Mt. Lebanon's Official Halloween Mask

Printable Unicorn Mask

Looking for some scarier masks? Some of the ones shown below are pretty scary.

Happy Halloween!

Concerned about the traffic on Bower Hill Road?

Maggie Thomas has concerns about the traffic on Bower Hill Road and posted this on a Mt. Lebanon Facebook group. I am reposting this, along with the November 1, 2017 Agenda for the Traffic Board Meeting, with her permission.

You may recall that I have previously posted my concerns about traffic along Bower Hill Rd., particularly on the stretch between Cochran and Washington Roads. Since my last post, I raised this issue before the Traffic Review Board and also received records requested via right to know requests. This issue will be taken up again at this week's Traffic Review Board meeting, and the Board needs to hear from concerned residents. If you share my concern, please consider attending or, if you cannot attend, email the Board members. Some information for your consideration:

• More than 40,000 vehicles travelled Bower Hill Road between Cochran Rd. and Washington Rd. in one week, making the daily average over 6,000 cars.
• Over 20,000 of those vehicles exceeded the posted speed limit of 25 mph.
• 50 of those 6,000 cars were travelling over 50 mph.
• Five vehicles were travelling over 65 mph, including one vehicle travelling 94 mph.
• As of late September, 82 traffic citations have been issued along this stretch of road in 2017.
• As of late September, the MLPD is aware of 16 accidents along this stretch of road in 2017. The MLPD is aware of 24 accidents along this stretch of road in 2016. I suspect there are many more than are not reported.
• The MLPD has evaluated this data and concluded that there is a low percentage of enforceable violations. I interpret this to mean that increasing police presence will not remedy the safety issues and instead, we need some form of infrastructure to prevent vehicles from speeding and ignoring the crosswalk.

The meeting will be held this Wednesday, November 1 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Building.

MORE LIES

God, I hate this place. More lies.

From the MLDC.

Long-time resident    He moved here four years ago.

Active in the community Seriously? Which boards? Which authorities?

Bob Fischer has lived in Mt. Lebanon all of his life. 

Bob Fischer didn't march in the Halloween Parade this year. Why? He was coordinating it from the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, as he has done for years. What did Gorilla do? He carried his sign while walking in the parade. 

With a heavy heart UPDATED

I just found out that my friend, Nick Meduho died of a heart attack on Thursday night.

Watch how Mary Birks treated Nick at the 56:26 time stamp.  October 17, 2017 school board meeting video Read about it in my post, Psst, Mary, the truth is in the numbers UPDATED 10/18/17

Mary Birks, you are a piece of shit. How you treated Nick was absolutely horrible.

Update October 30, 2017 5:06 PM To leave a condolence, please click here.

Update October 30, 2017 6:57 PM A memorial service will be held for Nick at 2:00 PM on December 9, 2017 at the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery Mausoleum. Nick's obituary will be in Thursday's paper.

November 2017 Behind the Bubble: Why MTL Must Choose Teachers Over Bleachers UPDATED

While Elaine Cappucci continues her political campaign PR, I decided to publish Jason Margolis's November 2017 Behind the Bubble in October. Thanks, Jason!

November 2017 Behind the Bubble:

Why MTL Must Choose Teachers Over Bleachers

** Special Early Pre-School Board Election Edition **

Sports are a wonderful thing for children – really, for people of any age.  They can encourage a spirit of healthy competition, a sense of team, and a lifelong love of fitness.  But sports are not the primary function of schools.  Schooling’s primary purpose is to advance students’ learning and love of learning.  This is why, when a choice is to be made, a community must choose teachers over bleachers.

