Where do we cut? We've already trimmed the fat; now we're cutting muscle. How do we pay for the remainder of the high school renovation? Do we wait for a green light from Pursuant Ketchum? Should we cut librarians? Guidance counselors? Custodians? Do we eliminate the community service coordinator? Should we charge students to park? What about increasing student parking fees? Oh, this is so hard! Shall we charge an activity fee? We need to make cuts as far away from the student as possible. How about a $30 million fundraising campaign? No...a $15 million campaign! Uh...$6 million fundraising campaign? Yes! That's it! But we still have to figure out how we are going to pay for the rest of the project. We can't have a referendum. Let's float a bond! We'll wrap it. Use capitalized interest. Don't use any money from the General Fund. It will only be $18 a month more. No, that's not right. We'll say that it is like no increase at all. No...We'll say it will be like two large pizzas. Wait a minute. There is a grievance that we need to address. If we ignore that, maybe it will go away. For sure, we won't budget for it. Uh oh, there is something else. PSERS. Darn that Corbett! It is all his fault. What to do, what to do? Let's come up with an early bird contract for our superintendent! Let's give him the same lame goals as he had in 2012-13 and 2013-14! Even better - let's give him a
Here it is, Folks. Dr. Timothy J. Steinhauer's 2014-2019 Contract
Don't miss the $1,000 increase to the Tax Deferred Supplement. Currently a flat $2,500 per year, going to 2.0% of salary or $3,500 in 14-15, with a 0.1% increase per year, not to exceed $4,500. This adds another 0.61% to the 6.85%, for a total increase of 7.46%.
ReplyDelete7% raises for a super that hasn't had a program change proposal introduced by staff in years because he can't afford them. In fact, my understanding is he has directed staff not to even consider PCPs for the time being. That's one way to run a school district.
ReplyDeleteThat's ok, it's not like there is any new idea in education since 2009 when Tim got hired. Right?
The budget booklet on your website is excellent but our right-brained board wouldn't read it or put the figures together anyway. They will just vote yes for a bailout from the state and/or federal government and hope they get more money to squander. Remember the statement by Pooch that right-brained people will rule the world? Count the bird brains on the board and realize they already rule the district.
ReplyDeleteAs to the municipality, they will rig an open bid before they figure out we have s*** for infrastructure.
Not familiar with the terminology, "program change proposal." Would that be like bringing in TERC Investigations? That didn't go well.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Meanwhile, back in USCin their SIXTY page regular board meeting report:
ReplyDelete"Mrs. Barbara Bolas, School Board President, spoke on behalf of the Board of School Directors. She stated that it was a collective decision among the Board members to renew Dr. O’Toole’s contract as Superintendent of Schools and reflects the appreciation that the Board has for all of his dedication and hard work as Superintendent. Mrs. Bolas explained that it is a difficult time in public education and Dr. O’Toole has overcome many problems, including doing more with less, not filling vacant positions, assigning individuals with additional responsibilities, leading with a collaborative spirit, developing an administrative leadership academy, being named Pennsylvania Superintendent of the Year, and continually remaining focused on student-centered development.
"The Honorable Judge Arnold Klein from the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas administered the Oath of Office to Dr. O’Toole to serve as Superintendent of Schools from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2018."
Guess what the Upper St. Clair PA Superintendent of the Year makes? $160,000!!!
USC renews O'Toole's contract
Elaine
Dr. Steinhauer's contract: Under 4.2, Salary Adjustments, note that the last sentence states that, "At no time shall the annual salary of the Superintendent be decreased during the term of this contract." Nice touch. That had to have been a provision insisted upon by Dr. Steinhauer. I can't imagine the Board placing that language in the contract; that definitely puts the District at a disadvantage, should the economy take a hit in the next five years, and is not in the District's interest.
ReplyDeleteUnbecoming.
ReplyDeleteThe Almanac: "He was an associate principal in Greenville and a principal and superintendent in Shenango Township schools. He was also superintendent for South Butler County School District."
ReplyDeleteDr. O'Toole had prior experience as Superintendent.
