CAT Tracks for November 15, 2002

CAT Tracks for November 15, 2002

BOARD LAUNCHES RETALIATORY STRIKE

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the classroom...

Not ones to let bygones be bygones, the Cairo Board of Education and administration have enlisted help from ISBE to punish teachers for last year's work stoppage...as if the docking of 17 days of pay wasn't enough! As clearly shown by the ISBE presenter in her PowerPoint presentation, the high school is scheduled for extinction at the end of this year...unless it doubles its performance from previous years. The demise of the junior high is slated for the following year.

(Incidentally...this "plan" came into being a couple of weeks after the ISBE "visitation" on October 9th & 10th. According to the always reliable grapevine...i.e. students who are relatives of or who are themselves friends of Board members...a clandestine meeting was held - on October 29th according to the date on the "draft" performance agreement - between ISBE representatives and Cairo Board members and administration. Interestingly...at least one Board member...who attended the high school break-out session...expressed surprise at the announced action/timeline! Hmmmm...who knew what and when did they know it?)

For those of you who missed that break-out session, you missed the confirmation...by the ISBE presenter herself...that this is NOT about education and/or test scores. It is all about retaliation. When the presenter was asked a very logical question..."How is it that the high school has leap-frogged over a school already labeled as a 'choice' school and has been scheduled for 'restructuring' at the end of THIS year?"...the presenter "let the CAT out of the bag"..."Your Board and administration said that something needed to be done about the high school immediately"...the same Board and administration that has continually targeted the high school faculty for criticism...openly labeling the high school as trouble-makers...complaining that the high school has always constituted the majority of the negotiating team.

There are those who say this is all about ESEA...the "No Child Left Behind" reauthorization act...or as it is commonly referred to by real educators...the "No Child Left Untested" act. Well, excuse me...if it were, it would be cut-and-dried...NOT something to be requested by the local Board of Education AND "negotiated" with ISBE. This is straight-out retaliation and union busting. It will NOT go unchallenged.

(Talk about timing...Your IEA magazine - the Advocate - arrived this week. Check out "Page 6". Notice the implementation date...mid-2nd column..."Starting with the 2005-2006 school year..." The federal government has yet to develop guidelines for the implementation of ESEA. There is a LOT of speculation...throughout the country. Paraprofessionals - teachers' assistants - are being required to jump through hoops by "the end of the 2005-2006 school year"...to become "highly qualified"...BUT they have yet to be told exactly what will be acceptable. In other words...AGAIN...this is NOT about ESEA. Yes...it's out there...it's on its way...it WILL have to be dealt with...but NOT by the end of THIS year. What is transpiring in Cairo School District Number One is just heavy-handed retaliation by a vindictive Board of Education against employees who exercised their rights - rights granted and protected by Illinois statute!)

If ISBE really wants to correct the problems in Cairo School District Number One, then maybe they better take a second look...in a different direction:

This is the same Board and administration that repeatedly exposed its high school staff and students to toxic chemicals...causing physical injury and totally disrupting education in three buildings.

This is the same Board and administration that canceled 17 days of education for its students...in an effort to force an unacceptable contract upon its certified employees.

This is the same Board and administration that threw away $400,000 of state aid rather than give their certified staff $36,000. (Of course, they would...DID...point to the bright side...ONLY $104,000 was "their money"...$300,000 was "YOUR money"! And, they have the nerve to complain about an unbalanced budget...of $400,000...after knowingly and defiantly throwing the money away!)

This is the same Board and administration that denigrated its certified staff by distributing brochures from its central administrative offices...brochures that accused us of "prostituting children".

This is the same Board and administration that ignored its own Board policy and hired the wife of a Board officer for its highest ranking educational support position...passing over current employees in violation of its Contract with CAESP.

This is the same Board and administration that has scheduled a termination hearing for a 34-year employee of the District...after 10 months of SUSPENSION WITHOUT PAY...for "abandoning her job" by getting sick and having to spend Christmas in the hospital. Bah, humbug!

Speaking of which...