An email sent by Athletic Director John Grogan made its way to me this morning. It appears that there is no money available to equip the state-of-the-art weight room that is going in the high school. Here is his letter:
Hi everyone,
I am writing with a favor to ask. As many of you know, we will be getting a terrific new weight room in our new facility. However, the equipment for the new facility was not part of the project. Therefore, we have had to privately raise funds to pay for the equipment. Our goal is to put the best equipment in the space to meet the needs of our student athletes! Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, our fund raising efforts have fallen short and we still have to raise a significant amount of money.
The good news is that we received a terrific lead gift from a gentleman named Preston McMurry from the class of 1955. Preston donated $50,000 dollars toward the weight room!! However, we still have a ways to go.
Please find attached a letter that I put together that I would ask that you send to your parents, alumni, or any other groups that support us to help raise the money we need to equip the room properly for our student athletes. Feel free to change the letter as you see fit – just wanted to provide an example. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
As you will see in the letter, donations can be sent to the Blue Devil Club and we would ask that they fill out the donation card or make sure that they write weight room in the memo line. I have worked with the Blue Devil Club to ensure that all donations for the weight room are put into a separate account to be specifically used for the equipment to go into the room.
Again, I know this is unusual but as you have seen in the past we have a good plan for that room and I’m hopeful that we can raise the money to provide the equipment our teams need to succeed.
In advance, thanks for any help that you provide!!
John
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54 comments:
Why don't they get a change order for FF&E? President Cappucci said it's not extra, it's budgeted.
What's wrong with the existing equipment ? But $50,000 still leaves you with "a ways to go" ? The District continues with the Taj Mahal syndrome.
I'm sure the justification is that anything less than "best equipment" will prevent the "delivery of the programatic requirements for a 21st. century education", right Timmy ?
This is obviously competing with Pursuing Ketchup & Miss DeLuca, don't you think ?
It is also competing with the Sports Advisory Board's fundraising efforts for artificial turf.
Elaine
Did the new director of charity have anything to do with the 50 grand? I doubt it.
So........ why did we hire her again?
G-R-O-A-N!
Let all those who support this sports project pay for the equipment. The district ignores views from those who don't agree with their plan; now it's our turn to say NO!
I want Mr. Dave Franklin, to run for Mt Lebanon School Board. In fact, if he runs, I will volunteer to help with his campaign.
I don't agree with Dave on his views at all. But, I want Dave to be on the Board when the collapse comes.
After years of putting on a happy face, telling everyone how great everything is, and then advocating these massive athletic expenditures I want Dave to work that same magic, put on a big smile and tell the community that Mt Lebanon will be merging with another district (probably Keystone Oaks) becasue the financial situation has become so grim that remedial action must be taken.
So Dave, if you're out there, you've got one supporter for your campaign.
I am sure that there will be others.
Thank you again for everything that you have done for Mr Lebanon!
First, kudos to Mr. Murray. Someone who is that interested in the kids getting what they need should be commended.
But, think about the issues this letter raises:
1. The all-in cost promised by the Kubits/Cappuccies/Remelys of the world was never their goal.
2. If the weight room funding is falling short, how is it that Pursuing Ketchup will somehow do better?
The lot of them are just incompetent from Steinhauer through Klein through the entire school board. Goldman seems to have some sense.
I mean, we have Pursuing Ketchup and our new Pursuing Ketchup Donation Pursuer that we just hired banging on doors and emails to help raise money for the district and then we get our AD out there banging doors and emails for weights for a weight room.
And, come to think of it, won't the Blue Devil Club members overlap significantly with the "I want artificial turf" club? The Dave's should be outraged that the AD is stealing their private money thunder (assuming the commission can actually ask the sports groups to fund part of the turf).
Suffice it to say that this is a cluster all around.
If the board had not spent the left over $615,000 from the 2003 bond issue the athletic director would have money for weights.
Wait, why are we complaining about this?
Hey, Darla, Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat... Let's throw a Beerfest!
That way everyone can try out the vomitorium!
Can't wait to hear Celli speak at the next construction update.
Imagine he'll proclaim something like-- you'll have a weight room unlike any other in Western PA! A beautiful room with very little in it!
Maybe Celli will say you can put a canoe in the swimming pool.
