Update August 23, 2011 9:53 PM
Steve Diaz and Dale Ostergaard had another email exchange, this time over fear and intimidation on the School Board.
Update August 23, 2011 11:19 AM
Map of US visits since I posted the expose. Don't bother counting; there are 26 states highlighted. In total, it has been viewed in four countries.
Update 6:55 PM
Another example was sent to me. Keep 'em coming.
http://jposti.blogspot.com/2010/04/plancon-process.html
Description of PlanCon
Update: Here is another incident for Mrs. Posti to address.
http://jposti.blogspot.com/2011/04/voucher-bill-passes-appropriations.html
"While SB1 was originally targeted to families making under $29,000 in failing schools or school districts, as amended SB1 would offer vouchers to families earning up to $67,000, even if they live in top school districts and even if their children have never set foot in a public school."
Check this one out: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=208420045843951&comments
"Where SB1 was originally targeted to families making under $29,000 in failing schools or school districts, as amended SB1 would offer vouchers to families earning up to $67,000, even if they live in the top school districts in the state and even if their children have never set foot in a public school."
Let's see how many others we can find, folks.
The School Board President has apologized and corrected her Center Court blog to include sources for the three incidents that were exposed on this blog. She was caught. So what will become of this? Probably nothing. Are there any students who were caught plagiarizing? Were there any consequences? Feel free to comment here. I am opening this up again to accept anonymous comments, just for this particular subject. If it is appropriate, I will approve it. Parents, we have a School Board President who basically says, "Do as I say, not as I do." What if you had a child who was caught plagiarizing? Were there any consequences? There should have been, according to the District website. How do you feel knowing that your kid paid the price, but the School Board will look away when one of their own does it?
What are the consequences? The District clearly says that there are severe consequences to plagiarism. If your child apologizes and makes the appropriate corrections, that's good enough, according to the School Board President. How many colleges or employers operate like that? What consequences are in store for Mrs. Posti?
34 comments:
I am embarrassed to say that my daughter was kicked out of college. She learned her lesson the hard way. She did not attend Mount Lebanon schools.
Consequences resulting from Mrs. Posti's actions include losing her credibility, public trust and respect, and tarnishing her reputation.
it was decided by the MLHS English Department Chair that my teenager's submission had been plagiarized at the end of 9th grade. The punishment was failing the class and attending summer school to repeat it.
Searching for "consequences of plagiarism" on Google produced an extensive list, with none of the consequences being very pretty.
Elaine
I think definition #3 & 4 below found on the Free Online Dictionary just about says it all after reading Mrs. Posti's retort!
"vain (vn)
adj. vain·er, vain·est
1. Not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt.
2. Lacking substance or worth: vain talk.
3. Excessively proud of one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited.
4. Archaic Foolish."
Mrs. Posti wrote this:
"I'm flattered that such a consistent critic of the District has taken the time to read my blog and learn more about important topics like Act 1, the Separations Act and the consolidation of municipalities and school districts. They're important topics. I'm not the subject matter expert on any of them but will work harder to bring information about these and other important education issues to readers in a clear, accurate manner."
Which falls right into line with Mr. Diaz's comments.
It never seems to occur to Mrs. Posti that its just PLAIN SMART to study contrary or opposing opinions. You just maight bump into something you didn't know!
Oh by the way she did seem to be an "expert" when she besmirched Mr. Taylor's (a professional structural engineer) opinions in a letter to the Almanac if I remeber correctly.
I go to the high school. Mrs. Posti is a poor example for us. Fist she told us at Commencement that we shouldn't leave MT Lebanon, and what a good writer she is. Now we see what kind of a writer she really is.