For the past 20 years, we have repeatedly heard the refrain that there is nothing more impactful on a child’s education than the quality of the teachers they encounter.  But why is this?  Isn’t all knowledge available on the web these days – on Youtube, in Ted Talks, in the Khan Academy?  Doesn’t this make teachers obsolete?  Absolutely not.  In fact, teachers – good teachers, and plenty of them – are more important than ever.  And here is why:

1. Learning is primarily a relationship-based endeavor, as humans are hard-wired to learn with and from each other.  The more teachers can relate to and with a student, the more they will help the student form their own relationship with the content of the classroom.  This makes teachers indispensable.  It also is supported by research which illustrates that class size does matter, as the quality of the relationships go down the more the teacher’s relational energies are spread out amongst more humans.   
2. All kids learn differently – in a sense, everyone is on an IEP.  Because of this, a teacher must get to know a child’s mind and being in order to meaningfully teach (and learn with) a child.  This requires time, which requires a low teacher:student ratio.  
3. Technology is being over-used and mis-used in countless classrooms.  This is the case when it supplants teacher-student interaction.  Instead, good teachers use technology as a tool to support learning, not as an activity onto itself.  This, in turn, teaches kids how to master technology – not to be mastered by it.  
4. There is a growing mental health crisis among our youth.  According to several recent studies, nearly half our children will be or have been on anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication by the time they graduate high school.  This is, at least in part, due to kids’ misusing and even forming addictions with technology.  Teachers, and specifically low teacher:student ratios, can help to maintain a social presence in kids’ lives when it is sorely needed.  They can also better monitor social activity in the classroom, and stem off bullying before it happens.  Teachers are essential to developing students’ social well-being and interpersonal intelligences.  

While it is true that sports and other extra-curricular activities can motivate kids who feel marginalized in schools to even show up, this is more a call for better teachers than for more frills.  Good teachers integrate physical activity, creativity, music, art, movement, and a sense of team into their science, math, English, and social studies classrooms.  The more good teachers you have, the more students are receiving their inherent motivation to attend school from the joy of learning connecting to the core mission of schools.

Now, some might say – But MTL is wealthy, can’t it have both?  Apparently not.  Class sizes are on the increase and are approaching dangerous territories in schools like Lincoln Elementary, where parents recently appealed to the school board for more teachers – to no avail.  And further, there appears to be some sort of shell game involving a MTL fund-raising Capital Campaign which, at minimum, is failing – and at worst, could be engaging in shady activities to funnel monies from the taxpayers to special interest groups in the Sports and Recreation community.  One would have to ask: If the money is there, why do you need a capital campaign with a $6,000,000 target in the first place?

But the money is not there, and so clearly a choice needs to be made.  And this brings us to the upcoming School Board elections.  I suggest all MTL citizens concerned with public education put forth the following two related questions to all candidates – both in public forums, and in private conversations:

If there were only $60,000 to spend – would you support more teachers or more bleachers?

What evidence is there from your previous work to show us that you would indeed do what you say you will do?

Update October 28, 2017 3:27 PM There seems to be a little controversy going on Lincoln's Nextdoor. JoPo is against Jason's post. Of course.

Josephine Posti, Lincoln Mt. Lebo·1h ago

Jason, this type of post can be seen as political campaigning and may violate NextDoor's Community Guidelines. Please consider taking those posts elsewhere.

Jason Margolis, Lincoln Mt. Lebo·1h ago

Hi Jo - Thanks for your suggestion. This has already been considered, and has been discarded. Reminders about elections writ large are important, and just because there is no presidential election this year doesn't mean people shouldn't vote. Many areas within the South Hills and beyond have important votes coming up - school boards are one of the most important, although also one of the most forgotten. I am pretty sure MTL Nextdoor is not anti-democracy. I guess we will find out.

Restaurant Owner Accused Of Sexually Assaulting Female Employee

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2017/10/28/castle-shannon-restaurant-owner-sex-assault-allegations/

Unwanted Paint Disposal ~ November 4th & 11th

If anyone has old paint they would like to dispose of, Mt. Lebo's Middle School Field Hockey team is hosting donation sites to collect unwanted paint for a fund raising event. WHAT: Fundraiser - Collecting unwanted paint from the community WHEN: Saturdays, November 4th & 11th from 10:00 - 2:00 WHERE: Hoover Elementary School - Robb Hollow Road, Jefferson Elementary School - Ruth Road Entrance, Markham Elementary School - Beadling Road EVENT: Drop off old paint cans of any type for $1 per quart can, $2 per gallon can, $6 per 5-gallon can. We will safely dispose of them. Benefits Mt. Lebo Middle School Field Hockey program.

