Elaine
I think you may have missed one of the major issues with Posti and that is her power trip with the Board and Commission.
She emailed both Dale and Kristen to find out what was said in their private meetings with Kelly Fraasch. It seems that Kelly and other Commissioners went to the school board members except for Posti to see if they would be willing to work together on saving money on a pool. Since the district is building a pool and the municipality need a pool, there seems to be some kind of relationship/understanding that takes place to reduce the burden on taxpayers if they worked together on a pool that would suit both their needs. Apparently Kelly and Dave B met with Steinhauer and his staff just before the bid opening to see if there was a chance of doing this. After this meeting they each contacted board members which I take to mean that at least Steinhauer was open to the idea of working together.
As you can see from the context of the emails between Jo and Kelly, not only was Jo completely offended that someone would try to get something done without including her (Kelly probably knowing ahead of time what the reaction would be), but she responded in a rude and disrespectful manner accusing Kelly of trying to obstruct the high school project when it was her goal to save money instead of obstructing.
I have it on good authority that Jo became very irate with not only Kelly Fraasch, but Dave Brumfield as well. I know an eyewitness to the meeting they had at a local coffee house. Yes, Jo Posti is calling the shots on who meets (no school board member shall meet with a commissioner unless Jo Posti signs off on it) and when. She is telling her board that there is no added value in working with the commission on a joint pool project (which may have been too late, but shouldn't that conversation be had?).
Finally, you and Bill Lewis both note on your blog all the things the school district was after when it came to their joint meeting. I really wish someone had been there from the commission to represent what the commision wants from the school district. It seemed like the participants only looked at the issues from how the agenda items might be used to benefit school district taxpayers but not ALL taxpayers (like the fees for example).
I would have loved to have seen a post just dedicated to the ridiculousness of Jo Posti's emails and Kelly Fraasch's responses to their conversations. Kelly calls Jo out for being "mildly rude and accusatory" and rightly says that Jo is apparently just giving lip service to the idea of working together based on the way she is treating Kelly. Do you think Jo Posti would be any nicer to Matt Kluck? Would she even say hi to him on a sidewalk? Now why is this? Of course, just go back to her graduation speech. Matt and Kelly are two people who she thinks disagree with them and so she doesn't have the time to hear their opinions. Now, I know where Matt is on the high school project, but have you ever heard Kelly say what her stance is on the same project? I have no idea what she thinks on it except to say she is trying to cut some of the cost to taxpayers by jointly spending on a pool. So what is Jo's issue here? Its probably that Kelly is trying to tinker at all with Jo's holy grail of a high school project. Taxpayers be damned!
Alex Wheaton
18 comments:
Alex,
It was odd watching the joint meeting. I felt like I was at a school board meeting with Steve Feller being the only one from the municipality. The reason why I filed that Right To Know about the joint meetings was that I had heard that Josephine and Elaine would only talk with Kristen. Well, it turns out that the two municipal representatives were with Build Our School Now. No wonder Josephine keeps stressing that cooperation and communication among each group is stronger than ever. While I appreciate the joint effort of both taxing bodies, I feel like it was just another Posti PR campaign. I wasn't sold. She is just surrounding herself with people who think like her. But I guess that is just the "hate in my heart" talking.
Elaine
Who is this dictator, Jo Posti?
Perhaps this explains her behavior, From Answers.com
"What is the Napoleon complex?
Answer:
The Napoleon complex is a colloquial term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people who are physically short. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. This term is also known as Napoleon syndrome, Short Man syndrome, and Small Man syndrome.
The Napoleon complex is named after French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The conventional wisdom is that Napoleon overcompensated for his short height by seeking power, war and conquest.
1. When someone of "shorter" stature, that is below average height has anger issues and is constantly picking fights because they feel the need to make up for their lack of size by attempting to intimidate others. (usually it doesnt work which then pisses the person off even more).
2. When someone (usually a male) has a lack of confidence in themselves, usually physically (i.e. small penis) and tries to cover this up by acting tough, talking smack to others, and being extravagant in their spending habits (such as buying/driving big 12 inch-lifted trucks, etc.)."
Would spending habits include perhaps, buying opulent high schools they can not afford! LOL
Giffen good
I have posted this before, but recognize any of the names in this article?
Some Mt. Lebanon ask for new high school
Now you know why I was questioning the appointment of the school board liaison?
For those wanting a quick link to the RTK I filed, here it is: Muni response to 012412 RTK
I don't understand why Dave Brumfield would look at improving one of the school district's fields when the pool, bath house, and rec center could use some TLC. Why do we keep concentrating on fields in this community? Don't kids use the pool and rec center too? And what about the rest of us? What about the $7 million rec bond that Dan Miller proposed to benefit the municipal assets and then suddenly the commission switches gears and consider spending $10 million to help the school district instead?
Elaine
I should report that Dave Brumfield emailed me about the PG article link. It was a PG error. Dave was never a member of Build Our School Now, nor did he ever attend any of their meetings. Thanks for the clarification, Dave. I had no idea.
Elaine
Did he align with or support the views of BOSN?
Giffen Good
After reading through Elaine's RTK documents I found this item mentioned in one President Posti's emails.
"I was curious whether we could grant access to the public during school hours if/when the pool is not in use, or even be able to schedule public access time to the pool during school hours. Can the pool and some locker rooms be isolated for such an option? If not I don't see how it can work. What is the plan for public access to the in-door pool? If we don't have one we should develop it."
Curious because in the Act 34 Booklet presented to the public this item appears on page 12.
