Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for February 24, 2000 UNREASONABLE...AND NOT OUR FAULT!

I had hoped that this edition of CAT Tracks would not be necessary...

Rumors have been flying since the beginning of the school year that CSD #1 was going to make a significant Reduction in Force (RIF) for the 2000-2001 School Year. Alleging a financial crisis, the District formed a Financial Advisory Committee which has met three times since January 5th. (Most of us painfully remember the sham of the "Blue Ribbon Committee" which met during the latter part of 1993 and was credited/blamed by the District for its vote to RIF teachers. In reality, the District and some bankers had already met behind closed doors and struck a deal to cut specific teachers--an unfair labor practice.) Since the Superintendent and some members of the Board of Education are new, I made a personal appeal to the Board of Education in January of this year: DO NOT REPEAT THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST! The 1993-1994 vote to RIF over 20 teachers disrupted the lives of all of us, but especially those teachers designated to be cut. Fortunately, when the dust had settled, almost all of those teachers were hired back, with the exception of a few quality teachers who could not wait indefinitely while the Board played its games. Those teachers found employment elsewhere--our loss and other districts' gain. However, the turmoil created by those unnecessary RIFs directly created the confrontational atmosphere that resulted in the 24-day strike the following year.

Subsequent events have clearly shown that my plea has NOT been heeded. The Superintendent sent the Association a letter on February 9th indicating the the District is contemplating a RIF that could affect as many as 18 positions--over 20% of the teaching staff! (Incidentally, this action is in direct defiance of the discussions held by the District's own Financial Advisory Committee. As a member of that committee stated: "Yes, you could cut 30% of your employees, but then you would have to cut programs and you would lose the students you have left.") Even so, I was hoping that the Association's bargaining team could meet with the Board's team and impress upon them the impossibility of offering a "quality educational program" (the expressed goal of the Superintendent and the Board) with such a massive reduction. THEN the two teams could explore the true financial status of the District and jointly determine REASONABLE FINANCIAL SOLUTIONS.

Unfortunately, the Superintendent has chosen to launch a pre-emptive strike--an article pleading the District's case in last week's Southeast Missourian newspaper and reprinted in the Cairo Citizen. (Read Article) The Superintendent points the finger of blame for the District's alleged financial woes directly at--you guessed it--TEACHERS. As you know, teachers are NOT allowed input into the spending decisions of the District. Those decisions are made by the Board of Education upon recommendation of the Superintendent. BUT when they get into an alleged financial bind--it is OUR FAULT!? (Incidentally, at the same time that the District is crying financial ruin...the Board of Education (NOT THE TEACHERS) buys the Superintendent a new car and creates a new position of Maintenance Assistant!? Go figure.)

The Association sent a lettter to the Board of Education and the Superintendent on February 10th demanding to bargain this matter--BOTH the decision to RIF and its impact. The Association asked for dates to negotiate--a topic that was included on the agenda of the February 16th school board meeting. Instead of a date to negotiate, the Board--following the Superintendent's newspaper interview--has now scheduled a SPECIAL MEETING on February 29, 2000 at 6:15 p.m. "for the purpose of discussing a possible reduction in force for Cairo School District Number One". (Will the bankers be behind those closed doors again? Will the Association be presented with another "done deal"?)

Again, I had hoped NOT to write about these issues. I had hoped that appeals for reasonableness would be heeded. Unfortunately, that is NOT the case. Evidently, we will have to go through another period of unnecessary turmoil. Don't they ever learn...DO THEY EVEN CARE?