CAT Tracks for April 30, 2010

CAT Tracks for April 30, 2010

AND ANOTHER DAMNED THING...

Since Cairo School District Number One has fouled my morning...

Sitting in the audience of the Regular Meeting of the Cairo Board of Education on April 22nd...

Sitting in the audience of the Regular Meeting of the Cairo Financial Oversight Panel on April 26th...

...listening as another band of thieves - the District's architects - made their "$12.000 presentation".

Yes...

The "broke school district"...

The same school district that...

Sent dismissal notices to 20% of its employees in February...because it was broke.

Announced the closing of Bennett Elementary and its intent to cram their 3rd-, 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-Graders into a building built for K-3 students...because it was broke.

Spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over a 5-year period to fight its dismissal of James Gibson, an action taken supposedly...because it was broke.

Yes...
The same school district that did all of these things hired its architects to develop and submit a grant application for a $4 million building project...a project that would require the "BROKE SCHOOL DISTRICT" to come up with $1 million of its own money! The architects were paid $12,000 (last month alone) for their efforts!
The "broke school district"...

I will give grudging credit to the Cairo Financial Oversight Panel. Their reaction to the architect's proposal was less than enthusiastic.
Actually, the FOP also turned down an earlier proposal by the architects...a $4 million "new elementary building" that was going to be funded by energy savings. THAT proposal met an immediate "thumbs down". The FOP did gave its permission for the District to submit this latest application, but made it clear from their comments that the District would NOT be coming up with $1 million of "matching funds" for renovations/construction. (The architect had assured them that "You can always turn down grant money if you get it.")
Guess the Financial Oversight Panel likes lawyers more than architects...

Bears repeating...

There is no hope for Cairo School District Number One...