(2) Revision to 2012-2013 Administrative Salaries – The Board will be asked to approve a revised list of salary adjustments for administrators previously approved by the Board. Revision to 2012-2013 Administrative Salaries: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the revised 2012-2013 list of annual salary adjustments for administrators effective July 1, 2012
(3) Act 93 Administrative Agreement – The Board will be asked to consider an Act 93 agreement with the District’s administrators. Act 93 Administrative Agreement: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the Act 93 Administrative Pay for Performance Plan as presented effective July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017.A revision to the administrative salaries? What are they? Will we find out after they are approved? Where is the transparency?
Act 93 Administrative Agreement - isn't that Jan Klein? Is she getting a raise? Where is her agreement? Will we have to file a Right To Know? Again, where is the transparency?
I am sure that Josephine Posti will say that the Board is transparent. Look at:
(6) Publication of Listing of Liened Taxes – Annually, the Board approves the publication of all properties on which taxes for the prior year have not yet been paid. This list is provided by the Tax Office and is recommended for public view. The Superintendent recommends approval of this action.
List of Liened Taxes: RESOLVED, That the Board approves for public display the list of liened taxes for the 2011 tax year.
They are quick to approve for public display the list of liened taxes, but what about YSA payments for the Joint Maintenance Agreement? Why am I waiting for 30 days to find out the status of my RTK? We don't want to shame them, now do we?
31 comments:
Really publish a list of Taxpayers that are late with payments, Bhutan over onthe muni side they can't publish a list of people that skipped on a crummy little parking tickets.
Is this a great town or what?
So everyone stop fretting and start attending. If people keep showing up demanding answers, the school board might get the message.
The Municipality provides wages & salaries listing for all positions except for the Manager in an annual ordinance made available to the public....see the 12/20/2011 Commission Agenda on the website.
Bill Lewis
Hope someone asks if the Super and other full time 12-month staff are working only 4-day 32-hour/week again this summer under the former no kidding excuse "to save energy", which of course you can read several different ways !
Speaking of saving energy I wonder if our board's resident green professional (Cappucci) will care to report on the energy efficiency and reduce carbon foot print of trucking in tons of dirt to replace the dirt we already had?
There is a construction update on Monday evening at 7 PM, just before the school board discussion/ business meeting. Maybe Cappucci will mention it in her report.
As far as Act 93 people, it may include Stephen Scheurer (HR), John Grogan (athletic director), in addition to Jan Klein. If anyone has more information about Act 93, please share it.
8:47 AM, you forgot to consider their lunch hour. The District Offices are open 28 hours per week in the summer.
Elaine
From time to time one reads on this Blog (and others) about the community's abysmal lack of attendance at both Mt. Lebanon Municipal Commission and Mt. Lebanon School District meetings (for instance, July 14, 2012 8:23 AM in this thread). In my opinion this is one of the two major problems affecting this town; the other being the "community's abysmal lack of attendance" at the voting booth. Why is this (he asked, rhetorically)?
As far as attendance at Commission or Board meetings is concerned, we may fairly factor out some people who cannot attend due to employment during those times. In my own case it is nearly impossible for me, due to contractual obligations, to attend either meeting on the nights they are usually held. This is why the Lebo Citizens Podcasts are so important; they are an unedited source of audio from each meeting, and I suspect a large number of people rely upon them. That being said, what other reasons there may be for not attending are largely unknown, although one may speculate on them; some being kids' activities, forgetfulness, and that ever favorite, apathy. I don't believe it is out of line to say that both the Commission and Board are counting on this lack of attendance in order to bolster their own agendas and those of their friends, as well as keeping meetings short and manageable. One may protest that he or she E-mails both governmental bodies, but for some reason these messages do not carry the same weight as actual attendance in the eyes of the Commission or Board. To me this is untenable. In this day of Skype and Facetime, there is actually no justifiable reason why "virtual attendance" could not be implemented, at least for those who would like to address each body, as it is done in countless meetings in the business world. At the very least citizens' comments should be admissible via E-mail.
