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CAT Tracks for February 25, 2011
SCORCHED EARTH |
Got an e-mail in response to my posted "minutes" to last night's Cairo BOE Meeting...specifically regarding Superintendent Swopes' letter of resignation/retirement...his imminent departure from the District.
The question..."Do you think this will mellow him out?"
Easy answer..."HELL NO!"
The first confirmation of the truth of that response...last night's attack on the sponsor of the Cairo High School Beta Club...the lies...the defamation of his character. This assault directed at a teacher who keeps Cairo School District Number One (more importantly the STUDENTS of CSD #1) IN THE NEWS...for positive things...NOT the kinds of things for which Cairo is most famous (INFAMOUS!!!)
Need more proof...
The hoopla that Superintendent Swopes created over employee personnel files (partially due to an impending records audit by the Regional Office of Education...but kicked up at notch for his own pleasure/ego.)
As reported earlier in CAT Tracks, the actions taken by Superintendent Swopes in arbitrarily changing the working conditions of employees was an Unfair Labor Practice. This was NOT CAT's opinion. This was the opinion of the IEA Legal Department. THEY know the law!
Not wishing to "feed the District lawyers", the IEA advised CAT to give the District "an out". In consultation with the IEA, CAT drafted a letter and sent it to Superintendent Swopes...offering a resolution to the issue. Yes, it would have cost the District some money (reimbursement to employees for improper demands made upon them by the District.) However, it would have been FAR CHEAPER than filing an Unfair Labor Practice charge, going to an IELRB hearing, CAT winning once again, and the District having to pay not only the employee expenses, but the exorbitant fees charged by their losing team of lawyers.
Did Superintendent Swopes take the "out"? Did the Superintendent who handed in his letter of resignation/retirement and who can flip the pages on the calendar and see his "going home" date...did Superintendent Leotis D. Swopes agree to CAT's offer of compromise?
Bears repeating...
"HELL NO!"
Below are the "exhibits"...CAT's offer; Swopes' refusal.
CAT Tracks Editor's Note:
Although Superintendent Swopes would deny it, his ugliness in discussing an employee in open session (rather than taking it into closed session as is the norm...as is the law) begs the question:
WHY?
I mean, especially since just minutes before he indicated that it would be his recommendation that the District charter a bus for $3200 to take some students on a college field trip - students who are not being asked to raise one thin dime for the trip - so they can have "the experience".
(BTW: For the record...I don't object to the college trip. Cairo kids are deprived of "outside experiences". AND...the District has bundles of money stashed away in the First National Bank. The BOE members attended THEIR convention in November...didn't hear of THEM holding any fund-raising activities...like they are asking of the Beta Club. The BOE just paid Superintendent Swopes' way - registration, plane fare, lodging, mileage, etc. - to attend a convention in Denver, Colorado...knowing full well that he was going to come back and resign/retire. BUT...if all those folks can "live off of the District"...why not the Beta Club???)
$3200 for a group of students who have done nothing to "earn" the trip...who are simply being "identified". Yet, arguably the hardest working group of students in Cairo High School (for sure the most publicized!)...who have raised approximately $1000 toward their Beta Club Convention...THEIR $3200 trip (and their sponsor) are under attack...THEIR trip is in jeopardy.
I mean...
I'm sure that it's just a coincidence that the Beta Club sponsor's last name happens to be the same at the President of the CAT.
I mean...especially after reading the Superintendent's "missive" above...surely it's just a coincidence that "O'Shea" seems to be a four-letter word. (Gotta remember that...especially since my ancestry includes the Irish. Hmmm...O'Hell, O'Damn, O'Sh*t, O'F...uh, better quit now.)
O'Well...
Hmmm...guess I never answered the question of "WHY?"
HEY...
You let me know!
Makes no sense to me!
