CAT Tracks for August 16, 2011
TOSSED SALAD

The following post is NOT for children...nor is it for those sensitive to, well, pornographic material.

This is NOT a joke!

What I am about to relate is admittedly hearsay since I did not attend Cairo School District Number One's Teachers' Institute on August 15th...the first day of the 2011-2012 School Year. However, that which is described below was related to me by several horrified attendees...who were subjected to an experience that would have most likely caused my female high school teachers - Ms. Crozier, Ms. Fitz, Ms. Greaney - to faint dead away.

Bears Repeating:

This is NOT the build-up for a joke.

It is Leotis Swopes appearing LIVE...RAW and UNCENSORED!


BACKGROUND:

Interim Superintendent Swopes was scheduled for 8:30-9:00 "Superintendent's Message".

Apparently, Leotis was NOT in a good mood. He began his remarks by stating something along the lines of "My wife didn't want me to come back, and I would dare say there are many in this room who wish the same thing." Wow, talk about a positive kick-off to a new school year...

I reported yesterday that Interim Superintendent Swopes revisited his theme that white teachers cannot teach black kids...an allegation to which I strongly object.

I mentioned that Interim Superintendent Swopes showed a video of Al Sharpton, but I declined to comment further, having no information about the video.

Well, I have since received a briefing on the video. The video was NOT controversial or inflammatory. In the video, Al Sharpton relates an experience that he had with a younger African-American who had "made it" in life, and was obviously proud of his personal accomplishments, achieved as they were without any help from others. Al tried to remind his young "brother" that he would NOT have achieved what he had achieved without the efforts of the generations who had blazed the trail and opened the doors...people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., etc.

(CAT Tracks Editor's Note: In short, it reminded me to a certain degree of my "dinosaur speech" of a few days ago...that "newbie" teachers don't remember the struggles of their predecessors, don't appreciate the things that they take for granted. "Newbies" don't know "their history". On an even more personal note, I had this same argument with one of my highly successful in-laws who was ranting and raving against "affirmative action"...that it cast doubt upon his personal accomplishments, diminished him in the eyes of colleagues who felt he had not earned his own way.)

So...

...the video was fine.

It was Interim Superintendent Swopes' personal remarks that were inappropriate for a breakfast meeting of elementary and secondary educators.

Apparently, the set-up to the offensive material was that Interim Superintendent Swopes' wanted to educate white teachers on their inability to relate to their black students.

If I understand correctly...

Interim Superintendent Swopes wanted to alert white teachers of words that have multiple meanings for different generations, for different cultures...students and teachers, urban and rural, white and minority.

His first titillating choice was "intercourse" (which he related as a personal experience from his days gone by in the classroom.)

According to Merriam-Webster:

Dumb white teacher will be thinking definition #2, while student will be thinking #3. Hee, hee, hee. (Memo to Interim Superintendent Swopes: Had the same experience back in the day in the hallowed halls of CHS. I got it...)

Not satisfied with one example, Leotis went on...


    CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

    If the previous definition/discussion made you the slightest bit uncomfortable, leave this site...NOW. If hearing expletives like GD or MF offend you, leave this site...NOW. If you are that sensitive, proceeding further is likely to cause your eyeballs to melt.

    Bears Repeating:

    This is NOT a joke.


Okay, enough already...you have been warned.

For the "players" in the audience, you're there already. If you weren't paying attention to the title of this post at the beginning - not expecting the "urban" definition in the pages of CAT Tracks - well, you've caught on since.

For the sheltered, it's time to unveil what lurks in the mind of one Leotis Swopes as he stands before a group of educators in Cairo, Illinois, welcoming them back, and giving them something to focus on in the coming school year:

    "TOSS SALAD OR TOSSED SALAD"

    Merriam Webster offers the definition that non-players would be most familiar as they prepare an opening course for the evening dinner: "to mix lightly until well coated with a dressing or until the elements are thoroughly combined."

However...

Leotis made it plain that THAT was not the definition that he had in mind. He offered that there was an "alternative definition", implying something nasty...and moved on.

Well, his "tease" got the predictable response as several teachers with smartphones googled the term:

Yep...gives new meaning to "doing the nasty".


So, ladies and gentlemen...

...this is what passes for an inspirational speech in Cairo School District Number One.

Leotis "Chris Rock" Swopes appeared courtesy of the Cairo Board of Education and the Cairo Financial Oversight Panel...who had the wisdom and foresight to bring back their failed Superintendent for an encore performance as Interim Superintendent.

Since his rehiring, Leotis has led an attempted coup against the Financial Advisors, refused to sign his contract until it is more acceptable, divided the Cairo BOE as a clandestine "Big Four" tend to his bidding, once again slandered his white teachers for their inability to teach black students, and delivered an inappropriate monologue to teachers and staff on opening day.

Ten days down and NINETY to go. There appears to be no limit to the chaos that Leotis will stir before he finally leaves the stage. Then, again...that's what predictably happens when you "fail" your superintendent, refuse to give him another 3-year contract, but leave him in control. Leotis is the proverbial "Lame Duck"...for whom there are no consequences for his disruptive, divisive actions.

He's flauntin' it!


Speaking of double entendres...

...the license plate: "LIL ROK 9".

Maybe it's a really a shout out to his idol Chris Rock instead of the brave students in Little Rock, Arkansas who risked their lives to end segregation.

And, if that's the case...

Maybe Leotis needs to go back and watch Al Sharpton's video again...to remember how he got to where he is instead of soiling the moment.


BTW:

From his mindset yesterday, makes you wonder what Leotis was up to during his month off. Hope he takes a cold shower before going off to work today!

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

If Superintendent Swopes would like to offer an alternative version of events..."his side of the story" - I am quite willing to post same without comment, catty or otherwise.