Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for April 6, 2009 CAIRO BOE ELECTION III

Started to entitle this post "Good morning, Vietnam" since the first words out of Superintendent Swopes' mouth as he began his monthly 15-minute radio address on WKRO was "Good morning, Cairo." We do seem to have more than our share of conflict. (Did I hear someone mention "quagmire"?)

Anyway...

I quickly shifted gears on the title, turning to "Superintendent's Radio Address" with the SUPERintendent's next turn of phrase; namely "This is your mild-mannered Superintendent, Dr. Leotis Swopes of the Cairo Unified School District Number One." (And, if you wondered, yeah...I'm mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent!)

However...

Had to shift gears once again as the program was drawing to a close, settling on the tried and true "Cairo BOE Election III".

You'll see why at the bottom of this post...

First the good news...no cheap shots at the employees of CSD #1.

SUPERintendent Swopes began his comments with an explanation that the program was airing one week early...that the program was scheduled to be aired on the second Monday of each month, but since next week is Spring Break...

Actually, the program COULD have aired as scheduled if Superintendent Swopes had not arbitrarily changed Spring Break to next week...without a vote of the Cairo Board of Education (at least none that CATs were present for...or were able to hear!) The "common schedule" that Cairo, Century, Egyptian, and Meridian met, discussed, and adopted evidently did not fit Superintendent Swopes' schedule. (Is something special going on up north next week???)

After the intros, including the standard appeal for community support, Superintendent Swopes went on to deliver his monthly "teachable moment".

This month's topic of concern: "Correct Discipline".

I'm not going to try to give a blow-by-blow account of this topic. (If you wish to hear it, I taped it on microcassette and you are free to borrow it.)

The two parts that he emphasized on the "Correct Discipline" topic were "Chores" and "Personal Requests". The purpose of "chores" are to instill responsibility, routine, stick-to-itness...hopefully that would transfer over to school work. "Personal Requests" were to attach consequences to requests by children for privileges (such as driving the family car)...that if expectations (such as replacing gas) were not met, a suspension of the privilege in the future. Superintendent Swopes emphasized that parents "must follow through" with the consequences...that they could "apologize to their children later."

Superintendent Swopes then turned to school news:

• First up...there will be a "Parent Meeting" tomorrow morning (Tuesday, April 7th) at 10 a.m. The topic had something to do with parents being involved with the SIP. Anyone interested was supposed to contact Superintendent Swopes or Valerie Hall.
• Superintendent Swopes then reported on the CHS Beta Club's Riverfront Clean-Up Project last month.
• Next was the CHS WYSE team's participation in the Carbondale Sectional.
• A brief report was given about the Lincoln Museum located in the CJSHS Library.
• There was mention of a student (I didn't get the name)...a student who is working in the CJSHS office...who evidently has received a scholarship through Shawnee College.
• Superintendent Swopes then mentioned the passing of CJSHS Security Aide Dennis Willis.

Maybe there will be refreshments, candidate appearances...