FOOTNOTE:

About last Friday...

...not our finest hour.

"He Who Shall Remain Nameless" had his final finger-waggin' moment at the expense of the employees of Cairo School District Number One.

As he did every year that he was here, HWSRN screwed up the school calendar...building in 181 days rather than 180. Under his grand scheme, teachers and staff would today have Tuesday morning hanging over their heads. According to his calendar, Tuesday would be report card day..."turn in the keys" day.

This past Friday would have been a full, regular dismissal day. Everyone would have been in high spirits, the year almost done. Individual buildings would have honored their retirees, everyone gathering in the CJSHS cafeteria at noon for the annual retirement luncheon.

Oh Happy Day!

That was the schedule, that was the plan...

...until I opened my big mouth!

What's that they say about idle hands?

About a month ago, as Madam CAT President and I cooled our butts on the steps of the CCEC during closed session of a BOE meeting...

...the 181-day calendar entered my mind.

I commented to Madam President...

"That can't be right."

Not leaving well enough alone, I went home that night and (after typing the BOE minutes) got out the "complicated school calendar". I went through the X's, the TI's, the HOL's et al and counted...carefully.

"Eureka! I'm right!"

We notified CEO/Interim Superintendent Justin Miller the next day of our "findings". Having a refreshingly open mind, Mr. Miller said that he would look into it. In short order, the confirmation came down...the District needed to shave a day off of its year. Instead of coming back after Memorial Day to turn in their keys, teachers and staff would be done on the Friday before the holiday!

Oh Happy Day!

DAMN...

...how I wish I could take that one back!

BTW: I don't have clean hands either...

My plan was to stay home...not attend any of it. I felt that I had "hung around" long enough...that I needed to finally make a clean break this year. In fact, the only time I stepped into CJSHS this past school year (before Friday morning) was the night they previewed the "Cairo Movie"..."Land Between Two Rivers".

I mean...

...it's been four years since I retired! It's time for me to go.

I still remember vividly the well-intentioned remark made a couple of years ago by a teacher in response to someone's comment about me being in the teachers' lounge visiting at lunch:

"He just can't stay away."

The hell you say!

I'll show you...

Well, due to circumstances beyond my control, I changed my mind...I attended the Friday morning "retirement party" for the four teachers leaving CJSHS. (Larry Baldwin, Betty Lane, Marianne Maginel, and Nancy Tammen.)

But, I did NOT attend the "retirement luncheon" at 11 a.m.

In doing so, I stood up Suzan Partridge (who gave up many hours of her free time to be a member of the CAT negotiations team), Brenda Jones (my very own sister-in-law!), and Barbie Williams (teacher's aide for 30 some-odd years.) All to make some petty little personal statement.

Shame on me!

Sadly...

I am not alone.

And, that's where I am going to bite my catty tongue. After all, as I have confessed above, I am not without sin...I have no business casting stones.

Folks:

Education is a much tougher gig today than it was "when I went to school".

Back in the day...

...we had REAL problems to deal with. We had students sleeping in bathtubs to avoid the nightly hail of bullets as the United Front and the White Hats fought their to-the-death-of-Cairo war. Those same students couldn't do their homework...turning on the lights might get one shot.

Today...

Bull Stuff!

CPDUs, School Improvement Plans, Common Core Curriculum...adnauseum.

Our "real problems" brought us together...we worked hard, we played hard, we were family.

Your "bull stuff" is, well...debilitating. It will grind you down...kill your spirit...destroy your ability and/or your will to teach. I could not do what you do today.

You are attacked daily by politicians and pundits in the national, state, and local news...cast as villains, identified as scapegoats for the ills of society. You are undermined from within...parents protecting their recalcitrant youth, students who defy you to teach them more than they want to know, and a school board whose members don't appreciate your efforts and for some unknown reason actively dislike you.

I fear for you...

Our "real problems" drove us dinosaurs together...it was how we defied extinction.

I employed the over-used term "family" above, but, dammit...it was true! We might argue and fuss amongst ourselves at times, but if somebody attacked any one of us, by God, they had a fight on their hands. With more than a bit of pride, I will say this about the Cairo High School faculty of yore...

"We were a sight to see...

...we were a force to be reckoned with!"

Sadly...

I saw that togetherness wane during my final decade of teaching.

The teachers' lounge that had been our therapy room grew deserted. Newbies (warned by the revolving administration to avoid that den of iniquity) isolated themselves in their classrooms, trying to deal with a multitude of stressors...alone.

From experience, I can tell you...

...deal with "bull stuff" alone at your own peril.

Unless the person you go home to/with is a fellow employee of Cairo School District Number One...they cannot understand! They will tune you out...most likely tell you to leave your school problems at school.

Isolated at school...no support at home.

Bears repeating:

I fear for you...

Benjamin Franklin is noted for his quips and quotes...his plain old common sense. There is one quote that has always had special meaning for employees of Cairo School District Number One:

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Heeding Ben's quote was essential in the survival of the saber-toothed CATs.

In this era of "education reform" and loss of tenure, it may well be the only thing left for current and future CATs to cling.

But...

It only works - the "family" thing - if you develop it and nurture it. You have to "be there" in times of trouble, supporting/defending colleagues. You have to "be there" to celebrate accomplishments.

When one of us (seven of us) reaches that milestone for which we all yearn, we need to take a moment from our busy lives to share in their joy, to show our respect...to be there.

Last Friday, our family had a celebration...