Remember how the school board directors agonized over the cost reductions totaling approximately $850,000? They were able to reduce costs by charging students for parking at $50 per student, eliminating six part time library clerks and one custodian, eliminating the teacher applicant software, and more.
It turns out that twenty Mt. Lebanon School District administrators received salary increases for the 2012-2013 school year averaging three percent. Here is the breakdown:
- Deb Allen, assistant superintendent and top earner, went from $133,136 to $135,693.
- Ron Davis, assistant superintendent, went from $117,853 to $121,671
- Jan Klein, finance director, went from $124,451 to $133,054
In today's PG, Molly Born was able to clarify the technicality concerning Jan Klein's salary adjustment in
Mt. Lebanon school officials given raises.
"She would not have been able to achieve her 3 percent raise for meeting expectations because she was at the top of her salary scale," Ms. Posti said.
Upper St. Clair's finance director declined a payraise. We take care of our finance director here in Lebo.
The increases were based on evaluations; 1.5% increase if approaching expectations, 3% increase for those who met expectations, and 4.5% increase for those who far exceeded expectations.
1.5% for those who approached expectations??? Does that mean "Close enough?" Are we playing horseshoes?
What about Dr. Steinhauer and his increase?
The board will approve superintendent Tim Steinhauer's salary sometime in the coming months. For the 2011-12 fiscal year, he earned $151,420 -- an increase of 3.5 percent from the previous year.
Dr. Steinhauer eliminated the supervisors, but has created "
Dean of Students." I don't know how much of a savings there is with this new position, but I am sure that the board will be giving Dr. Steinhauer a 4.5 percent increase since he is doing a bang up job. Remember the super Super from USC who requested a pay freeze? Not here. We charge students for parking, so that our administrators can get their raises. Only in Mt. Lebanon.
29 comments:
Mrs. Klein "would not have been able to achieve her 3 percent raise for meeting expectations because she was at the top of her salary scale," Ms. Posti said.
So instead her salary was adjusted 6.9%.
Is this a great bubble or what!
It is absolutely disgraceful !
Bill Lewis
How else do you reward unaccountable accounting?
It just gets better and better around this place!
What other occupation allows you to cut budgets, charge your customers more, scrounge for handouts, raise fees and taxes, complain about subsidy amounts, layoff co-workers and then with a straight face accept a big raise and then proclaim it's for the kids.
Mr. Ostergard, Mr. Goldman, you two are newest heros, thank you for thinking!
If you didn't believe that this school board was out of control before, you have to believe it now. OMG, it's unreal! So sad for the kids.
Well when 70% of registered voters can't get involved, can't get off their duffs to vote this is the type of government you get.
Wow. Just when you think it can't get any nuttier around here! Pay raises? Really?
PLEASE, will four people with logical thought run for election next time around? ANYONE??? The incumbents must go!
You know, I wasn't crazy about the idea of charging students for parking, but now that I see that twenty administrators got raises, I am livid. I found this online. Granted, we don't have buses here, but I am always up for a student boycott. I know that is what we would have done when we were going to Mt. Lebanon.
"...I have to add that it is outrageous that tax payers pave a parking lot at a school that was also built by the tax payers and then anybody thinks they have a right to charge students to park there. Do they charge for parking when people attend ball games there ?
As students you are being ripped off. If I were going to that school I would get with my class president and look into starting a student movement to boycott the fees and stop driving to school. I would love to see how the community reacted when they came to see that the big parking lot was paved at great expense and for nothing. I am a firm believer in the fact that today's' students did not cause the financial mess we are in today and while you will have to pay a big part of the price for our irresponsibility, I do not think you should have to start paying now. If you would all agree to boycott the drive to school until the system lowered their demand then I think you would get a better deal along with some understanding of how things Truly work in this world today. Just imagine how you could throw your school system into chaos if one day everybody decided to ride the bus. Would there be enough buses ? Would there be enough seats ? If the bus had to take more time by loading more students at more stops, would they find that they were running late ? The more time you live in this world the more you come to learn how much power there is in unity if one can just swallow a bit of their pride for a greater good and get a little satisfaction out of watching the school board squirm for a while. You may not get free parking but would,t it be fun to make them give in a bit? Believe me, you would make the news and I will be watching to see if it's on here. Good Luck."
Knowing what I know now, rereading this post, http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/05/tax-hike-and-cuts-and-reserves-oh-my.html is "very, very, very difficult" to stomach.
