Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for December 21, 2007 CSD #1...IN THE NEWS

The media looking for a fire to report...before there's even any smoke.

To their likely disappointment, we plan on keeping it that way...in honor of the new IL smoking ban which goes into effect on January 1st.

Cairo school district filling positions

BY Brandy Oxford, For The Southern

Cairo School District 1 is riding down the rocky road of change as teacher contract negotiations and the search for superintendents begin.

The application deadline to find Interim Superintendent Bill Rogers' permanent replacement has been set for February.

However, because Rogers can only work 120 days this year, he is also searching for an assistant superintendent to fill in on the days he cannot work. Rogers said he hopes to have the assistant chosen by January and a new superintendent selected by March.

"We do have some interested candidates," Rogers said. "However, we haven't gotten them all collected nor have we made any attempt at this point to start the selection process."

Rogers retired June 30 from Giant City School District 130 and came to Cairo this year as interim superintendent, his retirement only allows him to work a limited number of days, he explained.

He said the district considered having Rogers work his 120 days then hiring another interim superintendent. With teacher contracts to negotiate and other ongoing issues, they decided it would be better if he spread his time over the school year and hire an assistant to fill in the gaps.

Although the assistant superintendent's salary is subject to negotiation, Rogers said the funds are readily available.

"We do have some ballpark figures we can work with, but it will depend on the person who is hired; it's not a set cost," Rogers said.

Depending on the needs and the funds available for next year, the assistant superintendent may stay on, but Rogers said that is a decision that is too far in the future to determine at this point.

Presently, Rogers' is concerning himself with the teacher contracts, which must be ready by June 30 when the current contracts expire.

"I have spoken to Ron Newell and we're setting up a tentative date some time, probably in mid-January, where we're going to sit down and discuss negotiation plans," Rogers said.

Newell, president of the Cairo Association of Teachers, said previous methods for negotiation required the CAT and Board of Education to present a prepared package of what they would like to see in the new contracts.

"When we came in with prepared packages, it seemed like we just set the stage for confrontation right off the bat and we have a history of confrontation around here," Newell said. "When we tried a different tactic in 2005, everything went real smooth and we worked together."

During the 2005 negotiations, each side came up with a list of topics to be discussed instead of prepared demands, which Newell said was successful because it resulted in a three-year contract.

"Sometimes it just doesn't work out and we come up with a one-year contract," Newell said. "Longer is better. We have had a history of labor strife down here, so the fewer times you sit down at the table, it's fewer times to run into a problem. It gives a cooling off period ? we have a chance just to sit down and teach school instead of worrying about what the next contract is going to look like."

Newell said surveys asking teachers if they have problems with the language of the current contract, if they think any new language would help the contract and what they think would be a fair raise have been sent out, but the negotiations are in such an early stage that those surveys have not yet been reviewed.

Rogers said the negotiations generally boil down to wages.