Dr. Steinhauer had no prior experience as Superintendent.
Our school board has " no grit!" Anonymous
ReplyDeleteRead it here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/we-need-to-be-gritty-about-getting-our-kids-grittier/279992/
More about grit from WSJ
ReplyDeletehttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304213904579095303368899132.html?mod=trending_now_2
At $175,000/year we're pay this ------- (fill in with the appropriate term) $100/hour to have pizza lunches with kids!
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever, ever hear anything wothwhile come out of these meetings? Anything? Anything at all?
The only way to put a stop to this madness is to start voting any incumbent off the board ASAP.
StartiIng with Birks and Remely.
We could elect bricks to replace them and see the same results.
I wonder how many people that are considering making a donation to the Capital Campaign have examined just where their donation will be going?
ReplyDeleteHave we seen technology expenditures go up by 7.46%.
how about music, art and lab supplies?
How about equipment for weight training?
How about textbooks?
Every budget has gone under the knife except salaries.
And they say they're doing it for the kids... Bullshit!
Think I've discovered Tim's (I refuse to refer to him as superintendent any more) sentence.
ReplyDelete"gimme money, whole lotta money!"
http://www.epi.org/press/epi-report-shows-americans-wages-flat-decade/
ReplyDelete"News from EPI
EPI Report Shows American’s Wages Have Been Flat for a Decade
August 21, 2013"
"Between 2002 and 2012, wages were stagnant or declined for the entire bottom 70 percent of the wage distribution. In other words, the vast majority of wage earners have already experienced a lost decade, one where real wages were either flat or in decline."
While district performance data remains flat, Timmy's and staffs salarie did not.
Wait a second, wait a second...am I to understand that our non-superintended of the year, less tenured super makes more than the more tenured, superintendent of the year at the neighboring school district?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone, and I mean ANYONE, believe Kubit/Remely/Ostergaard/Cappucci/Posti have a fiscally responsible bone in their bodies?
Tim went from no experience in 2008 to being paid more than the superintendent of the year in only five years.
Unreal.
No wonder Lebo has become the butt of jokes. Sadly, there's nothing funny about it.
ReplyDeleteUSC's Superintendent with more expeience, running the #1 district makes $160,000.
ReplyDeleteMs. Cappucci just what districts did you survey to come up with Tim's compensation?
“The new salary is a market rate for a district of our size and caliber,” Cappucci said. (The Almanac)
ReplyDeleteElaine
USC renewed their Superintendent's contract 12 days before the end of his old contract. Super Tim locked in his contract months early.
ReplyDeleteDr. Steinhauer made more than $160,000 last year.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Something is rotten in the state of [Mt. Lebanon]"
To paraphrase Marcellus' famous line from Hanlet.
From a site analyzing the meaning:
"Marcellus, shaken by the many recent disturbing events and no doubt angered (as is Hamlet) by Claudius's mismanagement of the body politic, astutely notes that Denmark is festering with moral and political corruption."
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quickquotes/quickquotehamletdenmark.html
Could it possibly be that Mt. Lebanon is festering ?????
I still don't see a link to Timmy's contract on the district's website. Not only is the board being fooled by the superintendent, they are also being mislead by their communications office.
ReplyDeleteIt was very easy to find out what USC is paying their superintendent, you know, PA's superintendent of the year. You would think out of the nine school board directors, the finance office, the solicitor's office, or the administrative office, SOMEONE could have googled that. Timmy sure has a lot of people fooled.
Elaine
What is the PIO doing to earn her keep?
ReplyDeleteContracts page:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mtlsd.org/district/contracts.asp
Steinhauer Contract 07-014:
http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/steinhauercontract.pdf
Thank you. I never saw that page before. For those interested, it is mtlsd.org>District Offices>Human Resources>Contracts. All contracts are posted there.
ReplyDeleteElaine
What a joke. A bad joke.
ReplyDeletewhat made lebo so great in the past was its educated but fiscal responsible residents..now the hip goovie people have moved with their chickens and since a lot of them are teachers.. they dont worry or care about salaries increases...