"When I was in high school, college, and graduate school, I was smart enough to know not to cheat. I knew that we couldn’t write as well as any of the textbooks. However, nowadays, some students think that they can. When the paper is written better than I could write it, it is a sign of cheating. That frustrates me, because the student is learning the wrong lesson when he or she plagiarizes a paper. That is a bad lesson that they learn, and they will take it with them into the world." - Dr. E. Allen Campbell, Mt. Lebanon High School graduate
Well, if she feels the need to apologize and to correct her blog, why does she not feel that her conduct reflects on her ability to serve on the school board, where she is supposed to lead by example and to be a role model for our students and the whole community? If she feels she did wrong in this, she should require no less of herself than the school would require of a student--she should at least resign the presidency of the board--maybe "suspend" herself for a month, or even resign!
I sure hope other school board members will step up and demand Posti step down. They need to regain their integrity and standing up to someone who is a PROVEN plagiarizer and has talked so condescendingly to a taxpayer ought to be an easy enough thing for these elected officials to do.
Posti said that this blog "accused" her of plagiarizing. Nothing could be further from the truth. This blog EXPOSED Posti's plagiarism.
Elaine was smart enough even to let Jo think she would win by simply taking her blog down fora few hours and fixing the three "known" issues on her blog. She even gave her the links to COPY AND PASTE (since she was clearly so good at that) into her blog to fix them.
Little did she know that there were even more posts ready to expose.
Would the President of the Student Council be able to keep his or her seat if he had done this?
C'mon Jo, your presidency has been marred by bad decision after bad decision. It's time for you to step down and let someone, anyone else lead this Board.
As of 10:00 Monday night two of the board members have yet to vote.
Joe W
Joe W., all of them plus two voted to say they are excited with the design of the renovation. I purposely kept the poll posted, even though the poll is closed. I laugh every time I look at it.
Maybe those two remaining board members feel they AREN'T doing a fine job.
Elaine
Here is the sad part to all of this. There have been eight universities (so far) that have read about Josephine Posti on this blog. Did this happen because she linked my blog to her blog? What do they think about Mt. Lebanon now?
Thanks for the link, Josephine. This is a record day in hits for me, but the School District is taking a bigger hit because of you.
Our reputation is getting tarnished.
Mrs. Posti is a graduate of Mt. Lebanon, in her mid-forties and as president of the school board she doesn't live up to the plagiarism standards expected of a seventeen year old student at Mt. Lebanon High School.
So far I have heard from four friends at colleges from coast to coast and they don't think this is funny. I wonder how many other college friends have received an email?
Now it is on Fake Lebo. I wonder if any news people are going to get wind of this.
It is getting pathetic.
Had this occurred (more than once by the same student) in the DEVILS ADVOCATE, intentionally or not, what would the repercussions have been?
Let's see what a student's apology might be to a teacher, Mr. Smith, if the teacher had caught that student turning in 3 (or is it 4, 5, 6, 7....) papers that were clearly plagiarized from other sources.
Recently, Mr. Smith accused me of plagiarism as the result of information he received from simply reading my paper. Mr. Smith found 6 instances of papers I turned in to be either copied in full in which I "neglected" to cite the original source. I apologize for that "oversight" and will go back to all of the papers I turned in over the last year and cite where I stole the original material from. I know it will appear to Mr. Smith that I actually didn't do the work for the course, but I think he will understand that I did actually invest the time FIND the article and my copy and paste skills are not the best so it even took time for me to do that. So, I probably invested as much time in researching my papers as other students did in researching theirs. Mr. Smith, I know I have failed in the past, but I promise to use more rigorous standards in the future. For instance, I will only copy and paste from subscription based emails in the future so you have no chance to catch my plagiarism unless you subscribe to the same email list.
I do try to copy from a TON of different sources in order to make it more difficult for you to detect my plagiarism, so you will need to excuse me if once in a while I just get so confused that I cannot remember if the material I posted was copied or plagiarized or if I actually thought of it myself. I blur that line so often that I just can't keep track sometimes.
I did take responsbility for my actions by requesting from Mr. Smithg that he allow me to go back to all my papers and cite my sources and he not penalize my grade at all for making these corrections.