Since "it's all for the kids" perhaps those 5 administrators that just got an 'unexpected' windall of $1,000 each for overseeing the project it might be nice if they gave 50% or more of their bonus toward furnishing the weight room.
Or better yet, all those way underassessed properties that school district saw no need to appeal... Nows the time to pony up. You'll get your name on a plaque, while those paying their fair share get nothing, but a letter to give more.
Enough is enough! Give the taxpayers a break!
Mr. Kendrick, kudos on your post!
Wouldn't it be cheaper to just subsidize LA Fitness memberships?
Ooops, a designed weight room with no weight room equipment.
A tennis team that may or may not have onsite home courts.
A rifle team with no rifle range.
A HS stadium with no room to expand to regulation sized fields fhe growing fast sports of soccer and lacrosse, because the new athletic building is now in the way.
Boilers without water feeds.
Elevator shafts without sump pumps or nearby electrical feeds.
Stormwater pipes with no hook ups to storm sewers.
Rooftop utility equipment sheds with no access door to service equipment.
How many other things have been 'overlooked?'
6:34, not sure if that's a good idea:
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/pittsburgh-public-schools-puts-brookline-k-8-principal-on-leave-after-arrest-701054/
Bock bock bock...what's that noise? Why, it's the chickens coming home to roost.
Irony defined by our wonderful school board: they've lied, cheated, insulted, ignored all in an effort to boost the district's image. Now the district is a laughingstock. And we're all paying for it.
A Compilation of fundraising efforts iin affect or proposed) associated with our school district...
Weight room equipment Campaign $150,000
PK Fundraising Survey Donation -- $20,000
6 Year PK Capital Campaign -- $6,000,000
SAB Mellon Turf Campaign (TBA)-- $600,000
Blue Devil Club Team & Band Fundraisers-- annually
I'm really glad our board and administrators exercised fiscal restraint and kept budget expenditures under the usual $2,000,000 average yearly increase by using panhandling techniques.
Ummm...what's wrong with the weights they have now? Weights never become obsolete. Weights are weights.
Oh how gauche, 9:52.
You must have the latest, greatest and color coordinated equipment for the kids.
Of course you can eliminate a student advisor as they tried to do last before the students protested.
Eliminate counselor and share them between schools. Discuss laying off librarians, disbanding rifle the rifle team, but heaven help us if our student athlete weight room doesn't rival LA Fitness or a college training facility.
Why are the weights they now have obsolete? What are they going to do with the old ones? Can they put them on the curb for pickup, or do we have to pay more money just to get rid of them so we can get better weights that weight the same weight?
So, China and India are kicking our American a**es academically and this is what we are worrying about? No wonder we are in this position. The Boards and administrators just don't get it. Shame on them for crippling this next generation!
Looks like we need another kettle ringer for the weight room...
TERC math was used rather than fingers and toes to calculate the weight room equipment costs....it is accurate within 57.3% +/- of likely....close enough for athletic supporters, Timmy and the dysfunctional SB.
Wet your whistle for the weight room fundraiser. Whiskey...wodka...white russians
6:40 one more- a pool w/o water. Much of the old furniture will be reused, why not the weights? There will be more revelations that surface as time goes on. Open the wallets and dig a little deeper.
Help me to understand! Someone has pledged $$ for new equipment. A call is being raised to help with funding. No one has said that some of the older equipment will not be used. No taxpayer dollars are being spent for this equipment and you are all bitchin?
10:52 yeah we are. The $113.4 million project was suppose to be all in.
All in isn't!
10:52, if the old equipment will be re-used, there is no need for fundraising.
Taxpayer dollars have been used for a fundraising study.
Now taxpayer dollars are now being used to pay the fundraiser's full-time salary.
Now a month on the job, what has the full-time salaried fundraiser accomplished?
Why doesn't the District beg for donations for the ballooning teacher pension obligations instead?
10:52, 12:04, when someone tells you they're going to build/refurbish a high school that will be the envy of almost every district and it is going to be state-of-the-art don't you expect it to be complete? Especially when it the most expensive high schoolnproject in W. PA.
If the building is going to have boilers, shouldn't those boilers have water feeds? Was Mr. Marciniak going to fill those boilers with buckets?
If you going to build a weight room, wouldn't you expect a plan to furnish it to be in place long before the construction reached 48% complete?
