You don’t need an architect to clean house at APS

Just what the heck is a financial systems architect, anyway? And why does Albuquerque Public Schools suddenly need one? And at a salary of $171,649?

APS says it has reassigned its former chief financial officer Don Moya to the newly created position in the wake of the blowup that led to the resignation and buyout of newly hired Superintendent Luis Valentino.

According to an APS job description — presumably written or approved by the same Human Resources Department that hasn’t done background checks on a couple thousand employees — the position’s main focus would be advising the superintendent about system-wide initiatives and major programs in areas such as finance, risk management, human resources and special education. Well, that clears things up.

Coincidentally, the position offers exactly the same pay and benefits as Moya’s CFO position.

Moya rejected the offer — his attorney says it’s a demotion. But no break for the taxpayers there as Moya has never left the APS payroll — either because he was on paid administrative leave or now, medical leave. He had been put on paid administrative leave in August after his blowup with Valentino.

The former CFO was at the epicenter of events that spiraled out of control after he and Valentino clashed over proposed audits of information technology and the finance and human resources departments.

His attorney claims APS is demoting him in retaliation for his lawsuit against the district. Moya says he was a whistleblower raising conflict-of-interest concerns over the IT audit that he claimed then Deputy Superintendent Jason Martinez was trying to direct to a Denver company.

APS disputes that and says the possible RFP Moya objected to was already off the table because the district and the company had agreed the job wasn’t a good fit.

Meanwhile, Valentino accidently sent Moya a text message intended for Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera in which the superintendent expressed his intention to “go after” the CFO for “running roughshot.” Moya then disseminated the text and was put on leave.

When all the dust settled, Martinez was gone — it was discovered that he had been avoiding a background check because he was facing child sex abuse and other charges in Colorado — and Valentino had resigned in an $80,000 buyout deal approved by the Board of Education.

Meanwhile, the district commissioned a 265-page investigative report that paints Moya as a chief architect — of pettiness, dysfunction and vicious infighting while on the CFO job. The report also blames Valentino for not correcting unprofessional behavior by staff, especially Moya and Martinez. Also, state Attorney General Hector Balderas released a report blasting the district for having thousands of people working without background checks.

It appears this was one toxic stew brewing at taxpayers’ and students’ expense.

The district’s report also detailed questionable spending, including more than $850,000 for remodeling and furniture for Moya’s suite of offices — his attorney says it wasn’t just his offices — and a new Dodge Charger purchased through the APS Police Department with funds allocated for police vehicles.

Moya’s attorney claims the car was given to Moya. By whom would be an obvious question. Moya is hardly a police officer and it’s ridiculous to suggest the CFO needs a car, let alone a hot one, to deal with emergency accounting issues in the district.

It’s no wonder Moya resisted an audit of his department.

But creating a phony “architect” job for someone who is suing you, and who the report paints as one of the most disruptive forces in the district, doesn’t solve the problem at hand. Which is what to do with Don Moya.

But if APS follows its longstanding pattern of throwing money at personnel problems instead of fixing them, we have an idea of what to expect.