As to voting - this is an issue that begs for a study; perhaps for someone's Master's Thesis or Ph.D. Dissertation. Why is it that on the long-term average only about 27%, give or take, of the eligible residents of Mt. Lebanon bother to vote? What reasons do the 73% that stay home offer as excuses? I can only offer anecdotal evidence for the latter question; in conversations with my neighbors and friends, I discovered that those who didn't vote in the November, 2011, election cited as reasons: 1)kids' activities, 2)didn't think it made any difference, 3)unhappiness with the slate of candidates, 4)forgot about it, 5)were not registered, 6)didn't care. None of these are good excuses. Even those who were unhappy about the slate of candidates could have cast a blank ballot! - or availed themselves of the write-in option. One year I remember being so disgusted with my choices that I voted for the following people as write-in candidates for School Director: Moses Harry Horwitz, Louis Feinberg, and Jerome Lester Horwitz - otherwise known as Moe, Larry, and Curly, and the fact they are all deceased being no impediment to their status as improvements over what was, at the time, being offered. Again, both the Commission and the Board like it when few people vote, as history shows that of those few who do vote most are of the collectivist mindset, which fits in well with the attitudes of the majority of our elected officials.
Until these two issues are resolved the hapless Mt. Lebanon taxpayer will continue to see his or her wallet used as community property, with the proverbial political "middle finger" displayed towards him for his trouble.
I wonder if one of them assumes daily lunchroom duty for additional EDR pay....they would not overlook such a perk.
Mr. Gideon,
The Majority of residents do not oppose everything. The Majority of residents are glad that the building construction has begun.
Maybe they have faith in our Elected school board directors (volunteers) and do not feel the need to go to meetings. They are all good people, even if you do not agree with them.
OK, which one of the school board directors are you?
This is hilarious. I guess the good volunteers are on the school board, but the bad volunteers are bloggers.
Elaine
Anonymous 4:14 – On what basis do you feel qualified to state “The Majority of residents are glad that the building construction has begun.”? That is not what is being said in the community.
Have you done some market research of our residents’ opinions? If so, please share the data and prove that the 4,000 petition signatures were in the minority.
Also, do “good people” write malicious and degrading statements about other residents, under a fictitious name with the clear intention of bullying and undermining them? If you think the elected school board members who participated in that are good people you are part of the problem.
There is a stink on that board and in the next election cycle there will be an opportunity will clean the house.
Usually this comment is made to divert readers' attention away from the post.
I heard somewhere that the Act 93 folks can get a bonus if they are at the top of the pay scale. Care to comment, 4:14?
Elaine
The YSA should be given a Living Will.
Five Wishes is a good place to start.
Wish 1: The Person I Want to Make Care Decisions for Me When I Can't. This section is an assignment of a health care agent who makes medical decisions on your behalf if you are unable to speak for yourself.
]Wish 2: The Kind of Medical Treatment I Want or Don't Want — a definition of what life support treatment means to you, and when you would and would not want it.
Wish 3: How Comfortable I Want to Be
This section addresses what type of pain management you would like,and whether you would like to know about options for hospice care.
Wish 4: How I Want People to Treat Me
This section speaks to personal matters, such as whether you would like to be at home, and whether you would like someone to pray at your bedside.
Wish 5: What I Want My Loved Ones to Know
This section deals with how you wish to be remembered and final wishes regarding memorial plans.
I'm curious, too, 4:14. Who are you? And who is in the "majority"? Maybe you didn't make it to class the day they covered greater than/less than but nine people in a community of 30000 is not a majority.
Why is it other districts can hold taxes, freeze raises, cut staff and employees, and defer building projects while all ML does is build, spend, build, spend.
More, More, More is all you ever hear in this town. Does no one realize there is a recession?