Attention Republicans in all wards

Now I understand why I am seeing CCRB signs with other "R" yard signs.  http://apps.alleghenycounty.us/website/Votedistricts/PDF_GEN/GEN%20(436).pdf

Do you realize that you are voting for Democrats? Elaine Cappucci is a Democrat. PLEASE don't vote for her thinking she is a Republican, even though she is listed as such under the Two Year Term for School Board Director. 

School Board Directors are allowed to cross file. 

Likewise, Mary D. Birks is not a Republican. Mary D. Birks is a Democrat. She is listed last, but if you vote straight Republican, you are voting for both of these women. 

Just going by some of the anonymous comments in prior posts, I think I made it pretty clear why we should not be wasting our votes on these two women. 

Republicans in Wards 2 and 4, voting straight R, will get you Charlotte Stephenson and Bob Fischer, but it will also be four votes for CCRB AND Cappucci for the Two Year Term. Please, please, please do not vote straight Republican. 

Did I say not to vote straight Republican? I think so, but if not, I repeat:

DO NOT VOTE STRAIGHT REPUBLICAN. Choose carefully! 

Democrats: Voting straight Democrat will get you Gorilla in Ward 4. Bob Fischer is the guy who should be your commissioner. Gorilla knows nothing about Mt. Lebanon. Ask him what boards or authorities he has been on. It will be a short answer.

Bottom line is to get out and vote on November 7, but PLEASE vote carefully. 

A well thought out comment

This comment says it all. I wanted to cross post it.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker":

9:07, hopefully you are on the verge of an ‘ah ha’ moment. At least I hope so, if you’ll stop for a moment and think about what people are upset about instead of looking at them as obstructionists.

I don’t believe, at lest I hope, that people aren’t upset if someone wants to donate ‘their’ money to some initiative— be it a weight room, library room, computers, showcases, murals or whatever. God bless them for doing so.
There’s nothing wrong with the fundraiser if that is how it works.

Trouble is though that it hasn’t. The district put $923,520.02 of cash IT ALREADY HAD from its General Funds into the campaign and now because of the overhead and expenses they have less than that left. If you read the financial statements, which seem to change monthly, expenses outpace revenue from donations! Plus you can’t spend pledges since there is no guarantee those pledges will ever come in.

So, to be clear, I don’t believe anyone is opposed to people donating. Had the board put in just $50,000 seed money as originally intended and said if they burn through the $50,000 the campaign shuts down and we rethink. No they pumped almost $1 million into it and while the revenue was mere fractions of their goal kept lying to taxpayers that everything was going as planned.

As for the Foundation, why would one charity that was doing good deeds close to teachers and their classrooms and is always looking for donations itself pledge money to another that has a different set of goals like the renovations, athletics and fine arts.

Some districts from my research actually set up their “Foundations” originally to do what we have two - the foundation and the campaign - to do.
From my little bit of reading it seems that those districts put out a disclaimer that while they’ll gladly accept donations specifying a specific initiative in the end it would be up to the board/administration if it fit into the district’s prime objective of educating students.

I don’t know if other people concur with my opinion. That’s what makes this blog so great, people can or should be able to exchange thoughts, ideas and hopefully arrive at some good ideas.

Latest Right To Know filed

I wanted to share an email that I received this morning. I did file a RTK because names will need to be redacted and that means that I won't receive the emails until 35 days from now, after the election.

I understand you request a lot of right-to-know documents from the school board. Did you hear about the racist graffiti found in the high school kitchen on February 1? No? Because it was immediately covered up without a police report? Maybe you could ask for emails to the school board on February 5th from a concerned citizen which included photos as well as Mary Birks response on February 6th.

The majority of the school board did not know about the graffiti until this citizen brought it to their attention. Mary knew. She hadn't told them. Why is that?

School Board Meetings Videos are back up!

Evidently, Nick M. and I have both been questioning the removal of the school board meeting videos. This email was sent to both of us, and the school board members cc'ed.

