Attorney General Of New Mexico
HECTOR H. BALDERAS ELIZABETH A. GLENN
‘Attomey General Chief Depuy Attorney General
December 16,2015
Delivered Via Electronic and U.S. Mail
Dr. Donald Duran, President
De. Analee Maestas, Vice President and Audit Committee Chair
Peggy Muller- Aragon, Finance Char
Lorenzo Garcia, Capital Outlay, Property and Technology Cl
Barbara Peterson, Equity and Engagement
Steven Michael Quezada, Seeretary
Dr. David A. Perey, Policy and Instruction Chair
Raquel Reedy, Superintendent
Albuquerque Publie Schools
P.OBox 25704
‘Albuquerque NM 87125-0704
RE: Safety Taskforce Recommendations
Dear Members ofthe Board end Superintendent Reedy.
The purpose of this letter is to memorialize meetings between Albuquerque Publie Schools (APS)
‘and the Office of the Attomey General (QAG) that took place on September 28, 2015 and
‘November 30, 2015, respectively, and outline our recommendations based on those discussions.
‘This review process began when I assembled a team of specialized personnel to lead 8 security
assessment fo assure that breaches of the public trust and the endangerment of the safety and
security of our children, suchas the Jason Martinez matter, never be repeated. Ths team consisted
‘of atfomeys, policy advisor, and law enforeement personnel who specialize in the recognition and
prevention of erimes against children,
‘We held meetings to discuss areas of shared concern regarding the safety and wel-being of APS.
students, and the background check process forall individuals with whom those students have
‘contact. Pursuant to those conversations and based on our own further independent review, the
COAG submits the following recommendations:
(1) Atthe star ofthis process, APS indicated that it would undertake an audit ofits background
check process and status of all current employees. The expressed purpose of this audit was
‘wofold: first, to establish that the unfortunate situation that transpired involving Jason
Martinez was & one-time occarrence, and second, to confirm that all APS employees have
O,Drawer 8b Sania FeNew Meio WSDLISB (05) 57-600, Fe $05) 627-525. waa gra current background check on file. The results of this review are troubling. Based on the
information you provided tc this office, APS identified four employees in addition to Jason
Martinez who did not have a current background check on file at the time of the review. It
js unacceptable that APS was unable to identify a definitive cause of this deficieney.
‘Adgitionally, [am concemed that you have identified 2,270 current APS employees, who
‘were hired before 1999, who also do not have background checks on file. Although you
have articulated that these employees were hired when there was no background check
requitement in place, it i gravely concerning tome that any individual with whom students
have contact has not been appropriately vetted. Further, lam concerned that the number of
individuals without a background check on file initially reported to my staff was much
higher than the actual number you are now reporting as accurate, The inconsistent numbers
provided further demonstste a weakness in safety controls. | am aware that you have
‘committed to conducting background checks on the identified 2,270 employees to ensure
'APS is compliant by the etd of May, 2016. Due to the amount of time that has already
passed since the Jason Martinez matter occurred, this deadline seems unreasonable and
poses further risk to the children in your district. This matter should be expedited
immediately to maximize safety and I will continue to monitor your progress in this regard
It is ertical that every individual with whom students have contact be thoroughly and
appropriately assessed and have a current background check on file. Based on the
information provided to this offic, we are unable to affirmatively tae thatthe unfortunate
‘events of September were isolated and will not occur again;
(2) Moving forward, we encourage you to continue conducting audits of APS employee
background checks on a regular basis. Per our discussion on this matter, itis important to
‘determine whether or not the RAP back software curently being employed by APS through
the Department of Public Safety (DPS) is adequate and providing the necessary
information about all employees to the administration, If there are weaknesses identified,
wwe recommend that you make any necessary soflware upgrades in order to mitigate them;
(6) We feel that itis of utmost importance that every APS employee recognize that he or she
has a duty to report any interaction with law enforcement that occurs while that individual
js employed with APS. Accordingly, itis imperative that you develop and implement
standards and guidelines to evaluate how such incidents will be handled by the
‘administration. We recommend that you develop those standards and update language in
the APS employee handbook in order to reflect all new procedures related to mandatory
reporting. Wit clear guidance, all current and future APS employees will be reminded of
their duty to act responsibly and in a way that creates a safe environment for ll members
of the APS community;
(4) In order to ensure that all fingerprints of prospective and current APS employees are
processed in a timely manner, we encourage you to continue discussions with the Put
Education Department (PED) and explore options for streamlining and improving protocol
to ensure that results are reveived inthe shortest amount of time possible;(5) Our office is always in support of taking messures to improve transparency and
‘accountability. As such, we recommend that you create a publicly accessible database of
all verified background checked APS employees. This will give assurance to parents and.
‘members that eny individual appearing on the list of employees has been
thoroughly and appropriately vetted by the adminisration;
(6) Finally, pursuant o our conversations, we are recommending two possible updates tothe
statutory language that governs the background check process for APS, inorder to improve
safeguards and protect all students. We look forward to speaking with you further about
‘these potential updates and working with you to strengthen the law.
| am confident that you will remedy these outstanding corcems and that you can move forward,
implementing updated policies and procedures and taking imple but effective measures to make
[APS a safe environment where students ean continue to thrive. Please do not hesitate to contact,
my office should you have any questions or concerns.
Respectfully,
te Be
Hector H. Balderas
‘Attomey General
ce: Arthur Melendres, APS Counsel
Ruben Hendrickson, APS Chief Operations Officer
‘Karen Rudy, APS Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources