For an explanation to this thought provoking post, watch this short video by Daniel H. Pink.
http://vimeo.com/8480171
Dr. Tim's post is timely. It is the start of the new school year. I checked to see if Dr. Steinhauer's new goals have been posted. They have not. Here are his goals for last year:
Superintendent Performance Goals 2011-2012
1. Reorganization – The Superintendent will implement the revised administrative organizational structure. 2. Strategic Plan – The Superintendent will direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan. 3. Student Success and Achievement – The Superintendent will implement measures to improve student achievement. 4. High School Project – The Superintendent will move forward the District’s efforts to build/renovate the High School. 5. Fiscal Responsibility – The Superintendent will operate the District in a fiscally responsible manner and identify and implement cost saving strategies. 6. Future of Education – The Superintendent will explore, identify, and implement innovative and effective educational programs. 7. Connection to the Community – The Superintendent will be a visible participant in school, community, and regional activities and events. So what is Tim's sentence? Would it be:
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70 comments:
So for nearly 3 months - June 1st thru August 31st - this was Dr. Steinhauer's big thought over the summer!
A post-it note with two simplistic questions.
One - What is my sentence? (What the hell does that mean? Is he contemplating 5 to 10 in Levenworth or something deeper? Guess we aren't entitled an answer.)
Two - "Was I better today than yesterday?"
(well Timmy were you? After 90 days or so, has there been no introspection? I sincerely doubt Dan Pink was suggesting that asking the question was the destination. Will we be waiting another 90 days for your answer? Hate to break it to you, tomorrow is going to require you to be better than today...otherwise why are we paying you more money!?)
I'm most interested in #5.
Fiscally responsible manner. Really, tell his employers (us) that the YSA paid all it's obligations, when obviously they didn't isn't being fiscally responsible. It doesn't matter that the payment is better than nothing. The contract was for all of it, not part of it.
As super if a taxpayer only makes a partial payment on their school taxes, is he going to say - "hey it's OK, something is better than nothing!"
Then we have Part Two. Implementing cost saving strategies. The mullahs went up to 27.15! Damn that's some great cost saving! Had it not implimented them what would the rate be - 30.15?
And what happens next year when PK fails to deliver even $5 million in donations? When the students are tapped out for parking fees?
So really dr. Steinhauer, what'd you do to make today better than yesterday? Hope it takes more than a post-it note to distribute.
What is my sentence? Steinhauer, you will always be associated with the biggest fiasco and most controversial project in Mt. Lebanon history. You must be so proud.
of ocurse he hasn't posted anything. He's waiting for Posti to write it up for him.
Disgusting
"A great man is a sentence." What is a man who meets expectations? 1.4% - 3.5% raise plus a bonus.
How do you have an aligned effort for bullets 1, 5 and 6 without a strategic plan (bullet #2)? It's like driving a boat without a rudder. How much are we paying this guy?
Anon 8:17.
I'm betting Dr. Steinhauer at least knows the difference between "it's" and "its."
Life is like a Lebo school board contract. You never know what perks you're gonna get--
2012, Tim "Forrest Gump" Steinhauer
12:30 AM, THAT is what you got out of 8:17's comment? So who are you, YSA or SB?
BTW, auto correct loves "it's."
Elaine
I, for one, am damn happy to see the Super reaching out and getting into some self help discovery.
Ain't nothing wrong with that. I'd think most of you would agree?
Otherwise, he could be content sitting on his duff in his office and saying, "look at me!".
In this case, kudos to the Super for trying to become a better Super. I don't think he reads books like "Drive" so he can be a loser.
Outside of Lincoln Elementary School is the quote, "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday". Is this not the same thing?
Did people poke fun at Lincoln when he said that?
12:30 are you sure about that? He's had his share of spelling and grammatical errors plus not having a clue on financial matters or the number of buildings in the system.
Plus Elaine's right, auto correct loves it's.
But you go right ahead focus on minutiae. Small minds worry about small things.
10:03 there's nothing wrong with the quote above the door at Lincoln nor is there anything wrong with self- help.
The issue arises when you look closely at the reason for broadcasting it on a blog after a 3 month hiatus.