I was so flattered that Mr. Smith took an interest in the papers I turn in for the class. That he actually read them means the world to me. That Mr. Smith actually took the time to see if the material I turned in was actually done by me SHOCKED me. I mean, I didn't actually think anyone read this stuff! Hopefully, even though all the material was plagiarized, you feel good about yourself for learning more about those things in those papers...I mean, I am glad someone learned something because, quite frankly, I didn't even read the material I plagiarized. I mean, I don't know anything about anything, I am still a student after all. So I just copy stuff from the "experts" and figure they know more about the topic than I ever could.
I will try harder in the future to come up with my own original thoughts. As soon as I have one, I wll let you know. Thanks for understanding.
BTW, do I requested Mr. Smith's support for that Model UN position I have been wanting? This won't affect that in any way will it?
Student X
In the actions of men, and especially of Princes, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies the means. - Niccoló Machiavelli, The Prince. 1537.
A fresh look almost 500 years later: In the actions of politicians, and especially school board directors, from which there is no appeal, the end justifies being mean.
If Josephine (everyone should refer to her by her given name, not the overly familiar "Jo") does use "APR" ("Accredited in Public Relations" by the Universal Accreditation Board) after her name, here's what the APR defines Josephines plagiarism to be : "Slavish copying: This term is used for extensive word-for-word copying. One can use the idea, but not the creative expression of the idea. For a violation, copying must be exact, word for word." A dictionary definition of "slavish" is "3. Showing no originality; blindly imitative: a slavish copy of the original" (The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition).
Someone should present this entire issue to the Universal Accreditation Board to see if Josephines reported APR credentials should be withdrawn.
I'm flattered that such a consistent critic of the District has taken the time to read my blog.
Josephine Copy N. Pasti
Elaine - did you know that the high school was evacuated this afternoon after your email about the school board directors resigning came out? An earthquake was reported.
What is the Code of Ethics for an APR?
This was already sent to the SB with the person's name on it. I was told that I can share it here too.
The PA School Code allows for school board members to be IMPEACHED. Maybe this is the way to go.
I hope everyone noticed that the school board gave Dr. Steinhauer a very handsome raise, to increase his salary to $151,420 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_752027.html. What a very generous thing for them to do with our money, especially in these times when the Governor has cut education funding statewide.
To Code of Ethics @ 3:26 PM and all interested parties :
The APR lists a "sister organization" known as the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) which does in fact have a posted Code of Ethics, and also includes that of the North American Public Relations Council. Note particularly #4's on each list :
http://www.nspra.org/code-ethics
Posti should be publicly censured by all professional PR organizations and stripped of any/all existing accreditations.
"Ethics? We ain't got no ethics. We don't need no ethics! We don't have to show you any stinkin' ethics!"
plagiarized from that famous movie "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"
"This too shall pass." That is how the directors roll and I don't mean that in the positive sense. Lay low, Josephine, to dodge this bullet too. Consequences? Never! They laugh in the face of Consequences! Judy Harris
"The Devil's Advocate" Staff-
here is your first story.
Elaine Gillen
Elaine - have you lost your mind? The Posti Gazette won't touch this, so why you think the kids will be allowed to write about it?
Yes, you're right. What was I thinking?
Elaine
I can't really express in words how amazed I am in all of this. Part of me is sick of the piling on to people who serve this district in their spare time. School Board is truly a volunteer position. And local blogs like this and like Blog-Lebo have no problem exposing the warts of each and every member of the board every chance they get.
But then issues like this pop up with the President of the Board and it sickens me that people in a position of leadership like this just want to sweep things under the rug.
I agree with another commenter who said it wasn't so much that Lebo-Citizen's "accused" Mrs. Posti of plagiarism as it was that this blog "exposed" the plagiarism. There is a difference and it is an important one.
There is nobody who should think that what Mrs. Posti did was anything but plagiarism. It fits every definition of the word.
