After I penned "FU...FU...FU", lamenting the lack of response by the Cairo School District Number One Financial OVERSIGHT Panel (aka FOP), a loyal reader indicated with feline wit that maybe the failure to see or react to the fiscally irresponsible antics of the Cairo Superintendent and (at least a majority of) the Cairo Board of Education was an "oversight" on their part...

...that in failing to live up to "Part 1" of the above definition, they had inadvertently lived down to "Part 2".

However, in a confirmation of the adage that "Good things come to those who wait"...

Clearly, with the publication of "FU...FU...FU II (TOO?)", THAT "oversight" has now been corrected!

Unfortunately...

Superintendent Swopes and (at least a majority of) the Cairo Board of Education are active on many fronts...diverting the District's precious declining financial resources into nonproductive ventures.

The most glaring area of fiscal malfeasance is their out-of-control, unregulated spending on lawyers...FAR ABOVE WHAT IS "NORMAL" FOR A DISTRICT THIS SIZE!!! (Yes, that was a bit of screaming on my part. MEOW!!!)

As mentioned before, I like to provide "proof" of my allegations whenever possible...to provide "context" for my editorializing to heighten emotion.

Reproduced below is part of the September "Open Accounts Payable List" for CSD #1.

Feel free to read the entire first page, but the focus of this discussion will be on "the bottom line"...the entry for "ROBBINS SCHWARTZ NICHOLAS". (Robbins et al is the "Chicago Lawyer" firm that represents the District in the "James Gibson Case".)

You will see that Robbins et al billed Cairo School District Number One $5,952.50 for "services" in July 2009.

The billing fun "continues" on the next page...$3,607.17 for "services" rendered in August 2009.

A "grand" total of $9,559.67 for TWO MONTHS!

I would venture a guess that that entire amount of "education dollars" was paid by Cairo School District Number One to keep James Gibson from working...to keep James Gibson from teaching Cairo's kids. (If I am wrong on this, Superintendent Swopes, provide me with an itemized listing of these "services" and I shall publish it on CAT Tracks...without catty comment.)

Folks, THAT is more money than James Gibson would have made if he HAD been working. AND...that's just two months out of twelve. AND...that's before the District has to go to an Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board hearing in Chicago at the end of October. AND...that's before they have to go to federal court in Benton (maybe in 2010, but more likely in 2011!)

Hmmm...is this why the Superintendent has called a meeting of the District's union presidents for this coming Wednesday...to discuss cuts in personnel and services to the students of Cairo School District Number One? Free up District resources to fight James Gibson...and then pay him off after they lose...AGAIN?!

Double hmmm...wonder if Robbins et al have teaching degrees? Maybe the District plans on hiring THEM to teach Cairo's children. (BEWARE: You saw what Ms. Paula was asking in mileage...and she was only coming from Carbondale. CHICAGO???!!! Well, actually, stay tuned! I'm about to tell you how much their daily mileage will be!!!)

You think I jest?

You think this just another instance of editorializing to heighten emotion?

Think again...

$9,559.67 is a chunk of change, but a number is a number is a number. Don't you ever wonder what goes into a number like that...how attorneys' come up with those "billable hours"? Just what "brain surgery" do they perform to generate the big bucks...

Well, I just happened to see an example this past week!

My example is NOT some hypothetical law firm in Los Angeles or New York City.

No, no, no...

My example is for Robbins Schwartz Nicholas. My example is work done for Cairo School District Number One. My example is specifically for the James Gibson v. CSD #1 case.

This is what Robbins et al does to drain the District dry:

So, the final "math"...$4,451.62 for a one-hour deposition.

Not one, but TWO attorneys drive their SEPARATE vehicles...over $750 just for mileage. (Why couldn't they carpool?)

By using "Chicago Lawyers", we have to pay for overnight lodging...not one, but TWO rooms. (I know for a fact that Robbins et al has more than one male attorney; I know they have more than one female attorney; why send one of each requiring separate rooms???

The TWO attorneys for Robbins et al - meeting with James Gibson at a "swank" public hotel of their choosing on the outskirts of Carbondale - feared for their very lives. Therefore, without informing James Gibson, they went out and got a rent-a-cop for $50 an hour...to "observe".

Almost $4,500 for one meeting! (Would have been a couple of thousand more, but the meeting was aborted after one hour! More on that below...)

QUESTION: What instructional materials could you buy for your students if the District wasn't paying attorneys to prevent James Gibson from working???

Are your emotions properly heightened?

You say you're pissed...

This "oversight"...this failure to regulate...is killing Cairo School District Number One! THAT $4,500 is the tip of the iceberg that will eventually sink Good Ship CSD #1.

Oh, in all fairness...

...in accordance with my commitment to "balanced reporting"!

Cairo School District Number One MAY not have to pay for this "example". As further harassment of James Gibson, Robbins et al sent THAT bill to James Gibson. They are accusing him of "backing out of the deposition"...of squandering the District's depleted resources.

After creating a stressful situation by hiring an off-duty policeman without warning to James, the two "Chicago Lawyers" peppered James with questions about his health. They even grilled James about who had access to his post office box (like it's any of their business!) After working James over for almost an hour, they "kindly" excused him...THEY called off the deposition.

THAT was followed immediately with the aforementioned bill and a request for the court to dismiss James' case because HE did not complete the deposition...that THEY called off! (In all probability, the District WILL end up paying this bill...along with the EXTRA CHARGES that Robbins et al will bill the District to fight paying the bill.

And you wonder why they call such folks "shisters"...

Okay, to end on a positive note...

The Cairo Financial Oversight Panel finally reigned in the reign of King Leotis I by applying "Part 1" of Merriam-Webster's definition of "oversight".

That gives one hope that the application of "Part 2" to the mounting legal bills of the District will also end...SOON!

If the "powers that be" thought no one was watching...

...well, they got that wrong!