Good afternoon,

In response to your recent concerns regarding the school board meeting videos removed from the website, here are the facts:

The server is on site at our district office; it is not housed at the AIU;

In an effort to free up space on the server, one of the technicians began removing the largest files; the school board meetings are HD recordings, and as such, are the largest files;

The board neither requested nor oversaw the removal of these files;

We will now keep a trailing 12 months of school board meetings on the website. 

For the Board,

Mary D. Birks

****

Sure enough, the videos have been uploaded.

Here is what I had been sending to the school board. I never did hear from any of the other school board directors.

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: mbirks <mbirks@mtlsd.net>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>; TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 23, 2017 10:49 pm
Subject: Re: Meeting videos

I guess you realized that July 2017 had been removed, when it shouldn't have, based on your explanation below.

http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/channel/SchoolBoard/

It has been uploaded again. Thank you. Now, how about removing some of those old concerts and upload some more meetings from 2017?

For the Community,

Elaine T. Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

www.lebocitizens.com

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: mbirks <mbirks@mtlsd.net>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>; TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 23, 2017 8:27 pm
Subject: Re: Meeting videos

I forgot to include the fact that my piddly, insignificant website has both commission and school board meetings dating back to 2010. I would be willing to work with your IT staff to show you how it can be done.

For the Community,

Elaine T. Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

www.lebocitizens.com

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: mbirks <mbirks@mtlsd.net>
Cc: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>; TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 23, 2017 7:45 pm
Subject: Re: Meeting videos

I beg to differ, Mary. Why do you have concerts and plays dating back as early as June 10, 2008, if your server has limited storage? 

From my blog,  "Even though eighteen school board meetings videos have been removed, concerts and plays are still available as early as June 10, 2008." 

Why not purge those? You might want to change servers. The one I have for www.lebocitizens.com has unlimited storage.

School board directors, you are entitled to give your personal opinion. How do you feel about the removal of the school board meeting videos as new as July 2017?  I would like to publish them on my community blog. Consider this a media inquiry.

For the Community,

Elaine T. Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Birks <mbirks@mtlsd.net>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: SchoolBoard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>; Tim Steinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Mon, Oct 23, 2017 7:27 pm
Subject: Re: Meeting videos

Ms. Gillen,

As our server does not have unlimited storage space, the district will have only the current school year's meetings on the website. Any and all meetings that took place after June 30, 2017 until July 1, 2018 will be available. Then they will be taken down so that the next year's meeting can be stored.

For the Board,
Mary D. Birks

On Mon, Oct 23, 2017 at 1:06 PM, 'egillen476@aol.com' via SchoolBoard <schoolboardemaillist@mtlsd.net> wrote:

To ALL school board directors,

Who made the decision to remove all but six meeting videos from the school board channel? http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/channel/SchoolBoard/

Per Board Policy BBAA, http://www.mtlsd.org/uploaded/District/School_Board/Policies/B-BoardGovernanceAndOperations/BBAA_-_Board_Member_Authority_and_Responsibilities.pdf

Direct media inquiries concerning an official District position to the Board President, Superintendent or official designee, provided, however, that this does not preclude Board members from providing their personal opinions so long as they are identified as personal views;

For the Community

Elaine Gillen

www.lebocitizens.blogspot.com

Mr. B's knees

Another ethics violation? Watch the Solicitor's reactions while Mary Birks talks about her soccer ref husband. Solicitor Peterson is sitting to the right of Mary Birks.

Birks on turfing two fields "to save money"

Hello? Anyone home? UPDATED

No answer from the school board or Timmy.

Can someone please explain the following:

In the treasurer’s report for September 2017 the “receipts” total for the capital campaign show a total of $15,492.81.

Doing a little calculation using the financial spreadsheets from 8/31 and 9/30, I come up with a total of $10,727.81.

That’s $32,504.81 - $21,777.00 = $10,727.81.

Where is the other $4765.00? Shouldn’t they match?

Looking at “disbursements,” total shown is $37,554.09 which really threw up a red flag just by looking at that number.

Again, doing a little calculation just as above I come up with $18,492.24.