You're right, I'm not paying for it, but I thought with some resignation, at the start of this project, my taxes were going towards a complete boiler system and a complete weight room
Here is my gripe, "10:52 AM." Mr. Grogan wrote, "However, this equipment was not part of the project and therefore needs to be raised privately. " He continues, "The equipment needs to be ordered at the beginning of October, so we need to move quickly. " I believe his letter came out a week ago.
Mr. Grogan is on the Sports Advisory Board. Why has there been so much attention given to artificial turf? It is unfortunate that the Turf Board does not have any representation for wrestling. Mr. Grogan is on the turf board, along with Ed Kubit. Yet, their focus is artificial turf. Dave Brumfield, John Bendel, and Dave Franklin have been pushing for turf. Even John Grogan was mentioned in the YSA turf presentation. Did he just realize that there will be no weights for the weight room? We have no tennis courts, no rifle room, and now an empty weight room. They turned away an almost free skate park. Is it all about field sports in this town? The proponents for dogs in Williamsburg happen to be really into field sports.
What is wrong with this picture?
Elaine
Why wasn't weight training equipment part of the project?
Anyone remember Kubit, Cappucci, Posti, Birks, Remely informing taxpayers, "we'll build a beautiful space for a weight room, but at some point you taxpayers are going to have to come up with a way to fill it with equipment!"
Just a little under-handed, don't you think?
Then there's Kubit and Grogan sitting on the SAB. Anyone hear them pipe up and inform the board, "before you start raising funds to turf Mellon, we have a weight room we have to fill first!"
Here is what appears to be yet another example of procedural error and disconnect that plagues the District in this deal. One surely wonders and even questions whether Grogan cleared this with the Super, SB, the MLFE & DeLuca before he launched a high school fundraising campaign or not. But that is not the only issue here, boys and girls.
Grogan is asking for some serious donation money, apparently $100,000 yet to go, and specifically for individual expensive equipment items. Prospects for that kind of giving are those who want federal tax deductibility tied to their donations. Grogan instructs donors to write checks to the Blue Devils Club. The Blue Devils do not appear to be a 501(c)(3) entity, and if not, the donations will not be tax deductible to donors. Which will present a problem for many prospective donors.
Maybe Grogan felt it would not be a good idea politically to use the MLFE/DeLuca route, even though it would qualify for tax deductibility ? Or, was he told or instructed not to ? If so, by whom ?
He could have also considered a number of other Lebo tax qualified 501(c)(3)'s like the Parents Athletic Council (PAC), the Mt. Lebanon Community Endowment, or even one of the various Lebo 501(c)(3) athletic Associations for Soccer, Lacrosse, Aqua Club (MLAC), Girls Softball, etc.. But did he ?
The weight room is for everyone, all sports, is it not ?
Ready, fire, aim - SOP in a community of characters.
Wouldn't all this equipment need to be bid out?
Mr. Grogan writes: "Please find below a list of the some of the larger pieces of equipment that we are putting in the room and the corresponding price." How many vendors did he approach for prices?
How about hitting up Dicks for a break in prices in exchange for painting their logo on a wall visible from the stadium or stadium sign for example.
The municipality revised an ordinance allowing it or does that open the whole equipment purchase up to too much scrutiny?
4:00, do not bother us with details, we do not do details. Details are for the small minded, we are big thinkers.
4:00 PM, I found their 2012 990 on Guidestar. They are a 501(c)(3). Officers listed on their 2012 990 include:
Scott Hagy, President
Dan Goff, Treasurer
Brian Walters, 1st VP
Steve Patrick, 2nd VP
Mandy Carragher, Secretary
Sally Touscany, Corr. Secretary
Their end of year net assets or fund balance shows $73,666.
I wonder why they didn't buy a sign.
Elaine
http://www.mtlsd.org/highschoolrenovation/abouttheproject.asp
"Since 62% of after hours usage of the High School is by community groups, the schematic design improves community use and access to areas such as the gymnasiums, fitness facilities, new pool, renovated auditorium and Fine Arts Theatre.
Energy efficient systems, appropriate equipment, less square footage, new windows and roofs will reduce operations and maintenance costs. "
I'm certainly no rocket scientist but, doesn't appropriate equipment mean weight room equipment was included in the project?