Other districts and towns are laughing at us...and we have earned it. How sad. I hope our officials wake up before it's too late.
4,000 people are not a majority.
Your group tried to "clean house" but failed miserably. Why? Because the majority is glad that the construction has begun.
Blog readers:
The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote about how to win a weak argument by dragging it away from the point in question, to some unassailable position. The entry of 4:14 PM did this very thing. In my entry of 10:46 AM I pointed out facts, and made no aspersions about the people who do not vote or attend meetings. Perhaps they are, indeed, happy with the way things are; perhaps they are not; the point being we DON'T KNOW. They may indeed be good, "salt-of-the-earth" people; but that does not change the central points that they don't vote and they don't attend meetings. And accusing me of "not agreeing with them" is a bit disingenuous and distracting, since neither I nor the anonymous poster have any idea how these people feel about things, since they apparently do not make their feelings know. To hijack their "unknown opinion" and make it your own is neither reasoned nor intelligent.
I would have addressed this post to the anonymous 4:14 PM poster, but that person is obviously terrified to expose himself (or herself) to respectful discourse, and therefore I will respect his desire to hide.
6:16,try to stay on topic. How do you feel about Jan Klein getting a bonus? What do you think about the revision to the administrative salaries? I guess Timmy isn't getting enough. It can't be that he feels bad that kids will be paying for parking while he accepted his raise, do you?
When you do the math, 4,000 is not the majority when you consider that there are 33,000 residents. But we wanted adults to sign the petition. Shoot, according to YSA, there are 2900 young athletes in Mt. Lebanon. Would you say that 120 signatures for artificial turf is the majority? But enough of that. Let's talk about Timmy's and Jan's raises. Do you wonder how they sleep at night knowing that just next door, USC's own Timmy and Jan took pay freezes? They have a super Super! They made some serious cuts and are still tops in education.
How about the MLFE and MLCE wasting $20,000 which was money that should have been spent on our kids and blew it on a feasibility study? What about the remaining $24000 that came out of the budget this year? Did that decision represent the majority? I wonder if the majority of Mt. Lebanon is glad over the $850,000 in cost reductions. I don't think anyone is happy over that. People are unhappy because the cuts were made or not enough cuts were made. So let's try to concentrate on current issues. You won. You got the renovation, nevermind that we need $30 million more. How about all the other crap that is going on here?
Elaine
Anonymous 6:16,
An group opposed to the current actions of the school board received almost 3,000 write-in votes, in spite of malicious behavior by some sitting school board members. That amount far surpasses what is usually received for a write-in campaign (numbers of 200 in school board contests are considered to be high), so that is your reality check.
You are living in a fantasy world of make believe. The residents of Mt. Lebanon are opposed to the unnecessary spending and incredibly poor fiscal management of the current board. They are awakening, and the players will change in May.
You provide no evidence to support your positions, so you should stop making such ludicrous statements as you go along.
Put up or shut up.
10:16 speaking of putting up I wonder how much the school board, the administrators, and the teachers union have put up toward the $15,000,000 fundraising?
Tried to clean house? Well gee, whydid the house need cleaning? Oh because we have criminals and miscreants on the school board. It is a blatant lie to assert people, especiallya majority, are happy about the school project. You're a joke and so is the s hoop board. Its true that other communities laugh at us. How sad.
A couple of the reasons we had such lousy choices in the last election
You had a supposedly non- partisan group sending out malicious mail about candidates which they are forbidden to do by law.
You had "brown shirted thugs" ripping down candidate posters and signs at polling places.
But the worst thing is that you have status quo proponents in both political parties. That though they claim they want to see people participate do their damndest to make sure they participate in a manner approved by the elders.
Kinda of like the hit and run tactics applied to uncut topics here.
Before any bonus or salary increase or more vacation time is granted to any district employee there should be an audit of the books on the YSA agreement as it appears thereis some money missing. And if Jan made up the missing monies out of school accounts without board votes she was overstepping her authority.
