We have a new Policy Committee, which one reader described as our "Dream Team." The new members consist of
- Plagiarism expert and authority on bending school board policies, Josephine Posti
- Mary Birks, our resident Harrisburg aficionado who blames Corbett for everything
- Bill Cooper, all around nice guy who never makes waves by agreeing with the status quo
I would love to hear more about this, if that resident is reading this. In fact, as always, I would like anyone "in the business" weigh in on this.
In addition, the School Board was amazed at the response to the Math Nights, drawing 650 people. Are they surprised that the community is deeply concerned about our TERC Investigations math program?
Finally, the School Board listened to the students, as Larry Lebowitz pointed out, and promoted Judith Kolko to the new activities director. Carlie McGinty is now at the USC High School as their new guidance counselor. Congrats to both women.
25 comments:
Call me dumb, but $6,500 in new carpet is still $6,500 in new carpet, right?
"Kicking the can down the road" is just a way to deceive the public on the true cost of this I'll-conceived project-IMO. Plus, does this mean we live with a bare concrete lobby for a year or two? If not, then how can the call it a capital expense and not a renovation expense?
How many other items that should have been considered in the ALL-IN bid were delayed to be considered as capital expenses at a later date? I vaguely remember furniture and cabinetry deducted from the original bidding also, though never heard the final decision.
Gee, Mr. Remely, what happened to all that anger displayed when you asked why our architect couldn't walk up a flight of stairs and looked under a corner of the carpet, when you first reviewed this list of changes?
I can't wait to see what's uncovered when we get a look under building C. We might see $800,000+ moved to capital improvements also.
That's $800,000+ in tennis courts and parking spaces moved to capital improvements.
Don't forget the new turf at the high school. How about the rifle range?
Elaine
EG:
What is the status of the rifle team?
Regarding the networking technology selected part -
I believe the person who expressed concern on Monday night was a Cisco employee himself. I would say his intentions may not be just about "implementing antiquated systems" as it was put in the post!
As someone who is familiar with this area, seeing educational institutions and corporations going away from Cisco is not new. They were a leader for a long time in this field, but there are many great competitors at a fraction of the cost. Here is a good article on an example of this: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/102212-cal-state-cisco-263588.html
Slow Joe would have shut down the rifle team anyway, so isn't it a moot point?
Was this always the case?
Approval of Attendance and Expenses for Board Members at National, State, and Local Conferences and Workshops: RESOLVED, That authorization be given for attendance and appropriate expenditures of Board members at national, state, and local conferences and workshops for 2013.
When Cappucci went to Lancaster with Celli in May 2010, I seem to remember that she submitted receipts and was reimbursed for her expenses. That trip was not approved or even reviewed by the board, according to then school board director James Fraasch.
Don't give me that they are volunteers, because they do get reimbursed.
Elaine
How about the smoke dampers and redesigning an EXIT sign. Let's move those to capital improvements also, Danny-boy.
d. ME-02-31 to McKamish for $14,014 for smoke dampers in fire rated walls not on drawings
e. EL-06-32 to Farfield for $1,937 for design changes in lighting in F Building for the inside EXIT sign
Besides Dan who needs doors to access a roof mechanical enclosure?! -a. GC-14-27 to Nello for$4,430 to cut a door for a roof mechanical enclosure on F Building
C'mon Dan get creative, build the enclosure as it was designed. I'd assume the mechanicals are going to be brand new and therefore hopefully not have to be accessed for at least a year. When we need a door to the enclosure we'll buy it as a capital improvement!
Thinking about that change order where they left out a door reminds me of one of those Three Stooges skits... "nyuk, nyuk, hey Elaine, Tim how'd we plan to get the mechanicals in there in the first place?"
"Knock it off puddin' head, our genius ain't appreciated around here!"
Oh yeah, you can be sure I'll be voting for Dan to look out for my interest in Harrisburg!
Forgot to mention, another year without an audit and finance committee.
Elaine
3:11 PM, how about this aricle?
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1074071-alcatel-lucent-bonds-yielding-11
Alcatel-Lucent is in trouble.
Elaine
*article.
Elaine
@Elaine:
Alcatel-Lucent's European markets have suffered, so they are lacking a bit in those areas. In the U.S., they are doing very well. I also happen to know that there are several school districts and colleges/universities in the area that have chosen Alcatel-Lucent recently as well. As I mentioned, I am very familiar with this market and those in the field speak very highly of ALU's products right now.
The point of the matter is, so many people think Cisco is the best just because they have been doing this for a long time. As a taxpayer, why would I want the district to pay more for something that can be had for 20-30% less? The hardware will be under warranty for the same period of time, and it will be supported for long past that time.
I think this is an item where those keeping a close eye on the dollars spent on this renovation should be happy rather than upset!
Wow! Are you saying the school district actually made a sound decision? I'm shocked!
Elaine
Haha, it appears that way in this instance, Elaine.
A Few Points...
The Cappucci thing wasn't about the trip. The trip was approved per a blanket resolution like the one you copy and pasted. What wasn't approved was the presentation that said that the high school was being designed in a way that favored kids with "right-brains" because these were the people that were going to rule the world. That set a lot of people on edge.