@4:00 No statement that the nonprofit is a charity recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3); - See more at: http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/resources/resources-topic/fundraising/acknowledging-gifts-and-contributions
Zipcode *15234* doe not match 990 zipcode *15227*.
It's all about image. There is no humility with our school board. It's all about keeping up with the Jones's and to hell with the taxpayer. One can have all of the best in construction and material needs, but the most important item is giving teeth to the curriculum and educating all kids to be successful, productive members of society.
Think about this for a moment, Mr. Grogan district athletic director sends out a letter that reads: "I am writing with a favor to ask. As many of you know, we will be getting a terrific new weight room in our new facility. However, the equipment for the new facility was not part of the project. Therefore, we have had to privately raise funds to pay for the equipment"
Now then we have Mr. Grogan, SAB member sitting in on discussions about turfing Mellon Field and the expectation that the district absorb have the cost and probalbly most of the upkeep.
Mr. Grogan, AD knows the district doesn't have money for weight room equipment, heard Steinhauer ask for budget cuts yet Grogan of the SAB keeps mum when discussing a $1.2 million turf idea.
Incredible!
If the Board had built a six lane swimming pool we would have money for weights.
Why do we need a $900,000 cost overage on the municipal swimming pool?
@10:36 the extra two lanes and the third gym cost $3,000,000 more.
I was of the impression that "state of the art" training is the cornerstone of a successful athletic program. I hope they get the money because if the high school is the "cornerstone" of the community, as the school board suggests, and it just invested over 24 million in an athletic facility, then the training program better be top notch otherwise "recruits" will look elsewhere. On an aside from athletics, has anyone tried to figure out a way to fill the school with a program that could start during a students senior year and keep them in "high school" for an additional year learning to be a manufacturing engineer? Manufacturing is transforming and the need for highly skilled workers who design and improve high tech machinery with the systems that link them together is a win-win for any school. These individuals would become process specialists who oversee operations and improve their efficiency; and technicians who install, monitor, repair and upgrade advanced equipment. The challenge now is to rid the notion that one needs a 4-year college degree to get a decent paying job. If America is to lead the world in manufacturing once again then producing more workers with these skills is imperative. Reconfiguring what the high school offers other than a 4 year diploma reconfigure the ideal and include a 2-year degree in Manufacturing Technology starting the last year of high school and extending a year beyond. This education reconfiguration could solve a couple of problems at once and strengthen the economy as well. The long range planning committee should be all over this program! I owe a lot of the ideas for this information to Mr. Robert Reich. Many other ideas come to mind and hopefully the "progressives" on the school board will be capable of grasping these forward thinking ideas.
Connie
Connie you're right, but do you see preparing students for future jobs being tackled with the same intensity as turf and weight training equipment for arhletics?
I don't remember hearing a fund raising effort for 3D printers or the software to get the kids involved with it.
"Manufacturing The Future: 10 Trends To Come In 3D Printing
“Look what I made!” Your children will bring home 3D printed projects from school. Digital literacy – including Web and app development, electronics, collaboration and 3D design – will be supported by 3D printers in schools. A number of middle schools and high schools already have 3D printers. As 3D printing costs continue to fall, more schools will sign on. Digital literacy will be about things as well as bits."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/07/manufacturing-the-future-10-trends-to-come-in-3d-printing/
Is MTLSD leading, following or just getting in the way with its focus on building extravagant Taj Mahals with empty spaces?
Connie there seems to be an effort to do exactly what you suggest already in SouthWestern PA. I do not know if Lebo is involved or not, but it sounds like a good program.
http://catalystconnection.org/services/?Adventures-in-Technology-28
ADVENTURES IN TECHNOLOGY
The Adventures in Technology program brings together the brightest minds of tomorrow’s workforce with Southwestern Pennsylvania companies to engage in hands-on improvement projects. This provides a fulfilling learning experience to the high school and technical students and the company also receives value from the program in the following ways:
Fresh Perspectives and Ideas – Free of preconceived notions and ingrained workplace practices, student teams often generate innovative ideas that can help companies find new ways to tackle difficult manufacturing or technology challenges.
Time and Cost Savings – Every company has issues/opportunities that need to be investigated; now time can be made to address them without taking the time of current staff or the expense of hiring new employees.
Community Support – Companies are partnered with a local high school. This is a great opportunity for companies to support local schools and build an important relationship within the community.