That’s $62,404.84 - $43,912.60 = $18,492.24.

Where is the other $19,061.85? Shouldn’t that match as well?

Using the same calculations the interest is correct at $261.03.

That’s $816.02 - $554.99 = $261.03

Can someone please shed some light on this? Could my math be that wrong?

Thank you,

Nicholas Meduho

Mt. Lebanon, PA

*********

How's this for a Nightmare on Horsman? Policy DIF/GBEBD Staff Responsibility for Safeguarding District Assets 

The definition of fraud and dishonesty includes but is not limited to the following: 

• theft or other misappropriation of assets, including assets of the District, our students, suppliers or others with whom we have a business relationship;
• misstatements and other irregularities in school records;
• forgery or other alteration of documents;
• bribery and other deceptive unlawful acts; and/or
• any similar acts. 

If there is any suspicion of altered documents, or misappropriations of assets, they are to be reported to Timmy or Jan Klein. OMG

All relevant matters, including suspected but unproved matters, should be referred to the building principal, the Superintendent, or the Director of Business.

The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker

One of the questions that was never answered at the latest school board meeting, included the "specific" names of all individuals who make up the Philanthropic Advisory Panel for the capital campaign. Timmy listed the positions like a PTA parent, a student, a principal, a teacher, a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. They were to get back to the resident, but never did. So yet another Right To Know.

The Philanthropic Advisory Panel for 2017-2018 are:

PTA Council President   Moira Aulbach

Building Principal   Chris Wolfson, Mellon

Teacher appointed by MLEA   Sarah Davis, Lincoln

Senior Class Co-Presidents (redacted)

Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education Board President   Natalie Wagner

Alumni Representative of the Great Alumni Nominating Committee   MA Jackson

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education   Marybeth Irvin

Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education   Ronald Davis

*Positions stay the same, name of individual assigned may change annually

Some of the earlier propaganda for the Century of Excellence Campaign incorporated The Case for Philanthropic Support "Endowed funds will protect and enhance the academic, fine arts, and student life programs that define a Mt. Lebanon education." Mary Birks told us that the endowment goal of $3 million is not attainable, so I'm guessing the "reset" boils down to sports murals, weight rooms, wrestling rooms, and artificial turf. Screw academics. 

But here is the biggest tragedy. The Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education, which was founded in 1999, embraces the same mission. 

"The mission of the Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education (MLFE) is to directly enhance student experiences in the Mt. Lebanon School District. Since 1999, MLFE, a not-for-profit, 501 (c) (3) organizations, has funded more than 130 innovative projects spanning the entire curriculum at all 10 Mt. Lebanon Schools."

Many of the Board Members of MLFE are also on the Philanthropic Advisory Panel.

President

Natalie Wagner, parent

Treasurer

Julie Smith, alumna and parent

Board Members

Melissa Bailey, parent

Lynda Battista, Spanish teacher, Mellon Middle School

Josh Bilak, Physics teacher, Mt. Lebanon High School

Dr. Ron Davis, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education and parent.

Doug Deniziuk, Special Education, Mellon Middle School

Mike Hathy, Biology teacher, Mt. Lebanon High School, alumnus, parent

Dr. Marybeth Irvin, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education

Jennifer McMullen, 2nd grade teacher, Hoover Elementary School and parent

Kim Robbins, 4th grade teacher, Washington Elementary School

We didn't need the Century of Excellence for the Waltons, the Conovers, Mr. McMurray, or the others who were so generous, to donate. We didn't need to waste almost a million dollars from the General Fund for start up. Everything has been set up since 1999!

We have two fundraising groups housed in the same building and neither are paying rent for the space at 7 Horsman Drive. Not only do they share the same operating expenses, the director of both happen to be the same person, Sloane Astorino.

Shut down the Capital Campaign. It is an illegal operation, as defined by the PA School Code. Nobody knows how much has been raised, or how much has been spent. Katie Caste, the campaign treasurer has made statements in which donations vary from almost two million dollars to almost a million dollars. Jan Klein keeps rewriting the books. Timmy and the board keep promising to share information with residents, but never seem to get back to them. School board members have limited information, when they should be the ones in charge. We left the Quiet Phase only to return to the Quiet Phase. Videos are being removed from the District website. Documents are being reworked.

