Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 21, 2009 NETOTIATIONS UPDATE

In the year 2525, If man is still alive, If Cairo can survive...

Maybe Cairo School District Number One will quit crying broke and give its remaining three teachers a pay raise.

Why three, you say?

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Since CSD #1 refused to pay competitive salaries, all the other teachers either retired...or they resigned to go to greener pastures. Since the pay in Cairo was so low compared to other Districts - thousands and thousands of dollars lower - new teachers refused to come to Cairo.

Until there were three...

These three remaining teachers - one per attendance center - are termed "Super Teachers", not that the Board of Education thinks they are great by any means. I mean they are teachers, after all...not worthy of the BOE's respect.

No, the remaining three teachers are called "super" because it is their job to supervise the substitute teachers that have been employed on a permanent basis to fill otherwise empty classrooms. They were the only people who would work for nickels and dimes...okay, $70 per day.

Actually, a few were able to make out like bandits in the beginning...going to $85 per day after they had worked 15 consecutive days in the same classroom. However, the Superintendent stepped in and instituted a strict ROTATION of substitute personnel every two weeks so that the substitute teachers would remain at the more fiscally responsible $70 per day.

For that financial ingenuity, the Superintendent was rewarded with a one-week, all-expenses-paid trip PER MONTH to any city of his choice in the 48 contiguous states. (This is in addition to the one-month, all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii that the Superintendent receives every summer since he complained that the cold weather in Cairo and the location of Highway 51 was interfering with his golf game.)

Okay, I guess I should stop with the dripping sarcasm. It ain't really that bad...yet.

However, it's going to get there if the Cairo FOP and the Cairo BOE don't climb down off their one-trick pony and get real about the finances of Cairo School District Number One.

BOTTOM LINE: The negotiations session that was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 21st, has been cancelled. The negotiations session that was "carved in stone" for Monday, May 4th, has been cancelled.

Now don't get me wrong...we ain't done yet. We plan to return to the table...hopefully soon.

BUT...

This one-note song of being broke...declining student enrollment...declining local tax base...well, it's deja vu, all over again.

The Cairo Board of Education played that song to death in 2002...belting it out with great gusto as they jumped off the cliff, forcing teachers to walk out on strike.

As noted previously in the pages of CAT Tracks, THAT sour note resulted in the "bankruptcy" of Cairo School District Number One. Oh, they did not actually go bankrupt, but their throwing away of over $500,000 caused the State of Illinois to call a meeting at Shawnee Community College - with CAT representatives present to observe. At that meeting, ISBE officials told the Cairo Superintendent and attending BOE members that their decision to close the schools and not make up the days missed was a "bad decision" and placed the District in danger of bankruptcy. ISBE officials advised the Cairo BOE to request a "take over" by a Financial Oversight Panel - FOP...which they reluctantly did.

(Incidentally, the BOE's paid attorney is the one who advised them to close and not reopen the schools...and bragged about it in the newspaper. Yes...the Cairo BOE, as usual, paid for bad advice that cost them dearly. Talk about throwing good money after bad!)

Three years later, we thought that maybe an expensive lesson had borne fruit...that the BOE had finally learned from their past blunders.

In the negotiations of 2005, the BOE did NOT "play that old song". No, the Superintendent of that time (Dr. Sam Harbin) cultivated the trust of the CAT in the months leading up to negotiations...demonstrating through actions, that he was a man of his word. So, when he presented the CAT with a reasonable salary proposal (without any previous nickel and diming), CAT accepted...without even making a counter proposal. The offer was seen as fair...so CAT accepted.

In fact, in 2005, we had a total of like 5 meetings, and THAT may be over-stating the case. This year...31 meetings and counting!

The residents of Cairo never even knew that the two sides were negotiating...it was that calm...it was that quiet...and it was productive! Both sides ratified the new contract in May 2005...3 months before it expired!

This year...

Well, strike that...can't even say "this year!

CAT sent a letter asking to bargain in February 2008. When we didn't get a response, CAT sent another letter in May 2008. Since the end of May 2008, the aforementioned 31 meetings...with no end in sight.

And worst of all...because we are patient CATs and willingly subject ourselves to constant abuse and rejection in an effort to finally win the "logic argument"...worst of all, the BOE is following the failed, disastrous "game plan" of 2002, ignoring the successful approach of 2005.

Why?

Damned good question...for which CAT has no answer!

For years and years and years, the Cairo BOE and Superintendents (with the exception of Dr. Sam Harbin) have sung that sad old song..."How broke we are, how broke we are, nobody knows how broke we are"...a song that does NOT stand the test of time.

Over the past 3 years, Cairo School District Number One has gone through the same pattern of declining enrollment and declining local tax base that it cries about now. According to the BOE and Superintendent...the sky is falling, the sky is falling.

In response, I'm tempted to use the "F-Word"...especially since I have learned that the use of that word is acceptable to the Cairo Board of Education at its open meetings!

Oops...more sarcasm. Excuse me!

Let me clarify that apology...

Excuse me if I am not sorry for being sarcastic. Thirty-one unproductive negotiations sessions will do that to a person!

However, I shall restrain myself and make the following polite observations:

• Since teachers were given the reasonable raise of 2005, the District has prospered...despite declining enrollment and declining local tax base! As I indicated in reviewing the March 2009 Cairo Board of Education Treasurer's Report...another month, another $200,000 increase in the District's First National Bank Account.

• The federal government has stepped up and granted CSD #1 an additional $500,000 in stimulus funds...with a mandate to SPEND IT!

• BUT - most importantly - the Cairo Board of Education spends money on anything and everything that it WANTS to, whether that be the increased salary of the Superintendent, the increased benefits of the Superintendent, the fancy out-of-state trips of the Superintendent, golfing fees of the Superintendent, over $100,000 in legal fees (mostly to fight losing battles against highly qualified employees), settlement fees to employees wronged by the District, etc. (CSD #1 has committed itself to fight a federal lawsuit against the District by a former employee who is qualified to hold a position which the District has filled with substitutes all this year. This lawsuit is scheduled to take a year...probably two. This lawsuit will cost CSD #1 thousands and thousands dollars if they are lucky...and win. If they lose, it will cost THAT plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in settlement money...not one dollar of which will educate one child of Cairo School District Number One!)

DISCLAIMER: Any negative references to the Cairo Board of Education should not be applied to the two newcomers - Artie McBride and Charlene Vaughn. They were not there in 2002, 2005, or 2008-09. Anyone is entitled to a grace period, a "honeymoon period", if you will. Hopefully, the two new members will be open-minded as they approach their duties, will ask questions to become informed, will seek input from all parties, and will vote their consciences.