That's it after reading "Drive" he needs to show us his little self-improvement note.
Sorry, I'm not buying it. This message has been a constant theme, wheeled out when the pressure gets a little tough. Not long ago we had " what have you done to improve the life of a child?" think that was the recurring theme around thebtime of the teachers contract.
I don't think the post was a Steinhauer introspective moment. Hope I'm proven wrong and itt was and we shall be seeing post after post of how he made today better than yesterday.
But, I'm betting this self- improvement message wasn't intended for "self".
Well I for one will be looking for his "Drive" when his goals for 2012-13 are finally released to the public! Wonder if they'll be a significant improvement over yesterday's?
Critical thinking...the awakening of the intellect to the study of itself.
Critical thinking is a rich concept that has been developing throughout the past 2500 years. The term "critical thinking" has its roots in the mid-late 20th century. We offer here overlapping definitions, together which form a substantive, transdisciplinary conception of critical thinking.
Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987
A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul for the
{presented at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987}.
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness."
Oh yeah, "Drive" - something new under the sun! Give me a break!
10:03 OK, he's apparently read the book, so let's see what he learned.
The YSA Joint Maintenance Agreement. Care to elaborate on how the new extension is an improvement for the district over the old agreement?
Was Steinhauer a better negotiator today than he was yesterday?
Surely, the specifics of the agreement included more than just a reduction in YSA and school district payments to the municipality... Right?
And as one of my favorite teachers used to say: "show me your work! I want to know how you arrived at your conclusions."
10:42 and others
Google "What is my sentence" and maybe you can find a two minute video on what this is all about.
You are making me defend a guy that I don't want to defend because you are talking about something you know nothing about.
The video, and book I assume, ask readers to have a sentence about their lives. The most important sentence, the argument goes, is whether or not you are better today than you were yesterday.
Hence, the flippin note. It's what readers are told is the most important question of the day and they are to write it down to remind themselves and motivate themselves everyday to become better people.
In many of your minds it seems you don't want the man at all to improve. That is part of the point I am making. Would you seriously prefer that Dr. Tim NOT do these types of exercises? Surely you would double down on your ridicule if he said he didn't need books about how to improve his career and life.
That doesn't mean I agree with any contract or negotiation, all it means is that I appreciate anyone who seeks to improve themselves.
12:28 PM, you and others don't have to Google anything. I included a link to the video in my original post.
Elaine
Steinhauer's last goal is his connection to the community. By having a blog, theoretically, this is an avenue to help achieve his goal. He took the easy way out. After having a four day work week during summer months, he could have put a little more effort into his post. Even a link to the video would have been helpful. I am also surprised that he missed a photo opportunity.
Elaine
12:28 -
"This book is so well marketed, so well packaged, it is the fast food of human behavior for the HR class and any marketer charged with influencing behavior. Based on the level of critical thinking I’ve seen in a lot of blog posts and tweets about this subject I believe it will cause more problems than it solves in corporate America."
-- Paul Herbert, Incentive Intelligence
"The Worst Book of the 21st Century (an updated review)
17
February 2009
The Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) is the latest fine conference to spend in the neighborhood of $20,000 to have Dan Pink keynote their event. In addition to the windfall enjoyed by Mr. Pink, there are enormous opportunity costs for an educational community who squanders an opportunity to introduce powerful ideas, genuine expertise and/or the inspiration necessary to motivate educators to engage in the hard work of improving their practice. In other words, wasn’t a better informed, more qualified, relevant speaker available for a fraction of the price? (Incidentally, you can purchase a DVD of this content for $27 if you must)
What should an educator do after they watch Mr. Pink’s deeply flawed PowerPoint presentation? How will a member of the audience become a better educator as a result of his keynote address? Why is he invited to speak to educators at all?
I wrote the following review of Daniel Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind,” a few years ago. Sure, I’m critical of the unsubstantiated poorly-written nonsense in Pink’s book, but I am equally concerned with the self-loathing educators who believe that salvation lies within the minds and books of mediocre businessmen.
I also recommend you read Sylvia Martinez’ review, “Why Does Daniel Pink Hate Me?“
-- Gary S. Stager, Ph.D., Executive Director: The Constructivist Consortium
12:28 years ago IBM ran an incredibly successful ad campaign that is as pertinent today as it was then... "Think!" was all it said.
"You are making me defend a guy that I don't want to defend because you are talking about something you know nothing about."
12:28 pretty damn full of yourself aren't you! You and ONLY you are equipped to pontificate about something you've decided the rest of us unworthy souls know nothing about.
Is Timmy's blog open to commentary? Has anyone opined on Timmy's blog? Hum...
I'll admit I never read Timmy's blog becasue I have so little interest in his insignificant viewpoints.
What about Raja? Does Raja ask himself, "Was I better today than yesterday?" He must. What was his share of the popular vote against Fitzgerald? 33% or something embarassing like that?
What about the deadbeat athletic supporters? Do they ask themselves, "Was I better today than yesterday?"
What would the question, "Was I better today than yesterday?" mean to the DAS? Would it mean that they would pay even less money tomorrow than they promised today?
Yeah, those people that write stuff in the Harvard Business Review know nothing about anything.
Should we just go cut and paste reviews of people who like the idea and people who don't? I suspect that can go on all day.
But you purposely ignore my premise because you know I am right. That's what I find funny.
You would rather Dr. Steinhauer try to better himself than to be someone who rests on his laurels....wait, I am sorry, I am in the wrong there. I get it now.
You would rather Dr. Steinhauer NOT try to better himself so you can have yourself an easy target for your idiotic criticisms. You'll be happy to see the students and staff suffer as a result but at least you will know you are poking fun at a valid target, right? After all, what fun would it be if the Superintendent actually ended up making good decisions? What a boring life for a blog commenter that would be!
Well 1:51 I would say Tim's blog is open to commentary in a way. He's certainly available for comments and questions at board meetings... if President Posti will allow it.
Certainly not the free wheelin' interaction of Elaine's blog but suppose it'll have to do.
Then of course there is the problem when you do finally get the opportunity to engage him, what will we hear? Things like... The YSA is completely paid up regarding the JMA.
2:29 please stop embarrassing yourself, you're sounding like a complete fool.
Where the hell did ANYONE, ANYONE say they DIDN'T want Steinhauer to better himself? How in the world do you concoct such rubbish.
That's your premise, we don't want Dr. Tim to improve himself because we critique his blog post of a post it note with two silly sentences.
No really you're right. We're being way too hard. Give me a nudge when the harvest of his introspection - the "I'm better today than yesterday" starts to appear.
I thought the was one of the primary functions of a school superintendent, to always strive to improve educating our kids. Isn't the whole rational behind develoing a strategic plan?
Guess he's been preoccupied with watching the athletic wing go up therefore the need for the post it note reminder, eh!
Hey Tim, with supporters like 2:29 who needs enemies, right?!
"After all, what fun would it be if the Superintendent actually ended up making good decisions?
[damn - with the exceeds expectations, raises, extra vacation time and glad handing - are you now telling us he hasn't been making good decisions? Shit, my school taxes are going up several thousand dollars. When do the GOOD decisions start?]
What a boring life for a blog commenter that would be." [give me the boring life... please, please, please!!!]
2:29 the Harvard Review is not omnipotent, though they like to think so.
"The Harvard Business Review Gets It Wrong" occasionally.
Good decisions? Would those be the ones offered by Giffen and family? LOL
It seems Daniel Pink is not new in Mt. Lebanon. I found this critique of Daniel Pink. The Worst Book of the 21st Century (an updated review)
Mark Cuban is cited in the review. It seems Elaine Cappucci is a fan of Daniel Pink. In Daniel Pink’s book, "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future," Elaine used that in her unapproved or reviewed presentation made with Tom Celli on May 6, 2010, on 21st Century School Design Promoting Entrepreneurial Education
at the Pennsylvania School Board Association School Design and Construction Conference in Lancaster, PA. See Slide 5. Did she plagiarize? I can't imagine that school board directors plagiarize.