Stop wasting money. SHUT IT DOWN!

They're actually doing the right thing. Amazing!

The League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh regrets that it must cancel the forum for candidates for the Mt. Lebanon School Board. Despite having proposed three possible dates for the forum, the majority of candidates were not available for any of them. Not being able to present at least a majority of the seven candidates, the League felt that it could not offer a fair and equitable opportunity for all viewpoints to be heard.

The LWVGP thanks the Mt. Lebanon PTA Council for its assistance in making site arrangements for the forum and doing publicity. We regret the inconvenience this decision causes the PTA Council and the A. P. Government students who were going to serve as greeters.

The LWVGP looks forward to working with the Mt. Lebanon PTA Council in the future.

For the record, it WAS $923,530.02. UPDATED 10/20/17

The treasurer's report showing the transfer of $923,530.02 from the General Fund has been obtained through a Right To Know. The May 31, 2013 Treasurer's Report is available here.

Larry Lebowitz made no mention of any funds being transferred in his May 20, 2013 Revenue Generation report.

Revenue Generation – Mr. Lebowitz reported that candidates for the campaign manager position will be interviewed this week. A candidate will be presented to the Board for final approval in June.

Larry Lebowitz made no mention of any funds transferred on May 31, 2013 in his June 17, 2013 Revenue Generation report.

Revenue Generation – Mr. Lebowitz reported that the search for a capital campaign manager continues.

At that same June 17, 2013 meeting,

It was moved by Lebowitz and seconded by Birks that the Board approves, ratifies and accepts the following financial reports: (Copies of official minutes.)
a. Treasurer’s Report dated May 31, 2013,

Approved by Birks, Cappucci, Cooper, Goldman, Kubit, Lebowitz, Ostergaard, Posti, and Remely.

Vote at the 26:25 time stamp here.  Or on my Lebo Citizens website June 17, 2013 School Board Business Meeting

During comments from residents,

Commented that there is lack of trust of the Board from the community; Board is out of touch with the community

Questioned what happened to the budget report

At the June 10, 2013 Discussion Meeting, Jan Klein explains the transfer of funds to be paid back in full to the General Fund here. Or on my Lebo Citizens website June 10, 2013 School Board Discussion Meeting No dollar amount was ever mentioned.

Update October 20, 2017 10:48 PM Mt. Lebanon schools fund to pay for mural, maker spaces, student group

Since Mary Birks refused to answer Nick Meduho's questions, he wrote to the school board's Capital Campaign liaison, Dr. Stephen Strotmeyer, looking to get some answers about the Capital Campaign.

From: Stephen Strotmeyer [mailto:sstrotmeyer@mtlsd.net]

Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2017 8:50 AM 

To: Nicholas Meduho

Subject: Re: cc questions 

Mr. Meduho, 

My sincere apologies that the information you (and I) have requested is not being updated to the Century of Excellence reports online. My best estimates from the limited information we have been provided from the Campaign would be that after the disbursements the past 2 months was that the General Fund account balance was $418,000 minus $26,750 disbursed in Sept and another $98,800 disbursed this past Monday. So ballpark is $292,000. In this quarter, revenue was $33,320 and fundraising expenditures $27,352, plus the $35,000 disbursed. So that's a loss of $30,000. I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Thank you for your questions and concerns.

Cordially, 

Stephen 

*******

In an email to me, Nick makes some excellent points. 

So what happens when the $292,000 runs out…then what?
Who pays the bills/administrative fees then?

*******

My guess is that the school board will just take from the General Fund again.

                                                                                                      - Elaine

ANOTHER citation, Gorilla? UPDATED 10/24/17

Holy Crap, Gorilla!

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJReport.ashx?docketNumber=MJ-05219-TR-0003319-2017

You are getting quite a long list, Gorilla.

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/MDJCourtSummaryReport.ashx?docketNumber=MJ-05219-TR-0003319-2017

******
I knew I would get another political sign.

But I didn't think I would get more. I get the feeling that the Dems aren't crazy about the Gorilla.

