Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Vote early and vote often?
In the November 2011 Board President Report, Josephine Posti wrote about the steps of the Stakeholder‐Driven Strategic Planning process.
At the October 17, 2011 School Board meeting, the School Board voted to pay Mr. Ewy $1,000 a day plus expenses, not to exceed $15,000.
So what are we getting for $15,000? We can get our money's worth by voting over and over again on the District website Strategic Plan Survey. According to a Lebo Alert, we can go to the Municipal Building and Public Library to get paper copies. According to the District website, paper surveys will be available in the lobby of C-28 at the high school.
I am no expert in surveys, but I have run a few polls on this blog. I have found that if Blogger is working properly, one can vote once per computer. Polls on Blogger are free. The District Survey - $15,000.
One thing I found out was, having multiple answers disqualifies the validity of the results. When adding up the percentages, the results would be well over 100%. That cost me nothing to discover. The District survey demographics, allowing multiple answers - $15,000.
The District website states that the results will be reviewed by Strategic Plan Steering Committee members, District administrators, and Board members. One of Dr. Steinhauer's goals for this year:
The Superintendent will direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan.
To see "Provide support to retain top quality administrators" on a survey that will be reviewed by District administrators and one of the Superintendent's goals, isn't that kinda, well...self-serving?
How much money is this costing us in District administrators' salaries? The School Board voted to pay Mr. Ewy $1,000 a day. This is one expensive, invalid survey. Mine are free.
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11 comments:
Before I fill out this survey I'd like one direct, honest and very simple answer.
In the description of the survey it reads: "The list of responses to each of these questions were developed by a Steering Committee made up of a cross-section of community members."
This is a really tough question... whom do they consider a cross-section of the community?
Want to bet who's on the list? You know I'm not, though I should be receiving a solicitation for donations any day now.
Godfrey Hardy
One other comment.
They ignored a 4,000 signature petition against the HS project claiming they had an equal number favoring the board's plan. Though they never produced any evidence.
At least one board member announced their decision on the HS project prior to the ACt 34 hearing in which they were suppose to listen to stakeholder input, WHich by the the way a small majority was against the project.
Lebocitizens polls, are usually 3 to 1 against the board's position.
We also never saw the ACTUAL Harris survey results. Only the board's analysis.
They ignore them all so why should this survey be any different?
Oh, almost forgot, the ZOning Board denied there parking plan. So what'd they do, listen, rethink to match the requirements. No they sued 'US.'
Godfrey Hardy
"The survey asks for basic demographic information and then presents four multiple choice questions and ... " I cannot "choose FIVE (5) from the following list(s)" of the multiple choice questions. Shall I lie or choose UP to FIVE (5) ?
Robert Newman
I’m disheartened by that survey. It poses four multiple-choice questions that only allow respondents to agree with the school district’s current thinking. There’s no room to say that what’s needed is rethinking and reform.
For example, under the question What are the greatest challenges and issues Mt. Lebanon has to address over the next six (6) years in order to provide an excellent education to our students?, you are only offered warm-and-fuzzy options like “Maintaining our standard of excellence despite financial constraints and competition from other educational entities.” You can’t respond, “Finding leadership that thinks long term instead of short term,” or “Getting our financial house in order so that we can afford to provide a high standard of education well into the future,” or “Putting the interests of students and the community before the interests of politically powerful groups that benefit from the status quo.”
Likewise, under the all-important question about financial concerns, What should the financial priorities be for Mt. Lebanon School District during the next six (6) years?, we are allowed only to express that we would like to have our cake and eat it too. We are allowed to respond that the school district ought to “Keep salaries/benefits competitive to attract/retain quality staff,” but we can’t say, for example, “Allocate salaries/benefits based on merit, not seniority, to attract and retain quality staff while encouraging the least-effective staff to leave.”
Based on the survey, I can predict that the school district’s upcoming “Strategic Plan” will recommend more of the same.
Tom,
I agree, but my hope is that those who see through the deck stacking will take advantage of the comment sections.
I wonder how much we paid an "expert" for this.
-Charlotte Stephenson
Tom, You make an excellent points about the construction of the Survey. Who was it that said, "We are hiring a consultant to ask the right questions?"
Unfortunately the Board is not paying attention to current news events. Here are excerpts from a Washington Post article showing how schools are being forced to change:
From the Washington Post By Lyndsey Layton, Published: March 30:
"As a young labor organizer in Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa worked for the city’s teachers, honing his political skills in the fight for a good contract. The union loved him back, supporting the Democrat’s election to the State Assembly, City Council and, finally, the mayor’s office he occupies today.
But now, Villaraigosa, a rising star in the national Democratic party, has a different view. He calls the teachers union “the one, unwavering roadblock” to improving public education in L.A.
Villaraigosa is one of several Democratic mayors in cities across the country — Chicago, Cleveland, Newark and Boston, among them — who are challenging teachers unions in ways that seemed inconceivable just a decade ago.]
The mayors want a raft of changes. They want to replace the uniform pay scale with merit pay. They seek to expand public charter schools, which are largely non-union. Some want to lengthen school days, requiring teachers to work more hours.
Notice the quote of the Mayor of L. A. saying, "the teachers union [is] “the one, unwavering roadblock” to improving public education in L.A."
Read the full article here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nat/education/democratic-mayors-challenge-teachers-unions-in-urban-political-shift/2012/03/30/gIQA0xoJmS_story.html
Note to the Board members:
None of the mayors in the Washington Post article are the Governor or in the State Legislature in Pennsylvania. So stop blaming the wrong people; the Board voted for a Teachers' Contract they can't afford to pay.
Look in the mirror to see who is to blame!
John
Despite its flaws, I encourage Blog readers to take the survey. Check off the demographic information, skip the softball questions, and go directly to the comment fields for questions #5 and #6, where you may express your opinion. Ask your Mt. Lebanon friends and neighbors to do the same.
This survey is about as unscientific as it gets, and I'm sure the District knows it. It was designed to gather "support" statistics, and is therefore meaningless as an information gathering tool. But just as a voter who casts a ballot with few or no choices marked, submitting this survey with only comments sends a clear and unambiguous message to the members of the Board; whether they "get it," however, is an entirely different matter.
Can't wait to hear JoBama deliver the glowing results. "We've heard from many (that would be us) residents regarding the direction they'd like to see the district take (which the exact opposite of where it's going under JoJo). Based on all the positive feedback (from her own reflection) we're happy to announce we have a plan (something novel for this board). Tonight we embark on step one (puts her fingers in her ears)."
This is the PR pro? Oh, wow. Guess she never learned that PR doesn't mean lying--it means working from facts and framing them properly. But Jo can't even do that right. She's a failure with PR and she's a failure as board president, a title that belies leadership ability she doesn't have. Good thing she works for a utility. Its the next best thing to a government job. She wouldn't make it in the real labor pool. I'm embarrassed to live here. Thanks, Jo.
Don't forget, Benjamin, PR people and school board presidents don't plagiarize either.
Elaine
PR people aren't supposed to, anyway. And she isn't really in pr these days. She is a low-level general communications person for the water company. So I'm confused as to why she keeps touting her pr credentials. That seems deceptive.
Elaine, I admit to not doing my research on other districts. You know, the ones that seem to be operating better than ours--USC and SF. Do they have thee same issues we do with public officials breaking the law by refusing to answer questions and proivide information to taxpayingh residents?
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