What taxpayers go through to request information. Watch this exercise in futility. Timmy and Mary Birks would be happy to put the taxpayer's request on the school district Capital Campaign website. I don't see it. Do you?
At the 8:13 time stamp, Mary admits that it was an inner fund transfer.
I never heard back from the school district. It is just another exercise in futility.
School board directors,I doubt that Paula will hear anything either.
Thank you for additional information that has been posted on the District website concerning the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign.
I would like some consistency in your reporting, however. Please include the second page in the monthly reports as was shown in a recent RTK document.
Capital Campaign Financial Report for 7-17 Capital Campaign Financial Report for 8-17
Elaine Gillen
www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com
Thank you, Nick M., for providing this clip. It had been requested by a commenter in the previous post, without filing a Right To Know, Timmy!
30 comments:
While Steinhauer and Birks attempt to document cash transfers INTO the Century of Excellence fundraiser perhaps we should also be asking the board president and now full-time executive director about Outreach.
The Executive Director’s position in the past was part-time and paid in the mid-twenties. Now with Birks at the helm it has become a full-time position paying in the mid-sixties despite her rather lean resumé.
“Mary Birks had never worked as an executive director at a nonprofit prior to accepting her job at Outreach Teen & Family Services early last year.
She had experience with nonprofits, including three years as educational programs manager for Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania, and she has served on nonprofit boards such as the Mt. Lebanon School Board, where she’s in her second term.” Jefferson Regional Foundation News
We now know how the fundraiser is performing (not), perhaps Birks will put out numbers from Outreach.
Wonder if this quote from Birks’ attiorney in the PG is on her resume?
““She won’t vote on it [Outreach] in the future,” he said, including later this month when the next annual contract with the agency is expected to be considered by the board. “She wasn’t aware it was in those materials.”
Was she unaware of the capital campaign “investment” as well?
I am baffled by the CCRB signs that are going up in Mt. Lebanon. Don't residents know that CCRB mismanaged almost a million dollars? Don't residents understand that almost a million taxpayers' dollars were spent on administrative costs instead of benefitting our kids? We are being overtaxed. Jo Posti, Elaine Cappucci, Dan Remely, Larry Lebovitz, Mary Birks, and Bill Cooper all were crying the school district blues, saying that they have trimmed the fat and now are cutting into muscle. What bullshit. They knew full well that Jan Klein, the queen of hiding funds, routinely does "inner fund transfers." These folks mismanaged almost a million dollars. And Caste was the campaign treasurer! Want to think about that?
I am asking a favor from Lebo Citizens readers. Please spread the word about my blog. Please ask those CCRB supporters if they are aware of the fact that they mismanaged Almost. A. Million. Dollars. of our money. Please share this link. www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com
Elaine
Elaine - they are our short-sighted soccer and band parents who are dreaming of a full-size practice field on the Rock Pile. It is a cheap trick that has served these candidates well.
Don’t those soccer and band parents comprehend that artificial turf creates giant heat sinks (hotter than pacement) that contain environmentally hazardous tire crumbs and dust that pollutes the environment?
Full of BS, am I! Try disposing of your used tires with your regular garbage and see what the municipality and the state and the EPA tells you.
Maybe the soccer and band parents should query the President Birks on this Yale/EHHI Study.
“Artificial Turf: Chemical Analysis
Findings of the chemical analysis conducted by Yale University on the crumb rubber tire infill used in synthetic turf and the rubber tire mulch used as surfacing material in toddler playgrounds.
The shredded rubber tire playground mulch samples tested were provided by the manufacturer and were purchased in new bags of rubber mulch for use in gardens and playgrounds. The rubber tire infill for synthetic turf fields was obtained as new infill material from installers of synthetic turf fields. There were 5 samples of infill from 5 different installers of fields and 9 different samples of rubber mulch taken from 9 different unopened bags of playground mulch.
RESULTS
EHHI's study done at Yale University found 96 chemicals in the synthetic turf and rubber tire mulch used as surfacing in toddler playgrounds. Of the 96 chemicals detected — a little under a half have had never had toxicity assessments for their health effects. Of the rest, 20% are probable carcinogens.”
Yeah, I know she didn’t read it!
Wasn’t the new high school sports complex suppose to bring in big money to the district from fees charged to non-school sports events?
I don't want this post to turn into the dangers of toxic turf. Parents don't seem to be concerned about that. I agree with 12:35 PM. It IS a cheap trick to bring up the practice field. Promise anything to get those band parents' and sports parents' votes. It is even sneakier that Cappucci's replacement for the high school renovation committee (Riemer) was not getting emails about it. You have to watch those meetings carefully to see all the dirty tricks that the CCRB Timmy Ticket is playing.
Elaine
This community is awakening to the sketchy practices by the members of the Caste, Cappucci, Birks and Remely campaign from the past few DECADES! People are reading the papers, watching the board videos and reading the blog and openly discussing the ethical issues surrounding these people. End it once and for all November 7. Usher in a new era where the board works for the community and stops ignoring us!
I just started reading your Blog, Elaine. . My head is spinning from all the craziness. I didn't believe it was happening until my neighbor told me to Google Lebo Citizens. Thank you.
Welcome, 8:16 PM! Please spread the word.
8:03 PM, I am just flabbergasted that the Capital Campaign and Jan Klein could move around that much money without the board approval. They pissed away almost a million dollars. And it would have continued, if nobody had filed a Right To Know. Thank you to those who did!
Elaine
I counted four times that Mrs. Bonjorno asked for the financials to be read during her time at the mic.
