Not a bad "farewell" to 2009...

$12,897.28 for November.

$9,718.38 for December.

Oh, I'm sure Robbers All were disappinted...that their combined "take" was barely half of the amount from their previous month's heist...when the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board actually conducted the hearing on the "James Gibson v. CSD #1 Case". I mean, the combined TWO-month bill approved for payment last night was ONLY $22,615.66. In October, Robbers All made off with $39,115.37. Hard economic times, indeed...

And, lest we forget...in September, Robbers All picked the District's pockets for $14,585.39.

Hmmm, let's do the math...

Just a sec...these numbers are too big for my aging brain. Need to get my calculator...

Okay, I'm back!

Be patient. I'm entering the numbers a fast as I can...

Let's see...1-4-5-8-5-.-3-9+3-9-1-2-5-.-3-7-+-1-2-8-9-7-.-2-8-+-9-7-1-8-.-3-8-=...DAMN!

A four-month total of $76,316.42...

To keep a man from working...a man who was praised by the District's Principals and Superintendents, at least until the arrival of "Executive Dean" (because he wasn't qualified to be Principal of CJSHS) Tony Maltbia and Principal/Superintendent Gary Whitledge, who resigned under pressure the year after James Gibson was summarily discharged under a sham RIF of the Crisis Classroom (which was brought back under a new name - Alternative Classroom - to avoid legal barriers that would have required reinstatement of James Gibson.) The old "change the name to protect the, uh, guilty!"

What did James Gibson do to deserve all of this?

Did James Gibson suddenly "go rogue"? Did James Gibson start wearing raggedy jeans, faded T-Shirts, and "tenny runners" to school? (No, that was me!) Did James Gibson allow the abuse directed at him to interfere with his job of trying to educate the children of Cairo School District?

NO!

Bears repeating...HELL, NO!

James Gibson's professionalism and work ethic did NOT change...the administration did.

There is irony in the "four-month total". September, October, November, December...the first four months of the new school year.

A financially strapped school district in Southern Illinois - under the supervision of an Illinois State Board of Education appointed Financial Oversight Panel because of almost going bankrupt because of punitive actions it took against the teachers union in 2002 - chooses to pay a band of lawyers over $76,000 during the first semester to keep a highly qualified teacher with rave reviews by his former supervisors from working. If they had let James Gibson work, they would have paid him less than $20,000 during the same time period!

Hell...CSD #1 could have "bought" almost THREE "first-year teachers" for $76,000! And they sit and ponder..."Why are we broke?" Well, DUH!

AND...the Financial Oversight Panel - the "gurus" - let them do it...approving their legal expenditures every step of the way! Just what the hell is the FOP here for...the free meals?

Four months, $76,000.

As you know, I could go on and on and on...but I won't, I won't.

So...

I shall close on this "happy note"...