Elaine
If the Cappucci/Celli presentation link does not open, it is also available on my website, Lebo Citizens The Facts
Elaine
Some advice Dr. Steinhauer. Did you read 1:29's comment: ""You are making me defend a guy that I don't want to defend because you are talking about something you know nothing about."
Dr. Sable can probably fill you in on who's got hour back.
“The little people will get even, which is one of a thousand reasons why they are not little people at all. If you're a jerk as a leader, you will be torpedoed. And usually it won't be by your vice presidents; it will be on the loading dock at 3am when no supervisors are around.” ― Tom Peters, author of "in Search of Excellence"
Also keep this gem in mind:
“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity”
― Tom Peters
@2:59
Geez, you are dense. You still don't get it and you still won't acknowledge the point on which I started.
Dr. Steinhauer is on a mission to better himself (so he alludes in his now controversial blogpost). He has chosen a certain path. You don't like that path so people like you mock him for trying to improve himself.
I don't give a crap who Dan Pink is. I really don't. I don't care if he is left-right-center or he swings both ways. A lot of people find his work exciting. Many don't. He worked with some pretty smart people to hone in on his ideas about what motivates people in life and in work. I don't agree with a lot of what Dan Pink says or does and I certainly don't agree with the way Cappucci and Celli presented the Right Brain ideas at a conference where they represented Mt. Lebanon School District.
But, a lot of people find Dan Pink's work inspiring and motivational. If it is his type of work that sets off a light bulb above your head, then by all means, please read the guy. If he is the guy for Steinhauer to read about how to motivate and inspire people and it hits the right nerve with him, then I hope Timmy reads all his books because I haven't been inspired by Timmy yet. Maybe this guy writes in a certain way that motivates certain people. Tim was a music major in college so he is right-brained after all.
My take on Tim is that he is a very smart man who does exactly what the board majority directs him to do on the big issues. Job security trumps all else.
That doesn't mean he can't be a more effective person or manager. In fact, if all he does is follow the Board's will, then this is the only place where we can possibly see improvement.
So, to that end, all the more power to him in his search for self and managerial discovery.
I give Tim's summer reading agenda two thumbs up.
9:49 I'm dense?! Once again, point us to where anyone said Dr. Steinhauer shouldn't better himself? Please, it shouldn't be hard to copy and paste the exact quote into your comment where that was written.
I almost want to say, I applaud Dr. Steinhauer for attempting to improve himself. Except I can't honestly say that. Did you read the 11:09 comment on Critical Thinking?
"Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking, 1987
A statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul {presented at the 8th Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education Reform, Summer 1987}.
Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision, consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and fairness."
You see I have greater expectations from someone with a doctorate. How does one evaluate yesterday so that they can determine if they are better today. And further how does a superintendent lead a district, create strategic plans to step into the 21st century without such "critical thinking?"
If you find inspiration and hope for the future of MTL education in a post it note and the reading of a book, there's not much we have to discuss.
I happen to believe Dr. Steinhauer should have arrived with the skills to determine if what he was doing today - was an improvement over what he did yesterday. That "analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action."
That takes a little more than a post it note.
9:49
What did Tim aspire to before reading "Drive"?
Be worse today than I was yesterday?
Maybe, get by and be the same as yesterday... no better... no worse?
I know... Just don't screw it up!
Good for Dan Pink if his book motivates our Super to do better than yesterday. Can't wait to see the improvenance and initiatives to come out of it.
9:49 you wrote: "My take on Tim is that he is a very smart man who does exactly what the board majority directs him to do on the big issues. Job security trumps all else."
That's it, that's all you expect from the man or woman that oversees you child's education. That covering his $152,000/year salary trumps all else, sound business practices, a life time of advanced education training.
It's all right with you that if 9 directors say jump, and his training and experience tell him jumping is the last thing to do, he should cave because job security trumps all else! Really.
Perhaps you missed the advice of another successful business management guru.
“There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity” - Tom Peters
Perhaps the lack of integrity is the cause of a majority of the battle lines being drawn over issues in the bubble.
We may be giving Tim too much credit. He may have watched the two minute video and came up with the same nine words for his post. Whatever the case may be, those nine words could boost him to exceeds expectations. Right now, he hasn't met all his goals. Where is the strategic plan? We hired a facilitator to help Timmy along. He has not met expectations. Those nine words could be the extra credit he needs to get another whopping raise. We know the end of that story.
