PR At Its Best & Worst: Team Obama & APS

"Rank of Barack Obama's election among the 'biggest day(s) ever in the history of marketing,' according to an Ad Age columnist: 1" -- Harper's Index, Harper's, February 2009

I've said from just about the first time I remember hearing the name Barack Obama that I really like the idea of an Obama Presidency. Unlike most ideas I like, it seems a few million other folks have caught on to the idea over the past couple of years.

Now we get to the apex/culmination of the idea of Obama and begin the reality. I'm still pretty stoked, but it's going to be a bit of a transition going from the teeny-weeny bit of overzealousness in the marketing idea to the day-to-day reality that starts slamming President Obama and all of us on January 21, 2009.

But that's no reason not to be agog today. Go agog with great agogocity folks. And yes it's important. Damn important. Just remember that we're definitely going to have to work through something of a collective hangover in the next few days, weeks, months, years. Harper's Index also points out the following this month:

Year that the U.S. stock market first regained its 1929 pre-crash peak: 1954

II.

And when you're talking reality hangover, you can't get any more head-splitting than the Albuquerque Public Schools. The District announced the movement of quite few principals yesterday, including the installation of Theresa Baca at John Adams Middle School. Just so we're clear here, I don't know Ms. Baca (and if she's a "Doctor" and I should have used "Dr. Baca" I apologize), I don't know if she's a good principal or what. Making her principal at John Adams might be the very best thing all around, and I don't know any different.

All I do know/remember is that Baca was part of the larger, infamous principal shuffle of 2007. At the time, then Superintendent Beth Everitt defended the moves quoted as saying:

"We are making decisive moves in school leadership to assure that we have the best people in place for the most challenging positions at our schools."

Well, part of that "best people" idea was to have Ms. Baca moved from a principal position at Polk Middle School (and I dare you to find a more "challenging position" than principal at Polk Middle School) down to assistant principal at Highland High School. Now, about 20 months later, the principal deemed not "best people" enough to be principal at Polk goes and becomes head honcho at another very challenging school in John Adams.

Huh?

Yes, I know there is a principal shortage (or there better the Hell be a principal shortage to defend a move such as this), but how do you think the folks at John Adams feel about all this? We all know they had some kids scratch the aquariums at the BioPark some time back, but golly. If I didn't know any better, I'd say either John Adams MS is getting a lousy principal or that the District messed up big time with all that "principal shuffling" back in 2007.

Or possibly both.

Again, that is if I didn't know any better. I've always liked that expression...it's so very vague. And vague seems to be the perfect word to describe the methodology of "principal shuffling" in APS.