Update October 24, 2017 3:03 PM Another one.

Are Timmy and Jan using laptops from IKEA?

When my son was very young, he had some unique revenue generating ideas and career goals. His first career choice was to be the voice for the countdown of NASA rocket launches. Later, I heard about plans to have shrimp cocktail stands or hot chocolate stands. He progressed to lugging cases of canned sodas that were on sale, in his backpack and selling those cans to teachers for a dollar each. But what I think was his most creative dream job, was to be hired to "live" in IKEA, moving from vignette to vignette. A typical day would include cooking in the fake kitchens, sleeping in the bedrooms, and pretending to use the fake computers. I'm beginning to think that Timmy and Jan are sitting in front of those fake IKEA laptops at school board meetings.

Will someone please tell me why Timmy and Jan have laptops in front of them? What are they doing? Playing games? Retweeting Dr. Davis' tweets or tweeting more covers of concert programs? Ordering take out for those breakfasts and lunches with gr8 student leaders? Coming up with new spreadsheets changing FY Ending August 2017 bottom lines?

Why do we have to hear, "We'll get back to you" at school board meetings? Or "We'll find out" when the answers can easily be pulled up on their laptops? Within seconds, answers can be retrieved from those laptops. The school board has approved thousands of dollars worth of fundraising software. The Director of Finance can find money that nobody else can, but is never asked for financial accountings at school board meetings. Why is she there? Is she just a cardboard cut out that may someday be used as a prop in one of the office displays at IKEA? Or is she just vying for my son's dream job of being an actor at the Pittsburgh IKEA? She would have a shorter commute to work.

How about utilizing those taxpayer funded laptops at school board meetings, Mary? It would cut down on Right To Knows, freeing up more of Jeanine's schedule to make Timmy look intelligent, and would create the illusion of transparency during your last two school board meetings of your presidency. It will appear like you are being respectful during comments and questions from residents. Who knows? We might even get some answers for a change.

Vote for Riemer, Strotmeyer, and Diamond!

The School Board is on a Roll! UPDATED 10/19/17

I noticed that a whole year of videos have been removed from the school district website.  Mt. Lebanon School District Multimedia Channel The only videos posted are from the last six meetings, August through October.

One of the meetings removed was from early May where Mary's report includes being caught voting on Outreach contracts. Get rid of the evidence, Mary. Atta Girl!

Update October 19, 2017 7:09 AM The district continues to update its website. Mary's scathing President's Report for October has been uploaded. However, Timmy's reports have been stripped down to one month - August 2017. The Superintendent's blog had been removed months ago. His goals for the 2017-2018 school year are MIA, but 2016-2017 goals are still up.  Even though eighteen school board meetings videos have been removed, concerts and plays are still available as early as June 10, 2008. The school board is in lockdown mode. Instead of a "reset," the board should be thinking about a District Detox. I hope November 7, 2017 will mark the beginning of such detox.

Psst, Mary, the truth is in the numbers UPDATED 10/18/17

During the President's Report at last night's school board meeting, Mary Birks was raving about Jan Klein, Director of Business. You may remember how I listed three reports from Right To Knows, where the FY ending in August 2017, were changed in three consecutive reports.

From Financials ending 09/30/17 

From Financials ending 08/31/17
From Financials ending 07/31/17 updated 10/11/17

Members of the community, as well as a board member have called for an outside audit. At 18:10 time stamp October 17, 2017 school board meeting video, Mary Birks quotes John Irving. 

“Don't forget this, too: Rumors aren't interested in the unsensational story; rumors don't care what's true.”

But at 24:19 of the October 17, 2017 school board meeting video, Mary reported,

Harassment and defamation of character have no place with our professional staff and will not go unanswered.

Here's the thing, Mary. It isn't harassment and defamation of character if the financials are constantly changing. There is also the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. You said it yourself that there were over 40 Right To Knows filed since September. Do you know why so many RTKs were filed? Watch yourself in action at the 40:22 time stamp. A resident asked questions and you were not going to do a back and forth with him.