Elaine
You guys are right. No room for debate.
We should all march down to the bookstores and libraries and start a bonfire with all the books on self-help and employee motivation. They can't possibly be of any value.
In the end, though, I think you will find yourself still unsatisfied. For there will be one less thing in this world for you to complain about.
With respect to his own Blog, Dr. Steinhauer's Post-It note of 31 August 2012 comes with almost no accompanying comment, other than "Thanks Daniel Pink." While "Was I better today than yesterday?" is somewhat clear, "What is my sentence?" makes no sense unless it is explained. Since Dr. Steinhauer did not explain himself he gets "half credit" for his attempt to be "inspirational." It was Ms. Gillen who provided context in the form of a link to an explanation by Daniel H. Pink himself.
Ms. Gillen uses Dr. Steinhauer's Post-It note as a springboard into a discussion as to whether Dr. Steinhauer has met previous goals and is therefore worthy of an increase in his salary. But as the thread progresses Blog readers morph the subject into whether we should laud him for reading a "self-help" book, and the quality of the book itself. That Dr. Steinhauer is reading a book in order to improve his performance is laudable but certainly not newsworthy - in fact, it would be newsworthy if he wasn't reading anything!
With respect to Dr. Steinhauer's performance goals for 2011-2012, it should not come as a shock to Blog readers that the Board will likely conclude that he has met them with a level of performance that "exceeds expectations," and will therefore get a healthy increase in his taxpayer funded salary. Listening to school board meeting Podcasts one is struck by the fact that there is no constructive criticism of Dr. Steinhauer by the Board, leaving one to conclude that the Superintendent and the Board are soul mates, and he would likely get a raise regardless of the economy or whether he met any of his goals.
Finally, since we are wandering in and out of the topic, I find it somewhat amusing that Dr. Steinhauer's Blog comes with the following disclaimer: "The writings on this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official views of the District." His Blog, however, is parked on the Mt. Lebanon School District taxpayer funded website, with both the name and logo of the District prominently displayed.
851--the point is, since you don't seem to grasp it, is we have a highly paid super who has not done an adequate job. Period. Some silly motivational book isn't the answer. Any monkey can pull a quote. What we need is leadership. We have none. That's the debate. Go ask theother districts where Tim-tim worked. There's a reason he was available for the draft.
Has the Strategic Planning Committee reviewed the requisite self-help materials? See this email exchange:
From: TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net
To: David Huston
CC: SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net
Subject: RE: Strategic Plan
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:33:20 +0000
Dear Mr. Huston - As I stated in my email response of May 24, 2012, I forwarded your comments to the committee that is drafting the new strategic plan. The Board will take public comment on the draft prior to adopting the new strategic plan.
Respectfully,
Timothy J. Steinhauer
Superintendent of Schools
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15228
412-344-2076
What did you do today to improve the life of a child?
From: David Huston
Sent: Monday, August 27, 2012 10:18 AM
To: Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
Cc: School Board Email list
Subject: RE: Strategic Plan
Dr. Steinhauer,
I sent you this message ninety five (95) calendar days ago.
The errors I brought to your attention are still in place.
What is your plan to make the corrections?
David Huston
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net
To: David Huston
CC: SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net
Subject: Re: Strategic Plan
Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 11:16:04 +0000
Dear Mr. Huston - I will again forward your comments to the strategic planning team to consider as they prepare our new strategic plan.
Tim Steinhauer
On May 24, 2012, at 7:03 AM, "David Huston" wrote:
Dr. Steinhauer,
The Strategic Plan website and documentation has numerous errors and omissions
that need to be corrected. Please take the time to review the changes I propose.
This is just a start. I'm sure there are other things that still need to be updated.
Reviewing the Strategic Plan will help you stay focused on community expectations,
and thinking about it will help you and I better understand the role of the District in the
educational process.
The top of the web page http://www.mtlsd.org/BSC/strategicplan.asp
shows Strategic Plan 2010, yet the document referenced on the same page
is from 2005. Why wasn't the document updated with the recent revisions?