The other issue is the board is desperately trying to find $30 million in handouts. How dies anyone justify begging while out the same time throwing money at people.
President Posti admonishes our state governor and representatives for not sending her mire money to spend. The message she's missing is they don't have the cash to send and she needs to manage the millions she already getting.
Hey Matt Smith, wake up buddy she's criticizing you!!!
Oh that's right you don't vote most of the time any way.
Yea! Matt Smith for Senate! Yea--another bland elected guy who never takes a stand. Just what we need.
And I have a great idea that might help PK and the bunch of liars on the school board actually hit their moving target of raising between 15 and 30 million bucks.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/07/14/critics-reportedly-question-promo-deal-between-university-iowa-anheuser-busch/?test=latestnews
Granted, it's a university but since MtL magazine was patronizing, er, kind enough to remind us all that underage drinking is a problem here in Oz, what difference does it make? I say let the breweries pay for everything and they can plaster their name everywhere. In fact, I'd love to see a professional cheerleading squad take the field during halftime. And while we're at it, let's get Nakama or Primanti's to build a concession stand where the tennis courts used to be. There you go, Posti--an easy way to churn out the dollars you need. All you'll have to do is whore out the school district. No biggie. And neither USC or Peters have thought that far out. In the end, that's what this all about anyway, right?
There was a comment that was sent in at 5:03. I won't be publishing it. If you don't have the guts to sign your name when you take a shot at Mr. Lewis, I don't hit the publish button. Sorry. Again, try to stay on topic. Care to answer any of the questions I asked of you? It is always easy to criticize the blog when you got nothin', isn't it? Yet you are one of my more faithful readers. Seems you can't stay away. Thanks for reading.
Elaine
Elaine,
Act 93 allows the administrators to bargain as a unit.
They don't have strike rights like the teachers so they don't have the lopsided bargaining power of teachers.If they teach half-time they have tenure. Superintendents have their own contracts but benefit if administrators salaries go up because their salaries too.
Any board member that votes to approve raises or bonus is on my blacklist for the next election.
This is the single most important issue facing the district (it must be Posti and Birks keep whining about money and the board spent $44,000 to try and find some) and lavishing more is NOT an answer.
If the administrators don't like it they are free to look for greener pastures.
Yep hard line for sure!
Jan can't seem can't seem to be able to manage the accounting of one account that involves $30,000 YSA annual payments.
Yet, the board figures she'll be able to monitor $50/year student parking permits.
Oh yeah, there's justification for a raise!
Somebody explain to me how voting on raises and bonuses dovetails with this statement Prez Posti blogged not long ago?
"During the past five years, the administration has given direction each year to each department, including fine arts and athletics to reduce their budgets by as much as 10 percent."
So the teachers that actually TEACH our kids are forced to find ways to do it each with less an less money, while each year the super super and his staff get lavishly rewarded!
Hey Grogan, Jan - unhappy with your current compensation? Chester Upland or Duquesne School Districts have an opening for you!
By my very quick calculations if you were a Lebo teacher with a classroom budget of $100 to spend on testing materials for the kids after 5 years of board dictated 10% budget cuts you have about $59 to spend this year.
If memory serves me though Dr. Sable was hired at around $120,000/year. Dr. Timmy is now at what $152,000.
Yep keep believing it's all for the kids!
I've got a bridge over Horsman I want to sell you. Wait you already fell for that one!
Hey parents with elementary age kids - do you remember this comment from Posti's Center Court blog?
""The cost reductions include a number of clerical staff reductions as well as a reduction in elementary guidance. The clerical reductions include library clerks at the high school and each elementary school with the goal of having those jobs absorbed by parent volunteers."
While your kid is getting less counseling and you're picking up the slack for eliminated staff it will do you heart good to see that the administrative crew is being amply rewarded for steering the MTLSD Titanic into the ice field.
Enjoy the swim!
Post a Comment