2010 Highlights

Where did 2010 go?  Why does it seem like the whole year was wasted trying to get a school board to be fiscally responsible and to listen to their constituents?  As on other blogs this time of year, here are the highlights of 2010.

1. Preliminary Budget of 2/3/2010 showing a 45.3% increase in five years.
2. Act 34 Hearing on February 22, 2010
3. Beginning of a door-to-door petition asking to cap the high school renovation at $75 million in February 2010.
4. March 11, 2010 Zoning Hearing Board
5. On April 5, 2010, 3,333 petition signatures asking for the High School Renovation to be capped at $75 million, were submitted to the Mt. Lebanon School District Board Secretary to be included as part of the submission to the PA Department of Education under Act 34.
6. Lebocitizens.com was registered on April 9, 2010 and announced at the April 12, 2010 School Board meeting.
7. On April 12, 2010, 3,333 petition signatures were also presented to the Mt. Lebanon School Board asking to cap the renovation at $75 million.
8. On April 19, 2010, MTLSD enters an agreement with UPMC for athletic training and physician services for $154,000 for five years.
9. On April 28, 2010, our signature count surpassed the number of votes needed to sit on the School Board.  We had 3,542 signatures asking to cap the high school renovation project at $75 million.  These signatures did not reflect district and municipal employees or contractors who were unable to sign for fear of losing their jobs.  The numbers would have been much higher in a voting booth.
10. On April 27, 2010, The Mt. Lebanon School Board appealed a decision by the Zoning Hearing Board and the taxpayers had to pay for both sides of the legal battle.
11. On May 24, 2010, the Budget was approved with a 10.5% increase in taxes.
12. On June 21, 2010,  the School Board approved an average salary increase of 3 percent for administrators 2.5 percent for administrative assistants and supervisors, specialists and head custodians; 3.86 percent for custodial and maintenance employees; and 4.55 percent for secretarial and clerical employees.
13. On August 25, 2010, the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the MTLSD and MLEA was approved.
14. In September 2010, the Master Design Team meeting minutes of September 21, 2009 surfaced with a reference to an $8 million dollar donation that never materialized.
15. On October 12, 2010, the Honorable Joseph M. James affirmed the Zoning Hearing Board’s earlier decision.
16. On October 18, 2010, the School Board gave our Superintendent a 4.5% increase even though his goals weren’t met.
17. On October 20, 2010, Josephine Posti wrote a letter to the editor of the Almanac, resorting to character assassinations against a prominent structural engineer.
18. The first post on this blog was made on November 29, 2010.
19. December 1, 2010, Dr. Timothy Steinhauer’s 2010-2011 goals were finally posted.
20. On December 15, 2010, James Fraasch resigns from the School Board.

With the start of the new decade, I hope that the Mt. Lebanon School Board starts off being more transparent, becomes more fiscally responsible, considers its constituents, and most importantly, makes decisions that advance the educational outcome of the children in our community.

Happy New Year.