School board president Elaine Cappucci said, “this has been an exceptional year for our district and Dr. Steinhauer has proven an effective and capable leader. He has achieved all the goals the board set for him, including sound fiscal management and supervision of the high school project. Multiple measures of student achievement have also shown improvement.” Read more: Mt. Lebanon approves new bond issueHis goals:
Superintendent Performance Goals 2012-2013
1. Fiscal Management- The Superintendent will operate the District in a fiscally responsible manner.
2. High School Project – The Superintendent will continue the District’s efforts to build/renovate the High School.
3. Strategic Plan – The Superintendent will implement strategies to accomplish the goals established by the new Strategic Plan.
4. Student Achievement – The Superintendent will maintain or improve student achievement.
5. Collaboration/Communication – The Superintendent will collaborate and engage members of the school community.
6. Technology – The Superintendent will advance student and adult learning through the use of Technology.
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Our proven effective and capable leader received a 4 percent salary increase. Read what he sent to parents yesterday:
Subject: Back to School Message from the Superintendent
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:32:21 -0400
Dear Mt. Lebanon Parents and/or Guardians,
This is always an exciting time for us as we anticipate the return of students for another new school year. All of our schools are ready for the first day-we can’t wait to see your children.
School begins on Tuesday, September 3, 2013.
• Elementary School starts at 8:30 a.m.
• High School and Middle School start at 8:00 a.m.
Throughout the summer we have been busy refining our curriculum and instruction, cleaning and maintaining our buildings, hiring new teachers and staff, and improving our knowledge and skills as educators. Our guiding philosophy of continuous improvement necessitates that we constantly look for opportunities to get better in what we do.
Of great significance is the progress we’ve made at the high school. In the coming school year many new and renovated spaces will begin to open. As these spaces open to student, staff, and community use – I know you’ll be impressed.
Enjoy the final few days of summer vacation and don’t hesitate to contact your building principal or me with any questions. I look forward to welcoming the students back on September 3.
Best wishes for a great school year.
Timothy J. Steinhauer
Timothy J. Steinhauer, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
P.S. - Please follow my travels throughout the District on the first day of school on Twitter @mtlsdsuper.
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Timmy is hard at work blogging again.
| Progress from the Superintendent's office window | 11:44 AM |
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| Above is another picture of the high school progress seen from my office window. Scroll back through my blog to see several other similar pictures. (November 6, October 18 & 4) |
Another fine managing job by our "totally unaccountable and incompetent school board."
42 comments:
Sound fiscal management and policies?
Look at the new fundraising coordinators salary and benefits.
First, the starting salary is about $20,000 over the average for this region.
Second, who in this day and age gets fifteen paid vacation days in their first year of employment?
Third, since when is a fundraiser worth more than a starting teacher?
Speaking of the fundraiser -- why only 7 1/2 hour days . The residents paying taxes work until the job is done.
I am sure 7 1/2 hour days will be explained as being just a suggested starting point and the expectation is, or will soon become that many days will be much longer than 7 1/2 hours. Conducting door-to-door canvassing and solicitations, setting up and attending lunch and dinner meetings along with workshops and civic meetings, developing reports and giving group presentations, attending school PTA meetings and special social events, and filling out expense reports will be just a few of the events that will suck up this busy individual's time.
Teachers work only a 7 1/2 hour day under the teachers contract, for only 180 days per year, or 9.5 months per year for an annual salary and benefits to die for.
The "fundraiser" is receiving a starting salary about equal to the contract salary of a salary level 16 teacher with an MS degree and 20 years of teaching.
Fiscally responsible. LIKE HELL !
Dr. Steinhauer,
Ms. Klein,
Mrs. Cappucci,
Mr. Lebowitz,
Mr. Kubit,
Mrs. Birks,
Mr. Cooper,
Mrs. Posti,
Mr. Remely,
Mr. Ostergaard,
Mr. Peterson,
Mr. Frenz,
What is fiscally responsible about adding $7,600,000 to the debt service of the second bond issue?
@9:44 a much busier schedule than our overcompensated superintendent.
9:44 AM, nothing is explained by our school board. and when you ask, you will get one of three responses.