But Elaine...the turf was so, so hot today the kids and parents were feeling ill. My kid wanted a shower immediately afterward to remove the toxins that she worried got on her face when she fell and then to rest on the couch and drink Gatorade the rest of the day. Turf is terrible in the heat and it worries the kids who think.
Mary E
Why did Mary Birks repeatedly say that the loan, investment, and now inner fund transfer amounted to $872,000 when Paula kept asking about the $920,000?
Elaine
Could it be that Mary just doesn’t pay attention to the details just like when she voted on the money for Outreach even though her vote was a conflict of interest and violated ethics laws.
When are the candidates going to speak up and tell voters exactly what their plans are for moving this district forward?
Or have we voters become so complacent that we vote for people based solely on the number of their yard signs?
There are people that are pushing for the district to turf not only the practice field, but Mellon and Jefferson as well.
This will lock the district in a perpetual maintenance program that will lock the district into replacing these plastic grasses to the tune of millions of dollars every 8 to 10 years. The administration will need more than a failed fundraiser to do that!
I’m sorry, I can’t get excited about any of these school board candidates, although at least Strotmeyer and Riemer are FINALLY beginning to ask questions on things like the fundraiser.
This fiasco has been going on now for nearly four years and it’s finances are only coming to light now and that’s pretty much through the efforts of someone filing a RTK.
I’d like to hear each candidate speak out about how they’ve managed things to date and how they balance budgets in the future.
Maybe we should get out ‘Read Lebocitizens Before You Vote!’ lawn signs since there doesn’t seem to be any interest in having Meet the Candidates public forums.
Ha! That is pretty funny. Maybe we can get the MLDC to kick in some funds for those signs since I am heavily campaigning for their three endorsed school board candidates.
I know that some candidates have expressed an interest in a public forum, but Remely, Birks, Cappucci, and Caste are not interested. I remember Grella pushing for that, but at the moment, he is unavailable.
Elaine
In Ward 2, Silverman ignored Jason Margolis' opportunity to tell us what is great about Mt. Lebanon. Charlotte Stephenson, however, did an interview with Jason. Maybe the MLRC should kick in some funds for those yard signs too!
Elaine
Think about this 7:38 AM. Remely had a PREPARED STATEMENT about the campaign which included personal attacks against Riemer. Riemer must have made his feelings known previously, for Remely to attack him.
Also, Strotmeyer was appointed to Cappucci's vacated school board seat. Cappucci is on the Capital Campaign, was school board president, and approved the Campaign. Strotmeyer walked into this mess. Want to think about that?
Elaine
One thing we can be sure of... the very expensive to run community magazine won’t be providing taxpayers with unbiased, reliable, or ACCURATE information on the candidates, SB budgets or fund raising.
Call me crazy, but aren’t issues like school funding, classroom sizes, special ed more important to the community than Irish weddings, trips to Jim Thorpe, PA and the art director’s daughter?
Somebody please, direct me to where the PIO shows any information on school board fundraising or the long time cost of maintaining artificial turf for instance.
Lebocitizens is the only place to find that type of community information... and it’s free!
Yes I have Elaine and also that Beal wanted more info on the fundraiser before he’d vote on distributing money from it.
All very commendable!
But think about this. The campaign is still underwater, there is still no audit to assure donors that their money is going to where they wanted it to go (called for by Riemer) and yet the board unanimously voted to distributed funds from the campaign.
I agree with Strotmeyer, Riemer and even campaign chair Posti, rethink this campaign, but first figure out where the monies came from and where they went before distributing one more dime. Then relaunch and keep the accounting accurate and transparent.
So far no candidate has argued for that near as I can tell.
Wonder why the MTLFE meetings are closed to the public?
TI’d like to know where the school board candidates stand on:
SB168- tentative teacher contract-agreements should be posted online two weeks prior to and for thirty days following the contract signing.
SB 503 and SB 504 which will require that teacher contract negotiation be available under PA’s Sunshine Act and Right to Know.
If they even know about these three bills.
You won’t find out where the candidates stand from a lawn sign!
I think 9:59am makes a very good point. Where is the PIO on all this? There's at least $300K taxpayer money spent a year in that "wing" of the system.
Thankfully, more and more people are reading this blog for actual public information, as opposed to whitewashed public non- or mis-information.
10:10am - Even after a "reset," how do you convince people to donate to a school district that is high-resourced via high-taxes?
Posti helped create this mess back when she was excited about hats and party favors. Now the capital campaign has been exposed as a sham and she is doing her best to mitigate the disaster. Why? Well, when someone finally reveals what the school board has been doing under a veil of secrecy, fingers will start pointing, especially if laws have been broken (you know, in addition to those we know of like shifting a million bucks from one account to another with no publi debate and no vote).
Oh, my, the ship has sprung a leak and is taking on water. Who says rats can't swim?
Jason, your question to 10:10 is a very good one. Remarketing the campaign is going to a tough sell and I’m pretty sure the people that were running it in the first place aren’t the ones that should be managing it.
After all, “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice then shame on me!”
I’d say the people that were ready to pony up big bucks have already done so. If they haven’t then what have those highly paid managers been doing for the last four years?
If I were a prospective new donor I sure as hell would want to know that my contribution is going directly to the kids and not some administrator/manager or fund manager’s pocket.
So yes, Jason it is going to be one tough reset.
That comment at 11:05 wasn’t necessarily at slam at the teachers.
I would think it would be in their best interest to have a public viewing of contract negotiations especially if the district is crying poor mouth but has nearly a million dollars to bury in a fundraiser and pay very lucrative salaries and benefits to the people running it.
2:28pm, I agree, I am not so sure all the "riches" are going to the right human resources. If they were, Lincoln El would have at least one more teacher, and class sizes would not be ballooning.
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