries? This statement implies (rather disrespectfully) that the community lacks the intelligence to comprehend the complexity of these matters. If such is the case, then how can we expect achieve any level of transparency? Where is an appropriate place to have a constructive discussion about the future of the Academy?
I am incredibly disappointed by the way the administration handled the response to Mr. Hibbett’s clear concern for the fate of the Academy. Here he has laid out a roadmap of questions that must be answered in order for the school to restore stability, and he was met with blatant disregard.
As a deeply concerned alum, I will withdraw any further donations to the Academy until a truly transparent discussion is established, answers are provided by the administration, and Mr. Hibbett is vindicated for his efforts to better the school.
- The forum ‘Board governance’ is closed to new topics and replies.