1. File a Right To Know
2. It is on the website, [idiot].
3. I already explained it to you, [idiot].
Elaine
Take a look at the data on consumer credit, which includes auto leases and home equity loans. In 1992, consumer credit as a percentage of disposable personal income stood close to 16%. Today it's over 25%. And that means an overwhelming majority of people's income today is going toward taxes, interest, and paying down debts. And the Board wants to raise funds, charge fees, add Mrs. Deluca to payroll and benefits, add $7.6 million in additional interest to a bond issue, and reward Tim and spike Jan's pension for being foolishly irresponsible with the fiscal management of the district.
TWITTER TIM. I think you qualify for social media.
Very interesting - they measure their students by rating and ranking them on a numerical scale, but there wasn't a single SMART goal listed for the supt.
As the old saying goes, "Management without metrics is just cheerleading!"
John David Kendrick
Mme. Moderator: It would be nice to see some specific examples of actions taken by the superintendent to justify the conclusions and praise afforded him by the school board president. Unfortunately for the SB, it is not likely to inform, impress or persuade thoughtful parents and taxpayers that the district's staff leadership has done a good job without a completely clear and factual justification. Mere conclusions without substantive analysis merit an F on the SB president's report.
The Swamp Fox
If the school board would consider doing an internet search for "superintendent goals," they would be ashamed of the six sentences they came up with for Timmy. Here is one example:
http://www.4j.lane.edu/superintendent/goals/
As compared to "The Superintendent will maintain or improve student achievement." MAINTAIN?
Or "The Superintendent will advance student and adult learning through the use of Technology." Use of Technology? Is that why he keeps taking pictures with his phone and uploading them onto his blog?
Elaine
Mme. Moderator: It is frustrating to expect to be treated civilly and respectfully by people who consider it a divine right to require all newly elected board members to fall in to lock step with other members of the board. How can such a mindless and uncritical "deliberative" process ever weed out error or miscalculation, let alone consider legitimate alternatives of action.
You are too kind to assume abilities democratic leadership of which there is a paucity of evidence in the behavior of our SB members. Why should we expect the superintendent to behave any differently? We all know that all that counts is that he is rated #1 in the universe by the SB --- chiefly for slavish obsequiousness to them.
Maybe to curtail some employee cost Mr. Steinhauer should impliment some changes to staff healthcare coverage like PSU President Erickson has. Private industries are already cutting employee healthcare benefits.
"Penn State faculty and staff across the commonwealth launched a campaign to toss the new wellness program, which President Rodney Erickson said in a letter to staff members was implemented “to allow us to better control the currently unmanageable increases in health care costs for our benefits-enrolled faculty and staff.”
The program fines faculty and staff who don't participate in annual biometric screenings and fill out health questionnaires. It also penalizes those who smoke and have spouses on their plans who could receive health care from their own organizations."
http://triblive.com/mobile/4556530-96/state-penn-university
Hey Dr. Steinhauer, time to start paying attention to the real world and quit daydreaming out your office window. Having pizza lunches with the kids won't help you when it comes time to being fiscally responsible.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-your-boss-is-dumping-your-wife-2013-02-22
"The United Parcel Service UPS +0.24% will no longer cover employees’ spouses on the company health plan. And while it’s not the only company to have adopted the policy, it’s among the largest. Some 15,000 UPS spouses who can obtain health coverage through their own jobs will be dropped from the plan. In a memo to employees, the company explained that the change was intended to offset the effects of the Affordable Care Act, which were expected to increase its health care costs by 4%. See: New Obamacare effect: working spouses taken off UPS health plans"
hmm, how do those pizza lunches help with the wellness plan? cholesterol, calories, and carbohydrates, sounds like a new South Beach Diet to me!! Great role-modeling for the kids---but it should count since the Super super has no academic contact with them at all...
An example of a school superintendent's goals with specific deliverables which can serve as a metric for a substantial evaluation is found at
http://www.tasb.org/services/lts/resources/documents/archive_documents/supt_perf_goals.pdf
Its a free lunch for the Super a couple of days a month under the excuse he's working, 2:18.
Wait until he and the Campaign Coordinator start entertaing donors at Mitchells, Luna and Little Tokyo.
2:44 we can only hope they at least spread a little butter here in mt. lebanon......the fear is that they will claim they need the panache of the haute cuisine, haute budget downtown eateries!
Has there been any mention of the budget the "fundraiser" will have for such things as printing, travel and entertainment meals? Will those items be taken off the top from gifts as they come in? If so, what will the limit be and who will set that limit? Will the gifts be posted when pledged and when received? Some insight from the District would be helpful.
9:00 one would assume that all is part of Ketchum's participation though print production and website development will be billed separately.
