CAT Tracks for April 23, 2004 CONFUSION REIGNS

The Cairo BOE held a special meeting on April 22, 2004, at 6 p.m. and the question of the night quickly became...Am I supposed to be here?

Apparently, notices went into the school mailboxes of coaches and sponsors requesting their appearance at this meeting. When some dutifully appeared, they were greeted with bewilderment...on their part and the part of the BOE. For approximately 10 minutes, various parties tried to determine exactly what was going on. Finally, it was agreed that the BOE had called the meeting in response to a request by (athletic) coaches...that the attendance of (organization) sponsors was not required.

After the meeting was called to order at 6:10 p.m., coaches in attendance (along with Principal Williams) were invited to the table. But, wait a minute...

Upon request, Superintendent Isom indicated that there were a couple of other matters that needed attention...

The Superintendent indicated that discussions had been taking place among Regional Superintendent Dan Anderson and the superintendents of Cairo, Century, Egyptian, and Meridian. These discussions concerned the joint employment of an "instructional specialist"...someone who would oversee programs in all four districts; that would monitor curriculum for alignment to state standards (but NOT a curriculum coordinator!); that would model "best practices"; etc. This person would be paid a salary in the range of $60,000 to $75,000 (to be split among ROE and the 4 districts) and would be paid out of Title I funds. Superintendent Isom indicated that the matter had been brought to the Meridian Board at its last meeting, but that some snag had developed. What he was seeking was the BOE's authorization to proceed with cooperative efforts to develop a job description for the position and a clarification of what the position would entail. The BOE seemed reluctant to give that authorization. General discussion was held and Superintendent Isom finally said that he would send the BOE some information on the topic and seek their authorization at the next meeting. The BOE agreed that tabling the matter until their next meeting seemed like a good idea.

(With the coaches still sitting at the table...) The next item up for discussion was the need to approve a matter that emerged at the morning Financial Oversight Panel meeting; namely the need to change the current Cairo BOE policy as it relates to approval of expenditures of $0 to $5,000 and above... (Although not specifically mentioned), there apparently was dissatisfaction on the part of the FOP with expenditures authorized by District administrators. Therefore the FOP advised District officials to change their existing policy to require that prior to any such expenditures, the Presidents of the Cairo BOE and the Cairo FOP would be notified and permission obtained. Well, this touched off much discussion over which expenditures fell into that category...emergency expenditures, budgeted expenditures, all expenditures? Then, the question was how to word the motion...can't change policy without first putting it on reading...but the FOP wants immediate enactment of the "intent" of the new policy. Finally, it was decided to table the motion...until the FOP administrator (in attendance) could draft a motion for the Board.

(With the coaches still sitting at the table...) The next item of business was a need to change the date of the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Cairo BOE...to resolve a scheduling conflict for the Cairo FOP. It was suggested that the meeting be held on May 18th instead of May 20th. The outcome...The May meeting of the Cairo BOE will be on May 13th.

Whew...

The Cairo BOE, Superintendent Isom, Principal Williams, the Athletic Director, and the coaches present then engaged in an extensive (almost 2 hour) discussion of coaching responsibilities and the development of a Coaches Handbook.

After thanking one and all for their participation, BOE President Joe Griggs then asked for a motion to go into closed session. The BOE approved the motion at 8:20 p.m. The BOE voted to exit closed session at 9 p.m.

The Superintendent then recommended:

-Payment in full of the bill submitted (long ago) by Maintenance Supervisor Lorenzo Nelson. The BOE approved. (Prior to closed session, the BOE did ask Mr. Nelson whether he could submit a breakdown on the cost of each tool used...by the May 13th meeting. He indicated that he could. He was then excused for the evening.)
-Approval of a motion (drafted by the FOP administrator in attendance) for proper authorization of (nonbudgeted) expenditures until such time that the District's existing policy could be reviewed and amended. The BOE approved.

There was a brief discussion on what to do about another item (something about bargaining), but then the statement was made that "We'll just go with what we've got."

The BOE adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

(On the way out of the building, we passed by the returning coaches...)