Talent Recruitment – Company managers will build a future pipeline of the some of the strongest talent in the region. This can often lead to future internships and employment opportunities beyond the project.
"Businesses in the manufacturing, information technology, biotechnology, and other technology industries have participated in the Adventures in Technology program. Since the program began back in 2002, more than 2,400 students from 60 high schools and technical schools worked in teams supervised by mentors at more than 60 companies. As the students are immersed into the issues of the business world, they learn that southwestern Pennsylvania offers attractive career opportunities after they graduate."
Connie, Parkway offers technical training.
@9:41, Are you saying it will take 6 years to raise $6 million? Some of us will be dead and a bunch of high school parents will move out in that time.
5:38 I didn't set that time schedule.
I believe PK estimated it would take 5-6 years to achieve the $6 million goal.
In fact I'm pretty sure Remely questiioned the wisdom of a fund raiser that would gnerate lfar ess than a million per year at best after expenses.
He did though vote to hire PK in the end.
Of course Remely voted to support the ludicrous plan. Why would his previous behavior demonstrate the possibility of doing anything different that adhering to the status quo?
Dear 2:01, Glad to hear you are up to date on 3D technology without which you cannot begin to prepare student for future technologies and certainly not train them to be the most efficient athletes in their sport given their ability. 4D is already upon the athletic world! I do not believe that the present school board will pursue this avenue unless the parents get involved to the point that the tax dollars will be spent to provide a 21st century learning experience.
Dear 3:53, These programs exist through the schools, thank God, because many companies hesitate to invest in technical training because they fear workers will cash in on their skills at another company. Many workers typically cannot afford to finance their own training, and the classes offered by technical schools and community colleges are often obsolete due to budget cutbacks. I do not know how current Parkway is in this field as 5:22 suggests but if they have a program that is geared for this then it is a great alternative for the forecasted 12 million students who will leave high school before graduation through out the U.S. All we hear nationally is how the top 1% or 10% earn this percentage of money and how the gap is increasing between the wealthy and the poor. Well, the great middle class of America had steel mills, coal mines(which our President is trying to eliminate), the auto industry, plastics, you name it and those jobs in manufacturing have evaporated. When will economic policy start to recognize the new wave of technology. It has been lacking since before George H. W. Bush and has not improved. Let's set the trend in Mt. Lebanon so Mt. Lebanon will grow and become an even more desirable community to come to "for the kids"!
Connie
Connie, did you see the opinion in yesterday's PG? Make your own drugs 3D printers will create a whole new set of problems. That doesn't mean that I disagree with you.
The school board promised 21st century learning. So far, that translates to bigger pools, brightly painted rooms, and fancy bathrooms.
How can we have a state of the art weight room with no weights? How can any school board director tell a commissioner that the board would consider a joint venture to turf an existing school ball field, when they are are building an empty weight room? Why is the athletic director silent at Sports Advisory Board meetings when all Dave Franklin wants to do is turf Mellon and is now resorting back to turfing Middle and Wildcat? You can hear the Daves say that those are their best fields. So let's improve the best we have, and forget the weight room.
I am sorry, but none of this is adding up for me. Why must we rely on private donations to equip the empty weight room, yet the commission and school board entertain the idea of spending money on existing fields? Is that why Dave has never appeared at a school board meeting to discuss turf? He knew that there were more critical needs in the athletic department. Why hadn't this need been presented at the SAB by John Grogan? Why was there a change order over a score board yet nothing is being provided for the weight room? Why am I not following this? Dave and/or Dave, please explain.
Elaine
Elaine, advancements in technology always, always brings with it problems that need to be dealt with.
The Wright Brothers create the airplane, which unfortunately lead to machines that could deliver the means to level cities in minutes.
Unfortunately, as education focuses solely on "no child left behind" and standardize test they've abandoned teaching philosophy and the humanities.
Its all about money.
No response from either of the Daves. That's what I thought.
Elaine
I'm struck by the fact that Brumfield will spend time monitoriing dogs in a local park where the financial impact is almost nill.
But, no one really wants to study whether Mellon Field (or any Lebo field) are actually being overused.
Drove by it several times on Saturday and Sunday and except for a small group of kids playing frisbee around 3 on Sunday it was empty. Saturday aftermoon there was a youth football practice but they were using less than half the football field and none of the ballfield.
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