To borrow Mr. Lebowitz's stock phrase, I'm excited to see how this effort mplodes.
Has anyone heard the State rankings for the PSSA scores yet? Who is numero uno?
The grapevines says ML is now number 1 but you must file a RTK to find out.
Did I write implodes? Meant develops.
To date, if you count the PK survey to see if a $30 million fundraising was feasible and the Coordinator's salary and benefits we're only in the hole by $130,000 or so. Not bad for a year's effort so far.
9:39...I hope you are wrong, I hope MTL is not number one. If we are it will just fuel the current "cheerleading" mentality that exists in the District. I will not be surprised if we did improve because that's what our schools are becoming, they are becoming PSSA review classes (just ask our teachers, they frequently whisper it...too bad they have to fear being honest). To make room for the PSSA review curriculum the student's educational enrichment is dwindling, student's problems solving skills are not being developed (per surveyed MTL high school students, of course information like this is no longer obtained by the District), and more students are feeling disenfranchised (per surveyed high school students, of course information like this is no longer obtained by the District). The law of diminishing returns states that at some point the sacrifice required to progress exceeds the benefit gained from the progress, I think that's where we are with PSSA improvement. Our District's leadership is very simple-minded and really not very sophisticated when it comes to defining success. I have heard them boost about last year's PSSA improvement (think we went from #6 to #4 in the State); the improvement in the score is statistically insignificant and savvy folks know when an entity becomes manically focused on a single measurement other very important things generally get ignored. Yep, let's hope we are not number one....let's not buy into that juvenile "we're number 1" mentality when our children's education is at stake. It's better to be in the top 10% of the standardized test scores with measurable assurance that the District is also performing at a very high level in other key aspects of what defines a quality education (i.e., developing problem solving skill, students learn how to work collaboratively and resolve conflict, students feel connected to the schools and enriched from the experience). Let's hope for more fact-based balance and less cheerleading.
To the people who +1'ed this post, I want to clarify your vote. You agree with my sarcasm, or do you believe Timmy is deserving?
Elaine
100% agreement with you, Elaine.
9:07 sorry to disagree with you, but yes I hope we do move up to #1, not because it really means anything.
Apparently, to some people though it does and I guess for them it will justify buying a home in Lebo.
But your comment highlights a couple of sidebars.
#1. we were told by the district and the BOSN how absolutely essential a Taj Mahal is to education. But here we are in the midst of a major renovation, a building in disarray, stairways closed, disrruptions in student routine around every corner and yet... The scores go UP. What does that say about the value of absurd building spending?
#2. Elaine, for her position on anonymous post and her "wingnuts" for being anonymous are constantly called chickens etc.
But you say the teachers have to whisper, they fear being honest. Why would that be?
Ditto 9:43
Another ditto, here.
I'm with you Elaine. We need to clean house.
Teachers, you proclaim that you're in education "FOR THE CHILDREN", and that ypu didicated, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But you're going around whispering about the PSSA standards and goals.
And you have to wonder why you don't get more respect!
Personally, I think we can't pay the best teachers enough, but they're happy seeing a Capitsl Campaign Coordinator jump into a position at a starting salary light years above what they're making. Then you have an overpriced PIO that isn't essential, with all the administrators and suport staff they can't write PR announcements? Then there are coaches pulling down full-time teaching salaries on part-time duty.
If he teaches part-time, pay 'em part-time and increase his coaches slary. Why the smoke screen?
9:07 AM, you sound like you are in education. You write "when an entity becomes manically focused on a single measurement other very important things generally get ignored." I think the school board is manically focused on high-stakes standardized exams and the high school renovation. Kids' scores determine whether Timmy and the Principals get their raises. I am with you. It just seals the deal when it comes to Timmy's raises. He can continue to be transfixed with the construction, have his Cooper pizzas, and take photos of bathrooms and water fountains, tell tales of magical frogs, and Twitter of his travels. In my next life, I want to be a Mt. Lebanon superintendent.
Elaine
I sympathize with the teachers, 10:27 AM. They really can't say anything. I hope they can feel safe to vent here.
Elaine
Elaine, you mean people have something to fear in Nt. Lebanon for speaking freely... balderdash! Snicker, snicker
They're protected by a union, tenure and still afraid to speak their minds in public, sorry no sympathy here.
Pretty soon the teachers are going to have to make huge concessions on their pension plans. Primarily because the state and tge school districts haven't been covering their share. They've used taxpayer money to build Taj Mahals, add administrators, PIOs, Coordinators whose salaries also affect the district's pension obligations.