ReplyDelete10:20 PM, I really don't follow what you are saying. Do you mean that the USC teachers are better because their superintendent practices what he preaches? Being fiscally responsible? What about the Lebo teachers who live in USC? Are they better people than the Lebo teachers who live in Mt. Lebanon? I am sorry, but I don't understand this bad attitude that you have with teachers. Did they give you too much detention when you were a kid? The issue is Timmy is getting paid waaaay too much, and the school board is responsible.
ReplyDeleteElaine
Hi Elaine,
ReplyDeleteI've been following the comments and I think that the observation from 10:20pm is one that I've noticed also - specifically, that Mt Lebanon was traditionally a community where mid-level management of privately owned corporations lived. In recent years we're seeing the effects of an aging demographic being replaced with younger residents who are frequently government employees.
Someone showed me information about this several years ago. The belief is that 2006 was the critical turning point.
The younger generation doesn't see the world through the eyes of an entrepeneur. They don't see value being crated from the private sector. They don't see the role of the enterpeneur to fill voids in the free market.
What they do see is the role of big government, even bigger unions and a belief that all of the ills of the world can be solved through regulation and legislation.
What they don't realize is that masssive taxation, high government salaries and stifling regulatory policies have historically led to a grossly inefficient result.
It's like replacing the engine in a new Ferrari with a 5 hp Briggs&Stanton lawnmover engine. The car may move a little, the car may move very, very slowly - but the efficiency of the engine driving the motion is pitifully weak and the tremendous potential of the vehicle is never realized.
I have to agree with his comment in prinicple. The traditional political orientation from the hired help on the hill as mirrored hard-line Marxism. Now we're seeing the effects of it.
As someone else on this blog once said, "Socialism works great until you run out of everyone else's money to spend."
Timmy's massive salary is a good example. The cost of social services act like an incurable disease on the economy. Think of it as a parasite feeding on a host, or a cancer spreading like wildfire through a healthy body.
What's unfortunate is that Mt Lebanon decided to build the entire community around the school distict, and the school district is there solely for the benefit of the teachers union!
The way this taxpayer sees it, Tim has failed Goals 1 and 3 of his contract.
ReplyDeleteSince when has panhandling become a fiscally responsible way to balance the books? With almost unlimited ability to raise taxes and float or refinance bonds he can't keep the district in the black without resorting to begging.
MTLSD, so proud, so much better than everyone else has to resort to hiring an $82,500/year beggar. Amazing, we should be proud.
As to Goal 3 of overseeing the renovation.
Months behind schedule, absurd omissions and change orders and now another begging campaign to equip the weight training room... Really this is managing?
I'd hate to see what the board considers being inept... loosing his way to a pizza lunch?
Part of the issue is it's all speculation about the fairness of the MTLSD superintendent's pay. Maybe he makes too much maybe not, we don't know because NO information is shared about his performance. No facts are presented to support the raise, just anecdotal comments. Okay they might refer you to PSSA scores but that shouldn't be the primary basis of a superintendent's performance. My guess is 1) no SMART SpecificMeasurableActionableRelevantTimely goals are set or 2) his performance against such goals does not match up with the increase (and the Board has explained it away among themselves). The "tone at the top" speaks volumes about the culture of an organizations, this behavior is a VERY poor reflection on the culture of our School District. I haven't mentioned this "raise" decision and the lack of transparency surrounding it to a single taxpayer that it didn't upset. There must be some way of better informing the community about these decisions, maybe an editorial in one of the local papers??
ReplyDelete“The new salary is a market rate for a district of our size and caliber,” Cappucci said. (The Almanac)"
ReplyDeleteYou are exactly on target 8:26! If the board president is going to make a statement like the one above, she should be able to back it up with cold hard facts. The link below suggest that Tim is making far above the market rate. Make sure to click on the benefit links too, to get an idea of what his real compensation includes.
http://www1.salary.com/PA/Pittsburgh/School-Superintendent-salary.html
It is unfortunate that our directors have taken on an attitude of "we don't need to explain or justify anything!"