From page 5, attached pdf downloaded from the MTLSD site http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/mt%20%20lebanon%20strategic%20plan%20final%20feb%202005.pdf
-continued on next comment
-continued from previous comment
Constituent Satisfaction: Students, community members, and district staff were
determined to be primary constituents in this strategic planning process. These
constituent groups were given multiple opportunities to participate in the process. These
constituent groups have determined satisfaction priorities to be that students feel
respected, connected, and valued members of the school community; district staff work
in a healthy professional environment; parents are involved and satisfied with the
learning environment; community members have a positive perception of the quality of
education provided students in the district; and graduates are successful in whatever
goals they wish to pursue.
The first sentence does not include parents as constituents in the planning process at all,
yet it shows district Staff. Parents should be included, and they are mentioned in the second
sentence. This would indicate inconsistencies in the documentation that need to be corrected.
Clearly, Parents need to be listed immediately after Students in every case.
Please see the statement below. I corrected it to align more closely with community standards.
Constituent Satisfaction: Students, Parents, Community Members and Staff were
determined to be primary constituents in this strategic planning process. These
constituent groups were given multiple opportunities to participate in the process. These
constituent groups have determined satisfaction priorities to be that students feel
respected, connected, and valued members of the school community; graduating
Students are prepared to be successful in whatever goals they wish to pursue,
Parents are included and satisfied with the learning environment; Community Members
are satisfied with the quality and breadth of education provided for students by the
District; and District Staff work in a healthy professional environment.
Let me know what you think about this.
David Huston
"I will again forward your comments to the strategic planning team to consider as they prepare our new strategic plan.
Tim Steinhauer"
Strategic planning TEAM? THEY prepare our new strategic plan???? Not I or WE? It is one of Timmy's goals!!!!
Elaine
Timbo gets a team and a facilitator so that he can achieve his goals, Elaine. Who else is that lucky ? No one in the real world !
8:51 you really don 't have a whole lot to say do you? Now you have us leading book burnings.
How in the world do you come up with this stuff...
"We should all march down to the bookstores and libraries and start a bonfire with all the books on self-help and employee motivation. They can't possibly be of any value."
Do you know who Tom Peters is? Why would I quote a motivational speaker if I didn't believe they had anything to offer?
You don't really want to enter into the real discussion as say Mr. Gideon did.
No it's best to be disagreeable! You haven't even arrived at disagreeing.
Don't ya just love it. Steinhauer puts this on his correspondence: "What did you do today to improve the life of a child?"
Hey Tim, here's the friggin' answer. I and every MTL property owner paid 27.15 mills in school taxes!
Now what did you do, Timmy?
Besides take a raise, more vacation and shorter summer hours.
Oh yeah, and charge students $50 to park in a lot their parents bought and paid for.
I can't believe it. Through all this discussion, no one has thought that maybe Dr. Steinhauer is polling the community about his performance. I mean it is a question, shouldn't it be answered?
"Am I better today than yesterday?"
Personally, Tim from watching your performance over the last several years and looking for your strategic plan for this year... No, you're not! Sorry.
2:53 PM, The Board and our Super will remind you that they, too, are MTL property owners and pay school taxes.
Elaine
In that case it must have been an esoteric question designed for - oh maybe that small group that will grant his next salary increase.
es·o·ter·ic
Pronunciation: \ˌe-sə-ˈter-ik, -ˈte-rik\ Function: adjective
1 a: designed for or understood by the specially initiated alone b: requiring or exhibiting knowledge that is restricted to a small group
2 a: limited to a small circle b: private, confidential
Elaine:
With respect to Dr. Steinhauer and members of the school board paying school taxes: I believe that members of the board probably do pay school taxes, since none of them are employed by Mt. Lebanon or the District (that I know of). But technically speaking (assuming the superintendent's position is his only gig), Dr. Steinhauer's claim is strictly a matter of semantics.