Elaine
Elaine,
Cappucci and Posti were put in charge of negotiating the new contract with the Act93 employees which included Klein and the others.
In the past Ms. Klein was at the top of the salary scale. The Board was able to make two adjustments to her pay.
1. Adjust the entire pay scale for all Act93 employees by a fixed percent. Typically this might be considered a COLA increase. It might be 1 or 2%. All Act93 employees got this adjustment regardless of performance.
2. Ms. Klein would then get a "bonus" which was literally an extra check. If she was to get a 3% raise on top of the adjustment, she would not get an increase in salary but would receive a single check for that increase. A bonus.
3. Employees that were not at the top of the salary scale would still get a normal raise but no bonus.
While Klein was not able to always book a 4.5% raise per year, she always got the COLA "class" adjustment plus a fat 4.5% salary bonus every year. Not a bad racket, huh?
From this article, it looks like Posti and Cappucci eliminated the salary cap that was in place before. Make no mistake, this model saved the district 10's of thousands of dollars per year and was CUMULATIVE. Remember, a pension is based on an avg salary number. Plus, next year's salary increase would be based off the 1% COLA raise instead of the 4.5% salary increase. Because of this cap being in place and people like Klein hitting the ceiling we have saved tons of money every year and significantly reduced our future pension obligations.
This is one of those things I just don't get. In the worst economy in living memory, these people broke down a salary wall that was partly responsible for containing current and future employee obligations. Don't these people get paid enough as it is?
It's unconscionable what Cappucci and Posti just did! They have NO BUSINESS negotiating salary contracts with anyone.
The school board is one meeting shy of Posti declaring herself queen. It would help if she and others would learn basic economics instead of trying to get their pictures in lebo magazine. She's lost her mind. Pay raises? See-this is why we need reform in the state. This is why our elected officials at the state level have failed us. This is why we need people to get involed and start cleaning up the stain left by this current collection of corrupt and conceited hacks on the SB. Wonder how the teachers union feels about Posti talking out of both sides of her mouth and then flipping them off in the end. Classy as always, Posti.
1:56 I am having a hard time figuring out how Klein the "Ceiling Buster" is saving the District tons of money with either her compensation or job performance as finance director.
1:56 AM, doesn't it give you a warm feeling inside knowing that Cappucci will be around for the next 3.5 years? How long is the Act 93 contract? Please don't tell us that she will be around to negotiate the next one.
Elaine
For those of you who can't do math like me, this is how you calculate the percentage. This year's pay minus last year's pay equals the raise. Take that number (the raise) and divide by last year's pay. Multiply by 100. I am sensing a pattern. Cappucci, Posti, and I are all Mt. Lebanon graduates.
Elaine
I might add that it only pertains to female grads of Lebo, because Bill Matthews was able to figure it out.
Elaine
Every resident should revisit this post on Bloglebo:
http://bloglebo.blogspot.com/2012/03/allegheny-institute-examines-mt-lebanon.html?m=1
It advised: "Cutting costs should be a top priority. There is always a way to find cost reductions if one looks hard enough."
And the administrators pretty much followed that advice, cutting costs through 10% budget cuts in supplies, materials and staffing cut backs.
But then after getting Posti and Birks to whine about Harrisburg/Corbett Education Funding cuts publically the administrators feed their little piggy faces.
Oh yeah better believe it's for the kids.
Less sheet music, fewer art supplies, shared counselors, no school rifle range, $50 student parking permits... Yep they ONLY have the kids interest at heart.
Certainly, all you moms with 2nd and 3rd graders at Jefferson and Lincoln, sit there starry eyed as Posti and Birks blabber about how tough Corbett and Harrisburg are on sending money to the district.
Yep, take a look at the photo op with Posti and Matt Smith hobnobbing at the state capital. Better believe he's going to keep an eye on school spending as a state senator!!!!
Jan Klein couldn't come up with a straight answer as to whether the YsA paid its $30,000 JMA obligation every year, but gets a 6.8% raise.
What she do, threaten to blow the whistle?
6:39 PM, because we are dealing with our finance director, Klein received a 6.9% raise, not a 6.8% raise. She would want you to have the right number.
Just an FYI, her raise will come from 173 students' parking fees. I wonder what it is costing the kids for the other nineteen raises.
Elaine
6.8, 6.9... it's all for the kids, right!
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Now, let's see, next we'll buy expensive CFL light bulbs to replace those energy wasting incadescents and with the savings we'll.........…...............................
give out even more raises for the staff or hire another consultant.
