Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 25, 2009 SPECIAL BOE MEETING...MINUTES

It's time for them to go...

Who is "them"?

Why, I'm glad you asked!

I shall make it perfectly clear...

It's time for the Cairo Financial Oversight Panel (aka FOP) to go!

They have been in Cairo too long...have evidently partaken of the Kool-Aid...

Remember when...

If This Flies exposed the Superintendent/District's desire to hire an assistant for the Superintendent...adding another hefty administrative salary to the District payroll at the same time they were telling teachers that the District could not afford a raise?

Remember when...

The BOE Negotiations Team kept coming up with $85 raises...stressing that they didn't have any money to give to teachers (even though they admitted that salaries were low??)

Remember when...

Cairo Superintendent of Schools Leotis D. Swopes had the audacity to stand before the assembled masses at the District's end-of-the-year (Retirement) luncheon and toss out the "downer"...that we were ALL going to have to "tighten our belts" in the coming school year because of the District's financial dire straits???

How soon THEY forget!!!

Evidently the "ALL" that the Superintendent referred to as having to engage in "belt tightening" did NOT include THEM...only us "pee ons". (Of course, we can't really expect them to engage in waist slimming activities when they keep having their catered banquets at school board meetings...regular and special!)

Ron, Ron...calm down a second. Why did you "slam" the FOP if you heard all of this at a "BOE" meeting?

Well, again...I'm glad you asked!

The FOP just had a meeting on Monday of this week. I do NOT know for a fact that the FOP gave the BOE the "go ahead" for tonight's actions in their Monday meeting, but...I have my suspicions.

Let's put it this way...time will SOON tell!

Should the Cairo BOE do as they voted to do tonight - move CJSHS Principal Lynn Byrd to the Central Office to fill a "created position" of Pupil Services/Grant Coordinator...advertise, interview, and hire a Principal AND Assistant Principal for CJSHS - AND then the FOP votes it down as an extravagant waste of District money...WELL, I shall gladly issue a formal apology!

I ain't holdin' my breath...

Okay, had to get my "rant" out of my system.

Now, for the particulars of the meeting...

I. Call to Order - 7 p.m.

II. Roll Call - Coleman, Vaughn (on telephone), Brown, Stubblefield, and Burris. (McBride arrived during closed session at 7:10 p.m.)

III. Recognition and Comments from Employees and Public - Employee Carolyn S. Allen read a letter to the BOE requesting immediate payment of her earned bonus money for the concluded school year and asked that she be allowed to receive in advance (in July 2009) her (already earned) bonus money for the 2009-10 school year. The BOE members indicated that they would take it under advisement and discuss it in closed session.

IV. Approval of Agenda - Special Meeting - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

V. Personnel - Skipped without comment.

VI. Closed Session - The BOE voted to enter closed session at 7:05 p.m. The BOE voted to exit closed session at 7:38 p.m.

VII. Requiring Action/Decisions By Board of Education - Already ranted, uh, reported above.

VIII. Adjourn...

Well, when a motion was made to adjourn, BOE Member Vaughn (on speaker phone) asked about "Mr. Baldwin". There was the proverbial "pregnant pause". BOE Member Stubblefield then told Vaughn that the matter had been "discussed in closed session"...and that when the meeting was over, Superintendent Swopes would call her and fill her in.

A motion was made, seconded, and passed to adjourn at 7:42 p.m.

FOOTNOTE: If you are surprised by tonight's antics...you shouldn't be. This is one (probably the ONLY one) "past practice" that the Cairo Board of Education has a religious commitment to...cry broke during negotiations, force a strike if necessary rather than turn loose available money, then spend money like water on THEIR priorities.

And, those "priorities" are NEVER the employees or the kids!

It's all about THEM...

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