Received word at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday that the Cairo FOP Breakfast Meeting at the Old Home Place Restaurant in Goreville, IL had been canceled.

About an hour later...received the official notice:

Never known to be at a loss for words and infamous for using any opportunity to heighten emotion, let me say...

• The title to this post speaks volumes. Why would the CAIRO Financial Oversight Panel schedule a public meeting in Goreville, IL...I-57 milepost marker #40...for a school district whose patrons are known to be transportation impaired?

  Granted...people seldom attend when it is held in Cairo...and the FAT CAT teachers who do can afford to make the trek. (BTW...had two and maybe three people say they were going to go. That number did NOT include me. I figured picking up the check was enough of a contribution on my part. Another BTW..."rainchecks" will be honored if this meeting is rescheduled at a later date in another secluded venue Whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner...I'm still buyin'.)

  But, still...

  I mean...if it's a "workshop/retreat" where no decisions will be made, fine. However, it appears from the published agenda (and rumor) that that was NOT the case. Issues pertaining to Cairo School District Number One were to be discussed and decisions were to be made. If not illegal, it was in poor taste.

  Let me be clear...

  I am NOT accusing the FOP of deviousness, of trying to pull something over on the students, parents, employees, or taxpayers of Cairo School District Number One. In my personal dealings with the Cairo FOP, I have found them to be very open and honest. (They even invite the audience to eat with them, unlike another group who will remain nameless! Someone asked me a couple of days ago..."If you went to the meeting, do you think they would buy you breakfast?" My answer: "Probably...that's why I'm not going to go." I don't do "beholden".)

  I think the decision to hold the meeting in Goreville was simply one of those "brain fart" moments...nothing nefarious, simply not well thought out.

  Okay...

  ...enough about location, location, location.

• Pure-D Speculation...

  ...yeah, the catty commentary part!

  Up front: I don't have a clue as to why the Goreville meeting was canceled. For all I know, a water main burst, there is a boil water order, and the restaurant was forced to close. But, as my detractors will attest, a lack of knowledge never stopped me. So, let me speculate...

  By way of the District grapevine, the main topic for the Breakfast Club was to discuss "the Superintendent's contract".

  My catty knee-jerk reaction...

  ...what's to talk about?

  It was announced that the Interim Superintendent's rate of pay would be $500 per day. As a retired certified employee, he's limited to 100 days. Cha-Ching...$50,000 added to his pension income.

  We already know that the Cairo Board of Education will let him continue to stay in the cottage for free, will surely give him his $250 a month for utilities, will let him play golf on school time. I mean...they ain't gonna roc his lil boat.

  So, again...what's to talk about?

  Maybe Leotis is holding out for upgrades to his personal golf course. I mean it is kinda shabby...not really fit for a king. Maybe he wants a putting green. I mean...three years of chipping and driving, he's surely got that down by now. Hey..."driving". Maybe he wants a golf cart. All that walking to retrieve golf balls is probably what makes him late for work so often.

  A caddy? Nah...he's already got the Board of Education to do his bidding.

  MEOW!

Okay, enough is enough.

Well, almost...

You know what I hope is going on?

I hope that Leotis IS playing hardball with the FOP.

I saw with mine own eyes (and reported it in CAT Tracks)...when Leotis attempted a coup (I assume on behalf of the BOE) right after being hired as Interim. Leotis tried to ease the Financial Advisors out the door by cutting their pay from $60,000 to $30,000. (When you have been deemed a failure as superintendent, forced to resign/retire, and then make a comeback and talk the same people into rehiring you, well...it emboldens you.)

So, Leotis may still be feeling his oats...may be putting the screws to the FOP...showing them that they dance to his tune, not the other way around.

Hey, FOP...

...bend over and let him see you shake your tail feathers!

And...

...I'm lovin' it!

The FOP deserves to be screwed...just like the employees of Cairo School District Number One have been screwed for the past three effing years.

Morale in CSD #1 is the lowest it has ever been. Back in February, it appeared that the albatross had been lifted from our shoulders when it was announced that Leotis Swopes had resigned for the purposes of retirement. Then, the Cairo Board of Education drove a dagger into the heart of the employees when they voted to bring him back...rather than hire former District Administrator Constance Williams or CJSHS Teacher Dr. Ronald James.

When desperate eyes turned to the FOP...to stop the madness, the FOP rubber-stamped the dastardly deed, pulling the plug on HOPE.

So...

Give 'em hell, Leotis.

They damned well deserve it!

FOP...