Well, actually Remely's working on producing a little flyer the kiddie's can bring home to teach their parents about the environment and energy savings from switching to CFLs.
Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk... Moe, Larry... cheese.
Bet you thought I was going to say buy mote school supplies or hire back a counselor.
If Ms. Gillen's prediction of a 4.5% increase for Dr. Steinhauer comes to pass his yearly salary will go from $151,420 to $158,234. I guess we'll have to wait to see how this plays out.
In light of Assistant Superintendent Allen's 2% increase, and given that Ms. Allen is "second in command," Ms. Klein's 6.9% package is curious. It puts her only $2,639 below Ms. Allen. If the evaluation increase table is to be believed, should we conclude that Ms. Allen did not "meet expectations?"
Mr. Gideon that was pretty much the assumption a when Steinhauer restructured and put mr. Davis in as a co-assistant superintendent.
Why we need two when enrollment has dropped is a serious question. Plus they hired a consultant last year to help with strategic planning, I think they called it.
From an article: Duties of a School Superintendent
By Melissa Weaver, eHow Contributor
District Administration
School superintendents are responsible for maintaining complete and accurate records for all schools in their district. They maintain financial accounts, documents on staff members, school population records, and business and property documents. They're also responsible for keeping track of all board contracts, record books, securities and other documents. School superintendents oversee the development and maintenance of overall budgets, prepare annual reports on proposed budgets and present them to the Board of Education.
So I guess the buck stops at Dr. Steinhauer's desk as to whether the YSA has been paying their annual $30,000 obligation to the JMA.
I used to think Jan Klein only padded the budget; now she has Timmy and board members padding her salary. Poor Jan.
We paid a consultant to set the salary ranges and the caps. Now Timmy Jan and Co. have broken the salary cap and set us up for an Administrator filing a grievance is their salary cap is not broken.
Someone must have played, "Send in the Clowns" when these folks joined the leadership of the district.
John Ewing
Headline today in The Wall Street Journal:
"ECONOMYJuly 31, 2012, 8:39 a.m. ET
U.S. Personal Spending Flat; Incomes Rise 0.5%"
Tell me again how the board has any grasp on reality.
They actually bought into the idea that PK could generate $30 million in donations (now the pie-in-the-sky goal is $15 million ... Hahaha).
My prediction... The tennis courts will be cut from the HS project and more cuts to programs, staffing, and pay-to-play fees are in the works.
Oh, and Posti and Birks will continue to blame Harrisburg (read that Mr. Smith, that includes you) for their financial woes.
Looking at the site and reading the descriptions of the work in progress in 27 days it looks like one huge mess at the high school.
On top of which the YSA wants to undertake another expensive construction project that will take more athletic spaces (wildcat/middle) out of play and disrupt traffic and parking in the area.
I hope the entire state Department of Education is reading this blog to see how poorly and inefficiently our district is being run.
How can the board members who voted for those staff pay raises live with themselves?
Also, it is imperative that this district change auditing firms every few years. In fact, it should be policy for every school district in Pennsylvania.
Contact our legislators to see that this important policy mandate is made.
A quiz for all the parents with kids in or about to enter MTL elementary schools.
President Posti whines that Harrisburg's cuts in education funding have put an undue burden on the district's ability to educate your kids.
With that in mind, if you were on the board and focused on " providing the best education possible for Each and every student" would you--
A. Cut student counselors and teacher's materials and supply budgets
B. Raise administrators pay and pension packages
Seriously, I'd love to tead the responses and an explanation as to why you voted the way you did!
From the district website:
"Summer Hours and New Locations for Central Office
Beginning Monday, June 11, summer hours for District buildings and offices will be 8:00 a.m.- 4:00p.m., Monday through Thursday. All offices will be closed from 12:00-1:00 p.m. during the lunch hour."
Who gets a deal like that? Count it up.
8 to 4 with an hour lunch, 4 days a week... Is a 28 hour work week.
Every summer weekend is a 3 day weekend.
And the board actually believes the administrators need huge raises.
How can Posti possibly blame Harrisburg for revenue shortfalls with a straight face.
We been through - what 5 superintendents in about 7 years. Can anyone point to any period in that time frame where the district fell apart or even declined.
We could lose the top three administrators tomorrow and I'm betting the replacements would do achieve similar results.
Betting Jan could be replaced and the accounting would not be any worse for the loss.
Put an end to this nonsense. This is not spending for the kids education.
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