The reason is simple; he is employed by the District and is payed from a pool of money collected by the District in the form of taxes and fees. When he "pays his school taxes" he is simply REBATING a certain amount of money back into the same pot out of which his salary was drawn. In short, his taxes do not increase the District's bottom line. It's simply an accounting procedure. If I give you $10 and then take $2 of it back I could have simply given you $8 from the beginning and called it even. Regardless, I started out with $10 and now have $2 - I certainly do not have $12!
None of this is to disparage civil servants or the work they perform, rather it simply points out a basic rule of economics: Only producers pay taxes.
Good point, Richard. That would apply to staff and teachers as well if their school salary were their only income.
Richard that brings to mind another point that may be a topic for another day.
These rebating public employees live in municipality and vote.
Assuming 300 school district Employees, their spouses and one voting age child vote for a school director that promises hefty raises and perks, due to low voter turnout, they are almost assured of getting their man or woman in!
I don't think 1,000 votes separated the top vote getter from the odd man out in the last SB election.
Posti only beat out Silhol by 37 votes to retain her seat on the board.
We seem to have a "broken record" that interrupts every thread with a complaint about 50 cents a day for parking. If you don't like the fee, why don't you trade the kid's car?
5:46 PM, why are you bringing this up? We're talking about Steinhauer and his performance. Try to stay on topic, 'k?
Elaine
5:46 why don't you pay it for me, you're so quick with the advice.
Also why don't you ask the teachers to pony up .50 a day for parking and tell us what sort of reaction you get.
How about the administrators pony up something for their special parking spaces. They are located at the top of Horsman Drive (Jo, notice the spelling of Horsman)by the North parking lot. They sure are convenient to Timmy's office.
Elaine
5:46 you see here you just get a lot of satirical comments on Steinhauers performance and financial decisions.
Try and pull some of the same schtick with the teacher's union and you get a grievance filed or a strike.
We don't have a union, just a blog.
5:46 the thread wasn't interrupted by a comment about student parking fees. Is Dr. Timmy superintendent? Were the fees initiated under his watch?
Then they are fair game when you're evaluating Timmy's performance yesterday compared to today.
Idiot!
Hey, it was his suggestion to charge people to park on high school grounds. Why be selective?
Being equitable and fair with his fees would be a step in the right direction of being better today compared to yesterday.
Funny catch, good one - idiot.
Tim is part of the machine. An interesting video about "The Machine" can be viewed here.
Elaine
7:07 no let's charge Tim and his highly paid administrators $2.00/day to park!
Surely if a kid that makes nothing or at best probably minimum wage can afford to pay .50 cents/day then an administrator making north of $150,000 can afford a measly two bucks.
After all isn't that the democrat philosophy? Take it from the top and spread it to the bottom.
A long lost idea from the revenue generating committee. Make Timmy's private toilet in his office suite in the new building a pay toliet. Two bucks per flush might cover the cost over his tenure. Then it is all gravy with the next super super.
Unless he subscribes to the Selective Flush, "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down."
7:07 what was your point.
It's apparent you don't think Tim should have to pay to park - so why not?
You were making a point, and you think i'm an idiot so spell it out for me.
Don't hit and run, make your point.
To tough a question 7:07? Take your time responding we don't want to pressure you.
Would it surprise any of you that this same book "Drive" by Mr. Pink is on John Allison's reading list?
Well it is, so apparently even really good superintendents read it.
Now can we just give a thumbs up to Steinhauer and move on?
8:13, is "Drive" on Ms. Sable's reading list? How about Wilson, Smartschan, and Blacka?
I don't know. They don't appear to be on LinkedIn. Or if they are, I haven't cared to look them up.
8:13 yes we can move on, that was the point to begin with.
Great he read the book, what do you want to do give home a Noble Prize for Literature?
By all means-- let's move on. What did he learn from the book? How is he going to be a better superintendent today than he was yesterday?
Seriously, when did that post it note go up? What's happen in Steinhaurer World to make today (and tomorrow) better than yesterday in the MTLSD?
You've won, this blogger is prepared to move on. Will that moving be a 3 month slow crawl to another blog post by Herr Doktor,or a mad rush to formulate a strategic plan before the 2012-13 school year ends.
You're asking commanders here a lot of questions, but we never put up notes saying we read the book. Timmy did, so how's "today" looking'?
Better than yesterday?
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