CAT Tracks for February 19, 2010
BITING MY CATTY TONGUE

The TV folks were squirming at last night BOE meeting...

Channel 6 had hyped the meeting...the "public hearing" over the restructuring of the Cairo School District. What happens when you promise "film at 11" and nobody says or does anything worthy of taping?

As CATs lounged on the steps leading to the 2nd floor of the CCEC, the TV folks started probing for a story. If they asked us once, they asked us a half dozen times..."Does anyone want to make any comments about the restructuring? Please...anybody? PLEASE???"

I was sorely tempted...having just been handed the latest "Bill Listing" - aka Open Accounts Payable List...

The "Robbers" near the bottom of "Page 2 of 3" - the ones keeping the District's legal meter running as they prevent James Gibson from working - pulling down $18,692.55, mostly for writing a 40-page, post-hearing brief submitted to the IELRB Administrative Law Judge on February 5th. (I just did the math...that's approximately $467 per freaking page! Hey...you've seen/read the pages that I can churn out on any given day. WOW! If I didn't work for a bunch of underpaid/overworked CATs...I coulda been a millionaire by now!!!)

Then...

On "Page 3 of 3", the "TUETHY ROBBERS" made $3,691.67 to do the District's negotiations bidding. (Hmmm...seems to me that "TUETHY" should have negotiated a better deal...allowing the ROBBINS ROBBERS to fight ONE former employee and make FIVE TIMES as much as they who are fighting ALL the District's secretaries, teacher aides, and custodians!)

BTW...

For those of you who don't like to crunch numbers...the grand total paid to lawyers by Cairo School District Number One for ONE MONTH - January 2010 - was $22,384.22.


That brings me back to the TV guys...

I sat on those hard steps of the CCEC while the TV guy laid out Superintendent Swopes' lament...the yearly loss of 20 students...the yearly loss of $100,000. The TV guy paying homage to the Superintendent's assertions...that "he has no choice."

The District is losing $100,000 a year...gotta shut down a building or two (don't forget the CCEC!)...gotta fire a bunch of folks! No other way...

Well, folks, you will just have to excuse my French. I shall cover my rudeness by quoting the remark which appeared yesterday in CAT Tracks...attributed to a local union president in Houston, Texas.

To Superintendent Swopes assertion that there is just no other way to solve the financial plight of CSD #1, my simple, if earthy, response is...

"BULLSHIT!"

$100,000 is the magical number...the amount needed to solve the District's problems for a year!?

Then, here's my alternative plan...

Keep Bennett Elementary OPEN...Keep CCEC OPEN...Do NOT fire 8 teachers...Do NOT fire 3 secretaries...Do NOT fire 8 teacher aides...Do NOT fire 2 or 3 custodial/maintenance personnel.

Instead...

FIRE THE DAMN LAWYERS!

Since the beginning of the current school year - FIVE MONTHS - Cairo School District Number One has spent approximately $96,000 on one set of lawyers. Throw in the "TUETHY" group, you easily surpass the $100,000 "Save the District" number!

Bears repeating...

Over $100,000 spent on lawyers in FIVE MONTHS!!!


I chose NOT to "grab a microphone" tonight...I restrained myself from screaming "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

WHY?

I don't have a good answer for that. I've had much more than my 15 minutes of TV infamy...don't crave more. I have my own CAT Tracks soapbox from which I can rant anytime I need stress release. I was disappointed in the "turn out" at BOE meeting...one parent with a short petition. Does anybody out there really care?

At times, it gets tiresome being the crotchety old CAT. The tune playing in my head last night was the first couple of stanzas of the Lerner & Loewe classic from "Paint Your Wagon"...

And, so, I passed...


Then, I watched the Channel 3 news report...where Superintendent Swopes basically said "We're going to have these three public meetings to make the community feel good...and then we are going to go ahead and do what we want to do. We have no choice..."

Bears repeating...

"BULLSHIT!"

So, they caught me in a weak moment last night. I played the meek and mild sheep.

However...

As I typed the BOE minutes, as I scanned the "Bill Listings", and as I typed this missive, a little voice started speaking inside my head, gaining volume with each passing moment...

Rest if you must, but don't you quit!

I am also reminded that the hopelessness and helplessness expressed in those beginning stanzas of "I Talk To The Trees" disappear in the very next lines...

    But suddenly, my words
    Reach someone else's ear
    At someone else's heart strings too

Hmmm...February 23rd...February 25th...March 2nd...March 4th.

Something tells me that an old CAT's arthritic jaw may NOT be able to curb a contemptuous, catty tongue for much longer...