Follow up to the PTA eblast

From: Lebo Abby
To: EGillen476 <EGillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Nov 4, 2011 7:47 am
Subject: Fw: Bill Zellers Email

Elaine,

I sent this email to the PTA mail list at Hoover. It was a "reply all".  I received two response. One was upset that I used Cannon's military service in a way that was untrue (she thought I was saying he was being attacked by people BECAUSE of his military service) and the other email was a huge THANK YOU for setting the record straight.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Lebo Abby
To: Karen M.'s  PTA mail list
Sent: Thursday, November 3, 2011 11:30 AM
Subject: Bill Zellers Email

I had to write something with regards to the recently distributed Bill Zellers email concerning the upcoming school board election.  I do hope you take the time to research the candidates as suggested in the last line of the email.

Think about that Zellers email for a second.  That email comes with the full support of the incumbents on the current Board.  It is their wording.  It was they who, at the polls in May, decided to ridicule and demean a military veteran like James Cannon.  They called him names. They insulted his intelligence. They stood outside in the rain to make sure they got their message out to voters about how much they despise him.  They did this in the hopes of marginalizing a candidate for a local school board election.  They did this knowing that James Cannon was their neighbor, that he worked hard on the Veteran's Memorial that will be dedicated soon here in Mt Lebanon.  That email from Bill Zellers (which is a fake name, btw, there is NO registered Bill Zellers anywhere in Mt. Lebanon) is so full of hatred and vitriol that it can only mean one thing. Whoever is behind Bill Zellers is scared out of his mind!  James Cannon only registered as a Republican (he is a registered R after all) on the ballot and HE GOT MORE VOTES THAN ANY OTHER PERSON!  That's right, despite sitting school board members actively campaigning against him, James Cannon got more votes than anyone else on his side of the ballot. How does Bill Zellers marginalize that???

James Cannon upsets the status quo.  That scares the heck out of the incumbents. And quite frankly, that is exactly what needs to happen. We need someone elected to the Board to keep the Board and Administration accountable.  Right now, week after week, there are items being put in and taken out of the High School project that are worth millions of dollars.  James Cannon went to a recent Board meeting to call the Board on their intent to increase the cost of the project by almost a MILLION dollars, and the entire Board and Superintendent responded with a ho-hum attitude as if a million taxpayer dollars is not a big deal. That is YOUR money being spent with no accountability.

Thankfully, in the last week Mr. Cannon has been able to put together a list of people to support for the School Board.  Do I wish it would have happened sooner? Sure, but the good news is that every one of the people that are part of the write-in campaign are EXPERIENCED in local government.  Whether they be active with the library, the Board iteself, the high school project, or community advisors, all have taken time to attend meetings and get involved in the community.  I would urge you to take a moment and think about the future of Mt. Lebanon.  We can have more of the same issues with transparency, tax increases,  and plagiarizing school board presidents, or we can finally make a change to better the educational outcomes for ALL Mt. Lebanon children. 

This email comes from someone who has been actively involved in our community for years, active in the PTA, and is extremely concerned about the future of Mt. Lebanon.  I would like nothing more than to have a transparent, accountable school board in Mt. Lebanon.  It's time for that to finally happen!