Home before 7 p.m.

Only a 14-minute closed session!

Might be a record.

All BOE members were present.

CJSHS Principal Zena Madison had the honors for "Examples of Excellence". She referred to a newsletter of events at her building for February. She then introduced CJSHS teacher Ryan O'Shea, who gave an oral report on the Cairo Junior High School Beta Club attendance at and participation in the annual Beta Club Convention. Mr. O'Shea also reported on the success of Cairo students at the annual Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) competition. (More on that later.)

No one in the audience asked to address the BOE. The "Consent Agenda" was approved in total without any questions or discussion.

Superintendent Andrea Evers reported the latest enrollment figures:

• Elementary - 316
• CJHS - 104
• CHS - 116

Superintendent Evers also reported:

• Five Act of God days have been applied for and approved.
• The last day of school will be June 4th. High School Graduation will by May 17th. The 8th-Grade promotion will be May 19th.
• ISAT testing has been pushed back a week due to the extensive school closings due to weather.
• The Lady Pilots lost their Sectional game in a heart-breaker. Evidently the game was "controversial. Apparently the officials were only able to see black-on-white crime, sending the opposition to the free-throw line 31 times, while the Lady Pilots went to the line 0 times. Yep, zero, nada! The Cairo High School principal has sent a protest. According to Superintendent Evers, impartial observers (from other school districts) commented on the "unbalanced" nature of the game. Finally, Superintendent Evers commented that the Cairo players represented themselves well, displaying good sportsmanship despite the controversial nature of the game.

The BOE voted to enter closed session at 6:22 p.m. The BOE voted to exit closed session at 6:36 p.m.

Requiring Action/Decisions By Board of Education:

• Accepted the resignation of Joyce Ivy as Jr. High Volleybal Asst. Coach
• Accepted the resignation of Rose Mary Kloss as Part-Time Technology Coordinator effective June 30, 2014.
• Hired Jamia Wiggins as Jr. High Volleybal Asst. Coach
• Hired Jill Bosecker as School Nurse to begin on March 10th. (This additional action item the one "amendment" to the original agenda.)
• Accepted a $509 donation from the Oris B. Hastings Foundation for Business Skills Competition T-Shirts.
• Approved Uniform Policy 2014-15 (AP 7:165-AP1) - (Yep, the deed is done. There was one nay vote and one abstention. During open session, there was a rather lengthy discussion in which BOE member Rodney Moore pushed for a listing of consequences for noncompliance. Mr. Moore felt that the consequences should be included in the policy before its adoption. Superintendent Evers indicated that there would be committee meetings to discuss these matters and that the BOE would have an opportunity for input when it came time to approve the student handbook. Stay tuned!)

The BOE voted to adjourn at 6:40 p.m.

POSTSCRIPT:

Should you ever decide to attend a meeting of the Cairo Board of Education...

...it would be advisable to bring a flashlight (or the flashlight app for your smartphone!) Without any outside lighting, one could not even tell if s/he was on the sidewalk or the ground while edging toward the south parking lot. If it weren't for the ability to use your key fob to "light up" your car, you would never have found it until the sun rose in the east.

Think I'm lyin'?

There were several witnesses to the blackout conditions. Talk about the blind leading the blind!

Hope the District's liability insurance premiums are up to date...

...in case someone falls...

or gets mugged!

Original post follows:

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

Be sure to read the proposed policy for school uniforms.

Since I have already ranted and raved today, I am going to bite my catty tongue.

Maybe tomorrow.

Today?

I won't, I won't...

...the hell I won't!

I mean...

...dust off those rulers...

...gotta make sure that we don't expose more than two inches of skin above the knee.

Talk about stuck in the sixties.

My eyebrows did rise...

...when I read the part about the clothing matching "skin color"! Wow, does that set off red flags and fire alarms?!

Damn!

But, hey...

Why do I care?

I don't gotta be there, don't gotta enforce it. That's on all y'all good little soldiers!

This retired old rabble-rouser will be spending his days on the couch where I will wear whatever the hell I damn well please...

...or nothing at all!

:-)