I am one of those who sits on the sidelines and shakes my head often at both the blogs and at the board. The blogs have shown little, if any, respect for any members of the Board (the last member who had the respect of the at-large community unfortunately resigned). And the board has in return shown very little respect for those residents which are most involved in following its actions.
Quite frankly this is very simply lack of leadership on the part of the school district. This leadership could be provided by either the Superintendent or the board President. But neither chooses to engage anyone but those who fully support what the board does everyday. This is very much in line with what Mrs. Posti's graduation speech was all about.
While I am completely beside myself by the actions of Mrs. Posti (and her ridiculous, condescending apology for her plagiarism) I am just as much concerned with her lack of leadership as President. It is this lack of leadership that manifests itself in over-priced bids, uncommunicated changes to curriculum, and half-truths to the community with regards to reasonings for decisions.
Here's what I know. Things need to change. But I'll be damned if I know how to do that in this environment. Until things change, they will stay the same. We'll be lucky if we escape with less than 40% tax increases over four years with this current Board (assuming they ever float that second bond).
Anonymous for a reason.
On December 1, 2004 David P. Franklin wrote a Letter to the Editor of the Post-Gazette captioned, “ON SABLE, SECRECY MAY HAVE BEEN BIGGEST MISTAKE”
His last sentence to the School Board said.” I am afraid you have fostered an environment in which most residents will now question all future decisions.”
Mr. Franklin was right.
Anon 9:25, I think you nailed precisely why so few people post on the blogs. I may not like Posti, but I have no reason to take the tone a few have here or elsewhere. I also don't believe that the publicly flambéing of our school board (at nearlyevery opportunity) does us any good in the public eye (outside of Lebo). Even the Trib writer noted that this blog exists to criticize the school board . . . And to what end? Will our problems all disappear if Ms. Gillen and others get their wish and Posti rides off into the sunset? I think we'd still be stuck with the school project, the pension issues and other concerns. And who would want the job now anyway? What's equally sad is that these same rough critics tend to take pleasure in attacking any new voice who tries to enter the conversation with a different perspective or position.
Anon 11:30
Unfortunately, I think you miss one important point.
All of this would be unnecessary if the line of communications were open and there was an honest exchange of information.Don't tell me the blame lies entirely with Elaine's blog or with comments critical of the board. Board members have done their fair share of casting aspersions.
How can a simple question, one that by law the public is entitled to turn into a battle?
As an example a resident asked the board a very, very simple question: "where is the $900,000 coming from that the board plans on using to pay for HS kitchen equipment that is being taken out of the bidding process."
It shouldn't be difficult to answer!
They certainly said it was what they planned to do so they must know where the money is!
If they know where it is, they must know where it came from!
If they know where it came from, they must know for what purpose it was collected in the first place!
By not answering these simple questions the board opened itself up for examination. $900,000 unaccounted for is a pretty hefty sum.
Want to stop the speculation and attacks answer the questions. If anything is as it should be that puts a stop to it.
11:30 where, may I ask does the Trib writer say: "this blog exists to criticize the school board . . ." as you commented?
Here's the exact wording from Trib article on this issue: "Gillen, who maintains her own "Lebo Citizens" blog that mostly reprints or links to articles and criticizes the school board, on Sunday called the postings plagiarism and sent an email to school officials urging Posti to resign."
As I don't see the word exists any where in the above paragraph. I see mostly which could be regarding just reprints and links to articles. But I suppose you could say mostly describes criticism also. But that is a far cry from exists to criticize the board! Mrs. Gillen also blogs about the municipality, events and other things. Yes, mostly about the school district, but exists BULL! Get your facts straight or learn how to think!
Talk about malicious slandering.
PROVE ME WRONG! SHOW THE EVIDENCE! I WANT TO SEE THE TRIB SENTENCE THAT SAYS: "this blog exists to criticize the school board . . ."?
The blog in question is Posti's Center Court.
Elaine
Post a Comment