Just look back at some key quotes. "I have no intention of revisiting building C!"
"Don't roll your eyes at me, madam!"
"you'll need to file an RTK!"
But we'll keep re-electing these people and their cohorts, won't we.
I think we should have sell t-shirts proclaiming: "I'm a MTL taxpayer, feel free to pick my pocket!"
8:26, we had an editorial in one of the local papers.
ReplyDelete"Pizza and more in Peters"
"Peters Township is the place to go for a good education and to buy an upscale home for more money than the average Joe makes in a decade."
Lebo has been displaced as the place to go for a good education and we and our directors better figure out that throwing money (they don't have) at a (in my opinion) dull super and into Taj Mahals won't change public perceptions.
I think I may have had an AHA moment. I have been wondering why Timmy's contract was not considered in the Discussion meeting. It was quickly added and voted on during the Business meeting. What happened to force the issue?
ReplyDeleteThanks to 8:26 AM, I think I figured it out. The PSSA scores were mailed to parents last week. From what I understand, parents are disappointed with the results. When the District numbers are released, I bet they aren't going to be pretty. Isn't that what is most important to Timmy and his board? So hurry up and seal the deal, so the school board isn't faced with looking for a new super.
Elaine
If your claim of disappointing scores is accurate, Elaine then that would be one more goal in which Tim's performance has been lackluster.
ReplyDelete"[Facts?] We ain't got no [facts]. We don't need no [facts]. I don't have to show you any stinking [facts]"
ReplyDeleteSorry directors, but IMO- emulating a Hollywood Mexican bandit is no way to run a school district!
Think about this before you vote for the directors up for re-election this November.
ReplyDeleteWould you want either as school board president?
Cappucci, Kubit have had their turns. That leaves Lebowitz, Cooper and Goldman and if they win Birks and Remely.
Oh God, heaven help us.
I think HONESTY and INTEGRITY should be a goal for the superintendent. How could we measure that?
ReplyDelete2:46 he honestly tweets us about his whereabouts.
ReplyDeleteI think that is worth his $100/hr salary to get those incredibably informative pizza lunch photos.
Let's narrow the presidential field a bit. Lebowitz will likely be next year's president. That leaves Goldman, Birks and Remely who haven't had their turn yet. Goldman likely doesn't have the votes and Remely has turned down the presidency before; that leaves Birks as the likely VP candidate for next year and president the year after. Lebowitz and Birks usually vote together.
ReplyDelete7:47, to paraphase one of our current school board directors, "I'm really excited about your proposed president."
ReplyDeleteNOT!
When do the candidates for School Board start their march to our front doors? I get such a laugh out of their lies! Now I'll just ask what their relationship is to the Teachers Union and how MUCH MORE do teachers deserve for their 184 days of work?
ReplyDeleteNo way Goldman has any support on that Board. Will be Lebowitz as P and Cooper as VP.
ReplyDeleteCooper???? Crap this is the guy thinks nothing of paying $50 for 2 pizzas.
ReplyDeleteThat is the kind of person I want overseeing the use of my tax dollars.
Here is part of an article from Education Week, dated Oct. 1, 2013, revealing what superintendents nation wide think of school board governance.
ReplyDelete"Poll Finds School Chiefs Lukewarm on School Boards
By Lesli A. Maxwell
Most of the nation’s superintendents do not issue strong approval ratings when it comes to judging the ability of school boards to govern districts, according to new results from a Gallup/Education Week survey.
While school district chiefs were more likely to express confidence in their own school boards’ success at governing, only a small sliver—just 2 percent—said they strongly agree that districts across the nation are effectively governed at the board level.
“These are our most visible, vocal school leaders coming out to say we could definitely do better with our boards,” said Brandon Busteed, the executive director of Gallup’s education division. “School boards are reviewing superintendents, everyone is reviewing teachers, but no one is really reviewing boards, or having conversations about the need to have really competent governing boards.”
I trust Mr. Cooper as a board officer more than I trust Birks.
ReplyDelete