"Renovation of the Auditorium and Fine Arts Theatre will result in improved sound and lighting and new seating. The Field House includes a competition gym, an eight lane pool, two auxiliary gyms and supporting lockers. A glass enclosed bridge over Horsman Drive connects the Field House with the Academic Commons and allows easy separation of this area for community use during school hours."
Since Ms. Posti doesn't offer residents the ability to ask a question on her blog, I will ask her here. I know a number of residents that are interested in this topic too, so this seems to be the fastest means to clarify the confusion.
Ms. Posti, did the plan change regarding public use of the Field House from the Act 34 Hearing and today - and I missed it?
If it did change, why? This seemed to be a key element in the community's wish list during the Dejong sessions and a primary selling point for proceeding with the design we are constructing today?
It just seems like an odd time to bring up the topic.
Dean Spahr
An examination of the Minutes of the February 9, 2009 school board meeting would reveal the names of the citizens who spoke at that meeting.
Commissioner Brumfield volunteered to attend closed sessions of the Joint Steering Committee although he was not the Pres. or the VP of the Commission at the time.
Considering the Joint Steering Committee has always been the Pres. and the VP of each body , I find Brumfield's actions in volunteering to meet with the Board in secret and his meeting with the Board with a rookie commissioner who spoke in favor of the HS at several meetings to be unusual behavior at best. It certainly isn't the behavior I expect of my commissioner and it seems like a conflict of interest on the part of Brumfield and Linfante from my point of view on the part of both commissioners,
It sure would be nice to know why the District needs 30 days to pull emails when the Board bought a $48,000 machine for the Solicitor's to review these documents.
John
Elaine,
When you get your RTK responses back, be sure to email them to all the Commissioners so they can compare the emails they have to the ones the District released Then the Commissioners can judge the honesty of the District response.
John
John, I am not sure what the software includes, but remember this RTK request included emails from other accounts, not just SD email accounts. If you remember the lawsuit with the mom, she was asking for private emails and the ruling was only SD emails pertained to RTK's. Notice how many elected officials were using their official email accounts. I don't think any of the SB used their MTLSD account. They would do everything through their work emails, avoiding RTK requests. Since then, the law changed.
Elaine
Elaine,
Perhaps some emails went through the district email to a director's home email. Those could be picked up by the $48,000 machine.
Why did we spend $48,000 for the solicitor's machine if the directors are conducting business between home emails?
John
How did this get all off-topic.
The conversation is still focused on the trees. The point of the original email was to show how ridiculously power hungry the board and, in particular, Jo Posti is. They are trying to dictate who can have conversations in this town and, more importantly, they are excluding alternate visions for the future than their own.
Instead of Jo listening to people who have ideas that would likely save money, she attacks them as being obstructionist. She wants nothing to do with them and refuses to allow other board members access to these people out of fear of losing what power she thinks she has.
How does the saying go?
Big egos have little ears
Alex Wheaton
Alex,
If the board had elected a gentleman as president we probably would not have a listening problem.
John
Really, John?
Sorry, Alex. I approved that off topic comment during my class. I deleted it.
Elaine
The "listening problem" that John mentioned also existed when Ed Kubit was president, so I don't believe this is a gender-specific problem, if that is what he inferred by his last comment.
I think what we are really talking about here to Alex's point is a problem created when when elected officials are incapable of representing their constituents because they have personal issues, agendas, and an unhealthy desire for power and control. They then dig their heels in and aggressively undermine those who do not agree with them, rather than gauge what their constituents want and then appropriately represent them as they were elected to do. They are clearly incapable of "disagreeing without being disagreeable".
Our politics here in LEBO are shameful.
As for angry responses toward other elected officials who disagree with our school board directors, I witnessed Ed screaming through the telephone at one of our Commissioners. It was just as ugly as what we are seeing from Josephine Posti's attempts to control people and situations rather than work with them for the common good. I believe that this is really an issue of character regardless of gender.
-Charlotte Stephenson
The School Board and the Commission had a very productive joint session on 2/28. Why wasn’t the Vice President of the Commission invited to this meeting? Why did he stand back? Could the reason be that he wanted to facilitate these meetings for the betterment of the community? Did he know that if he planned to attend the meeting it would not have occurred?
What would be the reason that the School Board did not want to meet with Matt Kluck even though the president and vice president of each taxing authority were supposed to be included? Nobel laureates smarter than I have predicted that highly taxed communities will not prosper. Maybe Kluck’s degree in economics, according to his dossier on the website, has lead him to believe that the betterment of the community would be well served by him stepping back and then commenting on the results. The results of the discussions will be questioned in the future when negotiations get past politics. Why did Kluck demand a review of every municipal department after a tax increase was approved?
It is my opinion that the Vice President of the Commission will question every dollar spent in our community to make sure that those dollars will provide the services that Mt. Lebanon has grown accustomed to in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
- Constance Spicuous Consumption
Constance, thank you for noting Matt Kluck's background in economics. Your comment speaks to my point that Josephine Posti's board does not have the best cooperation and communication with the municipality's representatives. I believe that Josephine is pleased to have a member of Dr. Steinhauer's key communicators group "representing" the municipality. Speaking of dossiers on the municipal website, check Kristen Linfante's and tell me that she doesn't have "baggage."
Elaine
I forgot to say that your comment, Constance, supports Alex Wheaton's email, as well. I am glad to see that my hate in my heart is not clouding my vision. Or, maybe Josephine has added you and Alex to her prayer list.
Elaine
This comment was emailed to me.
"how come Posti isn't recusing herself from any issues regarding the pools. There is a conflict in that she works for the water company and though in the big picture of the SD and muni water bills its not a big deal. Communities pools still use a lot of water and 2 vs 1 is a benefit to the water company.
Elaine
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