Birks didn't stop there. Watch how she deals with the same resident mentioned above at the 56:26 time stamp. We were told that Jo Posti was going to make a presentation on the Capital Campaign "reset." Nick asked if we were going to see the presentation. All Birks said was, "Nope." What a nasty woman! 

Mary, the last commenter was absolutely correct. At 1:02:25, we have the right to express our opinions and we are very upset with how we, the public, are being treated at these meetings. 

So before you send your lawyers here to shut me down, let me just say that you are doing nothing to garner votes. Your attitude sucks. Having a Candidates Forum with just your slate present is despicable. How you preside at a meeting is unbelievable. Remember, Karma is a bitch.

Update October 18, 2017 9:02 AM Watch School Board Director Hugh Beal's reaction after Mary Birks shut down Mt. Lebanon resident, Nick Meduho. Also, please read what Mike Riemer, Stephen Strotmeyer, and Aviva Diamond say about community participation.

Friends of Mt. Lebanon Education

21 hrs · 

US Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren said: “education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.” Pennsylvania’s system of more than 500 locally-elected school boards epitomizes participatory government. In Mt. Lebanon, our residents elect the board of school directors empowered to decide on educational and financial matters with community needs, values, and expectations in mind. Community participation in that decision-making process should be encouraged. School directors are reflective of our constituency, and the ability to engage in open discussion with residents is critical to effective, accountable, transparent and ethical public school governance. Our residents should be made to feel welcome at all public meetings, whether as observers or participants. Future encouragement of residents to express personal viewpoints, whether in agreement or opposition to the school board needs to be cultivated and facilitated.

Ultimately, as voters, you have the opportunity to indicate your support for candidates that value a variety of views within Mt. Lebanon.

This November 7th, if you value representative democracy at the most grassroots level, please vote for Mike Riemer (in both the 4-year & 2-year seats), Stephen Strotmeyer, and Aviva Diamond. Our slate will work to restore a willingness to engage in civil discussions with our community as they pertain to our educational framework.

Statement from Riemer, Strotmeyer, and Diamond concerning the Candidates Forum

From Facebook:

Friends of Mt. Lebanon Education

19 hrs · 

It is unfortunate, but Mike Riemer, Stephen Strotmeyer and Aviva Diamond will not be able to attend the candidate forum scheduled for October 26th. Earlier this month, when initially contacted through email by the PTA Council Secretary to schedule this event, we were told that there were three possible dates on which it may be held. When we received the emailed invitation from the League of Women Voters a few days later, we were only given one date and was told no alternate date was available.

As many of you know, Mr. Riemer serves in a leadership role with the Salvation Army. With the recovery efforts still taking place in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, their resources are stretched incredibly thin and, after serving in Texas for two weeks in September and October, Mr. Riemer is once again scheduled to be sent to other locations in the weeks to come. Unfortunately, on the date of this event, Mr. Riemer will be in New York working on distribution efforts related to the recovery in Puerto Rico. Drs. Strotmeyer and Diamond are similarly limited in that Dr. Strotmeyer has evening teaching commitments and Dr. Diamond a family commitment that both conflict with this event.

We believe that these events, when planned with care and input from all sides, play an important role and represent a wonderful opportunity for the community to engage with all of the candidates. However, in this instance, the short notice and the lack of alternatives provided prevents such a forum from going forward. We do not feel a forum consisting solely of members of one slate will serve the public good.

If you have questions about the Friends of Mt. Lebanon Education slate, we urge you to visit friendsofmtlebanoneducation.com, Facebook page or reach out to us directly via Facebook.

Most importantly, no matter which candidates you support, remember to vote on Tuesday, November 7th. If you do choose to support our slate of candidates, please vote for Mr. Riemer, Dr. Strotmeyer and Dr. Diamond for the four year terms and Mr. Riemer for the two year term.

A Mt. Lebanon Firefighter writes...

In today's mail, a letter from a Mt. Lebanon Firefighter.

A campaign promise broken already and it's only the middle of October

From his website:

From Facebook:

From a yard:

From the Courts: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Craig S. Grella