CAT Tracks for November 14, 2011
REGULAR BOE MEETING...MINUTES

The Cairo Board of Education held its rescheduled regular meeting on Monday, November 14, 2011, at 6:00 p.m. Below is an annotated agenda to serve as "minutes"...

(Catty Commentary at bottom of this post.)

Cairo School District No. One
"MAKING A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE!"
2403 Dr. M. L. King Jr. Avenue
Cairo, Illinois 62914
Telephone 1-618-734-4102
Fax 1-618-734-4047

CAIRO BOARD OF EDUCATION
CAIRO SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER ONE
REGULAR SCHOOL BOARD MEETING
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011
6:00 P.M.

AGENDA

I. Call to Order - 6 p.m.

II. Roll Call - All Present

III. Examples of Excellence:

IV. Recognition of Guests/Comments From Public and Employees - None.

V. Approval of Previous Minutes - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  1. Regular Minutes of October 20, 2011
  2. Closed Minutes of October 20, 2011

VI. Approval of Agendas - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  1. Regular Meeting
  2. Closed Meeting

VII. Approval of Treasurer's Report - District CEO/Business Manager Justin Miller (substituting for Interim Superintendent Leotis Swopes) made some comments. Motion made, seconded, and passed.

VIII. Approval of Payment of Bills/Payroll - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

IX. Informational

  1. 21st Century Grant (Jackson Initiative, Inc.) - $415K - (1-3 Year Program) - (See Supt.'s Report) - Apparently Warren Jackson and Leotis Swopes applied for and were awarded a $415,000 grant (for each of three years) to provide after school activities for the students of Cairo School District Number One. The money does NOT flow through the District. Apparently Jackson Initiative, Inc. (which operates out of the tax service/dry cleaning building just north of the Dollar General Store in Mounds) will administer the grant and provide the services to Cairo School District students.

  2. Community Meeting: Regarding Supt.'s Search - (See Supt.'s Report) - A summary of the November 8th meeting was distributed to the BOE members.

  3. School Report Card - Mrs. Pickett distributed copies to the BOE and the audience. It's 25 pages...no way I'm scanning and posting. It should be posted on the ISBE website. (CAT Tracks Editor's Note: Okay, I looked it up. Most of it can be found here.)

  4. Beta Club Inductees: Dalisa Barber, Drequan Green, Tasonya Lowe, RaeVonne Powell, Sha'Da Washam

  5. Maintenance Issues - (See Supt.'s Report) - Band-aid repairs to stop steam escaping pipes serving boiler at CCEC; roof repairs to damage mentioned in previous meeting; fine tuning of new boiler at Cairo Elementary...to be completed by December 1st.

  6. Other

  7. Checks Deposited - District Account

    $170,243.22 - State Aid - (10-14-11)
    22,055.01 - National School Lunch
    12,195.30 - School Breakfast
    170,243.22 - State Aid - (10-25-11)
    22,956.00 - Title I Low Income
    8,579.00 - Title II Teacher Quality
    2,618.75 - Lease Payment - CCEC - Shawnee College

X. Closed Session - The BOE voted to enter closed session at 6:35 p.m. (BOE Member Danny Brown exited with the audience and did not return.) The BOE voted to exit closed session at 7:30 p.m.

XI. Requiring Action/Decisions By Board of Education

  1. Personnel employment, resignation, release, discipline, or compensation

      a. Vernon Stubblefield, Truancy Coordinator - Salary of $30,000 (with benefits the same as received by secretaries.) - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

      b. Larry Baldwin, High School Boys/Girls Head Track Coach - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

      c. Anita Giacomo, High School Boys/Girls Assistant Track Coach - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

      d. Bernard Brown, Jr High School Boys/Girls Assistant Track Coach - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  2. Approve Accepting Payment - Regarding Implementing Operation Teen Safe Driving Program - $2,000 - Cairo Jr/Sr High School - Beta Club, Sponsor, Ryan O'Shea - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  3. Approve Accepting Charitable Contribution From Oris B. Hastings Foundation - To Cairo Jr/Sr High School to Purchase 30 Pairs of Basketball Shoes and Socks for Cairo Jr. High Boys Team - $1,980 - Coach, Lorenzo Duncan - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  4. Board Policy Manual Updates - Place on Reading - Motion made, seconded, and passed.

  5. There will be a special joint meeting of the Cairo BOE and the Cairo FOP on Monday, November 21st at 5:30 p.m.

XII. Old Business

XIII. Adjourn...A motion was made, seconded, and passed to adjourn at 7:37 p.m.

CLOSED SESSION IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSIDERING INFORMATION RELATIVE TO THE APPOINTMENT, EMPLOYMENT, PERFORMANCE OR DISMISSAL OF INDIVIDUAL EMPLOYEES WHICH MAY BE OF A TEMPORARY CONFIDENTIAL NATURE, STUDENT DISCIPLINE, PLACEMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS, DISCUSSION OF LITIGATION PROBABLE, IMMINENT, FILED OR PENDING AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING OR RELATED ISSUES.

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

My "burning question" of the day/week was whether Interim Superintendent Swopes' absence later this week (to attend the Black Educator's Conference in New Orleans) would be days counted toward his 100 days of service.

Rumor has it...

...forget later this week!

Interim Superintendent Swopes will NOT attend tonight's BOE meeting...will NOT be "in District" all this week!!!

Early departure?

One man "advance team"...setting up "Welcome to Nawlins!" party for soon to arrive Cairo BOE Members??

Boycotting this week...because the FOP inserted a provision into his Interim Superintendent's Contract that he would not get paid to attend National Conferences this year as he had previously?


Enquiring CATs want to know!!!


Regardless, until further notice...

...the countdown to "D-Day" remains stuck at:

Sigh...