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I wonder how many other parents watched the entire sordid scenario involving County Commissioner Teresa Cordova, Rio Grande High School and the Albuquerque Public Schools administration with a mixture of dread and foreboding.

A mother whose kid is approaching a quickly closing window to graduate with his class because work has not been done. A last-ditch effort to get some clarity.

Seems easy enough. If you don't think there's a mad scramble every May for the same reason, then I have a news flash for you: It happens.

Once Cordova's story got out, it was over for her. She was instantly and forever on the defensive as the entire community unloaded its frustration. The child has graduated and "grade-gate" is now fixed in local folklore.

But I have questions. Big ones. Namely timing, race and results.

From the start, how did this situation make it to the papers in the first place? It's clear someone at either Rio Grande or APS picked up the phone and fed this situation to the news media. Right there, we have a problem. An enormous one in fact.

In case anyone missed it, Congress in 1974 passed the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act to protect families against this very set of circumstances. Someone has violated the spirit - if not the letter - of the law here. I'm not saying I know who did, but I would sure like to.

The U.S. Department of Education's Web site says the law "protects the privacy of student education records."

Department spokesman Jim Bradshaw says that includes transcripts, report cards, disciplinary records, financial aid records and the like.

While he could not comment on whether the Rio Grande situation violated FERPA, he stressed that the act's teeth lie in the permission needed from a parent of a student under 18 to release this kind of information. It's a good law, and, as we have just found out in Albuquerque, necessary.

"Through the years, Congress has left the act intact. There's not been a groundswell to change the law in any way," Bradshaw said.

Why would there be? Do we really need someone in a school system, feeling pressured or not, calling the press over a student's academic shortcomings?

In late June, outgoing APS Superintendent Beth Everitt was quoted in The Tribune as saying, "I don't know if we'll fully understand the whole story." Oh, really? Is that a statement of fact, or a wish?

Albuquerque Board of Education member Marty Esquivel says that's not good enough, and I agree, but for a different set of reasons. He wants subpoenas of all parties to determine why the kid's grade was changed.

I would like those subpoenas to determine who picked up the phone and called someone to make this federally protected private matter public.

From here, the spirit of law and common sense were violated.

Every parent in this district deserves an answer on that, because the chilling effect is palpable from those I've spoken with.

Once you strip away the title of county commissioner, it comes down to a parent. Pure and simple. Namely, a Hispanic parent.

Was race a factor here? Do some non-Hispanic parents in the same spot do the same thing without the public result? Probably. Parents of any race have the right to inquire what recourse is available when that graduation window is closing, but there's a nagging sense that race played a part here.

That never will be provable, subpoena or not, but for many Hispanic parents I've spoken with about this, it's top of mind.

So what can we expect as a result? The state Public Education Department has issued a report that it admits was done without all the information - Cordova was never interviewed, for one. Everitt has apologized to the community in the meantime, but it's not good enough.

This situation will likely slink into the sunset, and that's a shame, because in hindsight, something very unsettling has transpired here that goes well beyond a parent and a grade change. Well beyond.