Secondly, as someone who has worked in technology for some time and has hired people to work in my group, I can say that there is lot to be said for Cisco vs other vendors. The one major advantage is ease of continuity and operability when there is a change in personnel. If the person who installs and configures the Avaya or Alcatel or whatever vendor leaves, it is much harder to find a replacement than if the system was Cisco.
Yes, typically the upfront costs are more for Cisco, but you need to look at ownership costs over the lifetime of the equipment (including training). More often than not, Cisco still comes out ahead.
Finally, I vividly remember sitting in an Act 34 hearing and listening intently as each director said that the cost of the HS project was an "all-in" cost. In fact, if we go back to the tape, that is exactly what Mr. Rememly can be heard saying. This is not the first time we have heard members of the board try to slide expenses off of the high school project itself and into the capital budget. I'll leave it up to your readers to draw their own conclusions as to why this might be the case.
Just trying to set the record straight.
James
The problem with this school board and Superintendent is that they will see the 650 people who turned out for the math program as a "success".
In fact, they should be seeing it as exactly the opposite. There were 650 people out there trying to figure out what the heck our math program was all about. They were so confused that they took time out of their busy schedules to spend an evening at an elementary school to find out if there was any way to help their own child do the math.
Thanks, James. I still have the Act 34 transcript and the Cappucci presentation on my website, lebocitizens.com on "The Facts" page.
I was skeptical to think that the school board ended their streak of making poor decisions. I feel better now.
Elaine
7:11 AM, you nailed it. Here is a math problem for them. Six hundred fifty people show up at 6:00 PM on Math Night. A train leaves the station at 6:00 PM traveling west at 80 mph. On a parallel track, a second train leaves the station 3 hours later traveling west a 100 mph. How many people are concerned about the math program? Hint: The answer is in the back of the book.
Elaine
Mr Fraasch, thank you for commenting about the networking aspects. I was thinking the same thing that you said. I do not consider myself a networking expert (my time running firewalls is 10 years behind me). My area of expertise is more enterprise desktop management. I do have 15 years of exposure to a rather complex network and I work with some people who are considered experts in the field on a regular basis and they share your opinion.
I do wish the person who is familiar with the area of networking would step out from behind the anonymous veil. I believe it's good to have a debate on the merits of technology but I also believe that everyone should have their cards on the table.
EG:
"Six hundred fifty people show up at 6:00 PM on Math Night."...etc.
Good one, Elaine! Here's mine:
Six hundred and fifty people show up at 6:00 PM on Math Night. Two-fifths of them are cheering for the District, whilst the rest are "madder 'n hell!" How many people are in each group. (No calculators permitted - show your work.)
RG
According to Ed Kubit, there were 325 on either side...
@10:21
I read that and about peed my pants laughing so hard! Thank you!
Speaking of Fraasch, anyone done the math on Real Estate Tax Revenues to see how close to fruition the white paper came? This next budget if it includes the next set of bonds will make it dang close I would think. It's got to be close to 30% by now. Although they did cut curriculum and staff (also predicted in that paper) in an effort to avoid their own fiscal cliff and reduce service levels at the same time.
James, I will defer to your memory on whether everything was ALL-IN on the project by the Act 34 hearing.
I do though remember Celli offering up at some point, whether before the hearing or after, that things like furniture and cabinetry could be salvaged from old classrooms and labs and then new stuff could be purchased as capital improvements to keep the project cost down. Whether they decided to do that I never heard.
We also have the failed first bid to keep in mind. Are some of these change orders things that were cut for the second bid, but are now being worked in as change orders?
Interesting newspaper article from 2010.
Mt. Lebanon board caps school renovation at $113 million
By Bill Zlatos
Staff Reporter
Published: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
The Mt. Lebanon School Board voted last night to cap the cost of the high school renovation at nearly $113.3 million — just shy of the threshold that would require a voter referendum.
The 6-3 vote followed an hour of discussion. Voting no were James Fraasch, Dale Ostergaard and Faith Ann Stipanovich.
About 100 residents turned out for the meeting, which was moved to the high school's Fine Arts Theatre to accommodate the crowd.
Board member Daniel Remely stressed that the $113.3 million limit is just that, a maximum figure that the district can spend. He expects the actual cost to go well below that through such savings as the removal of asbestos.
"I'm pressing for the project to come in at $95 million or less, and I think we can do it," he said.
Prior to the vote, Fraasch said the board had received more than 300 electronic messages about the renovation project. Of those, he said, about 85 percent were opposed to spending as much money as the board authorized.
He said the work, at $113.3 million, would increase taxes on a house assessed at $100,000 from $2,411 this school year to $3,498 in 2014-15.
At $115 million, the project would have to be put to the voters.
Good thinking Mr. Remely... "I'm pressing for the project to come in at $95 million or less, and I think we can do it,"... you only missed by $17 million with the second bid. In the first you weren't even in the same state, let alone the same neighborhood.
What I find utterly amazing is that not one of the board members feels any remorse that they missed their guesstimates!
No contrition, no apologies. No, it's business as usual. Move things like the carpet from a change order to a capital expenditure so as to hide the real expense of the project.
Celli will keep his $6 million. PJDick and Nello will still get theirs, administrators will get their usual "exceeded expectation" raises and taxpayers will get the shaft.
Oh and they stick students with parking fees, lab fees, participation fees and so on and so forth.
Remember, it's all for the kids.
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