So no Elaine, no sympathy here when they sit still for a dubious $82,500+ benies addition to the payroll. Sorry, there were a couple of teachers that stepped up and criticized the HS plan and the endless, year after year supply and materials cuts. I didn't see their union brothern side by them, so fairly soon they'll be paying the piper. They could have joined your petitition effort, they dudn't.
9:07 doesn't sound like an educator, "get ignored" or are ignored?
A previous post touched on this but how will a new school improve performance if we're at the top? Will it make the scores better-er or better-est? I hope we're ranked as high as possible because it will vindicate a statement I made a long time in which I asserted if the teachers and curriculum are top-notch, kids can go to school in a mud hut and still achieve. Cant wait to see the SB pull the usual juvenile antics by celebrating some meaningless achievement. Newsflash to the SB--we're not discussing a high school football game.We're talking about public education, a forced investment imposed on residents. So how about treating it as such?
Speaking of teachers, why would they be afraid to speak up? Surely there wouldnt be any backlash here in our elite, sophisticated, highly educated community?
11:08 AM, I hear you, but our school board made all those decisions. Even the administrators won't take concessions. I sincerely believe that most teachers go to work every day and don't get involved with politics.
The day after the frog speech, teachers were saying rrrribbit to each other under their breaths.
Maybe it is just me, but I teach because I enjoy it. I am not in it for the money.
As far as the petition goes, we could have had many more signatures, but those people were employed by the municipality or the school district. What difference does it make? 4,000 signatures meant nothing.
Elaine
Oh I agree with you Elaine. Most teachers as you suggest go to work every day and do their jobs, but I don't agree that they don't get involved in politics.
They are involved because they understand how the politics works and that is why they whisper, just like most employees do in any company.
So, lets just quit with the song and dance that public school teachers are somehow more dedicated, harder working or more committed than any other professional in any other occupation.
I'll bet the 350 Heinz employees just let go were dedicated professionals as well.
I'm not begrudging the teachers salaries, for the most part they deserve it. A few deserve a whole lot more.
But, I firmly believe that these "dedicated" indivifuals will soon be paying a price for whispering.
Eveey new overpaid administrator, every oppulant school remodeling takes money away from making their pension plans solvent.
We're seeing the penalties starting for the oppulance at the state universities, K-12 education is next in my opinion.
Elaine, if you truly believe that the teachers don't get involved in politics, then what were all the PTA (parent, TEACHER association) mailings all about in the past school board elections?
Are you telling me the teachers have no influence in the the organization that bears their name?
Fine, 4:30 PM. You win. All teachers are evil. They set the rules. They give Timmy his raises. They hired the new capital campaign manager. They approve all the change orders. They ignored the petition. They hide the budget. Yep, they are responsible for everything bad in this community.
I have to get ready for a meeting.
Elaine
Elaine, you're misunderstanding, i never said teachers are evil or responsible for the things you listed. I am exactly the opposite.
They are the front line soldiers in the effort to educate our kids. They are the professionals. If they are whispering it is they who should be alerting parents and taxpayers about what is wrong. Whispering in shadows changes nothing.
Mr. Cannon makes the claim that great teachers could teach in a grass hut.
Ours apparently are doing a superb job in a torn apart building. Imagine the tools, the salaries we could give them if we weren't saddled with $20 to$40 million of unnecessary debt.
Take for instance, did we really need a building design with a >$1 million bridge over Horsman?
Are the classrooms in Bldg C that much different than those in the new science wing?
The teachers could have spoken up.
Mme. Moderator: There should be a distinction made between teachers and teachers' unions.
Please consider this Daily Stat from Harvard Business Review.
http://links.mkt3142.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NjgyMjMzNwS2&r=Mzc4OTYyNTgxS0&j=ODU0MTI0MjkS1&mt=1&rt=0
The Swamp Fox 2
The Daily Stat Harvard Business Review says,
"A 1-standard-deviation rise in teachers' union dues per teacher is associated with a 4% fall in student proficiency rates, according to a study of 721 U.S. school districts in 42 states by Johnathan Lott of the University of Chicago Law School and Lawrence W. Kenny of the University of Florida. Dues support union lobbying, which typically pushes for policies such as blocking merit pay and limiting the Teach for America program. Consequently, student proficiency is lower in states with stronger teacher unions, the researchers say."
Thanks Fox 2
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