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CAT Tracks for January 27, 2011
NEXT STOP? |
It crossed my mind to entitle this post...
"I GOTTA CROW!"
...'cause that's the feeling that seized me last night when I heard the news, OH BOY!
The news that...
...the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB) has turned down an appeal by Cairo School District Number One in the matter of its WRONGFUL DISMISSAL of James Gibson at the end of the 2005-2006 School Year!
It bears repeating, coming as it does 5+ years after it all began...
The IELRB has UPHELD the decision of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in the matter of James Gibson versus Cairo School District Number One.
This ruling in favor of James Gibson occurred because District officials would NOT ACCEPT a powerful indictment of the District's actions rendered by the ALJ in April 2010, following a hearing in October 2009.
These actions followed an earlier decision against the District in favor of James Gibson by an arbitrator in September 2007, following a hearing in June 2007.
CAT Tracks Editor's Note:
I think I know how it feels to be Darrel Dexter...the history teacher/researcher who was spotlighted in The Southern this week...the fella who read all of the Cairo newspapers from the mid-19th Century. I went back into the archives of CAT Tracks (and my personal calendar)...all the way back to 2005 to gather the information above. In conducting this "research", I could not help but notice other "ancient history" - of both a personal and professional nature.
Talk about getting suitably depressed...a bursting of the bubbly!
All the past battles with CSD #1...dutifully detailed in CAT Tracks. Editions of CAT Tracks that could be dusted off, redated, and republished as "current events" - e.g. recurring attempts to get the Superintendent to honor the Contract with respect to Association Leave and Personal Leave.
Geez, does it never end??? (Quick, easy answer..."NO!")
So...
Rather than rejoice...
...rather than exhaling and breathing a final sigh of relief...
...that James Gibson's ordeal is over...
...I can only wonder:
OR...
So...
My initial elation, my momentary sip from the glass half full, has been tempered by my sad knowledge of the sordid history of Cairo School District Number One.
Rather than rising this morning with a resounding "Err, err, errrrrrrrr!"...to share the news, I am left staring at a glass left more than half empty, wondering if I should risk a drink to whet my whistle.
Will the NEXT STOP be yet another hearing of the District's desperate, discredited claims...more taxpayer money for the insatiable law firm of "Robbers All"...more madness???
Or...
Can we STOP wasting time, wasting money...and move on?
Stay tuned:
The ball is in their... (ARGH, that pun was certainly unintended since 5+ years and hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted is no laughing matter. But, in fact...)
The ball is in their court...
FOOTNOTE:
Speaking of ball...
A sporting analogy crossed my mind. Granted, it's out of season, involving baseball rather than football...but it seems appropriate.
There's even a song...
"It's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ballgame."
Let us review:
Trust me, what has happened to James Gibson over the past 5+ years has been NO GAME...at least not to him. The District???
However...
According to the rules of baseball, the umpire...having watched the District's feeble swings at an arbitration, a hearing, and an appeal would raise his right thumb and yell "YERRRRRRRRRRR OUT!!!"
Unfortunately, Cairo School District Number One is well known for NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES. (Goes a long way toward explaining why such a small school district had to pay its law firms $160,000 last year!!!)
Nope...
Rather than accept the umpire's call and walk away from the plate, it is entirely possible that Cairo School District officials will defiantly kick dirt onto the shoes of the umpire, step back up to the plate, and wait for the pitcher to throw STRIKE FOUR!
Bears repeating...
It's time...waaaaaay past time!
STOP THE MADNESS!!!
