Monday, November 6, 2017

So how does this work? UPDATED 11/7/17 at 7:52 PM

I filed a Right To Know for a list of all of my friend, Nick Meduho's outstanding RTKs. As many of you know, Mary Birks would not answer Nick's questions. He would be told to file a RTK or that they "would get back to him." Always respectful, Nick would quietly return to his seat and then go home and file RTKs. My RTK was granted today. Nick had filed the following requests.

Nick Meduho's Open Requests
On October 30, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking “a detailed list of all the outstanding records requested from the late Nick Meduho.” 
Please note that for the requests due on or before the date of your Request, the District informed Mr. Meduho that it required additional time to respond to these requests pursuant to Section 902 of the RTKL
So how does this work? Do I have to refile all of these? Or can I just pay for Nick's requests and get them when he would have received them, had he not passed away?

Thanks, Mary. You never did get back to Nick.

Updated November 7, 2017 8:40 AM From Mary D. Birks' public Facebook feed:






















A friend writes: Do bullies recognize themselves? I don't think they often do.

Update November 7, 2017 7:52 PM I ended up refiling 15 RTKs. The official word from MTLSD:

From: Jeanine Szalinski <jszalinski@mtlsd.net>
To: E.T. Gillen <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Thomas Peterson <TPeterson@tuckerlaw.com>; Voltz, Chris <cvoltz@tuckerlaw.com>; Dr. Timothy Steinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
Sent: Tue, Nov 7, 2017 3:07 pm
Subject: Right to Know Requests

Dear Mrs. Gillen:
To ensure compliance with and preserve your rights under the RTKL, you are required to file your own RTKL Requests. 
Specifically, under Section 703 of the RTKL, written requests must set forth the name and the address of the individual to receive the District’s response.  Under Section 1101(a) of the RTKL, only the Requester has the right to appeal the denial of a request for records.  
Some of the specific responses are ready to be sent, so if you wish to submit them individually we will respond to those upon receipt. The rest of the responses will be provided as soon as they are completed.

Sincerely,

Jeanine Szalinski
Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent
Asst. Board Secretary/Open Records Officer
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive
Pittsburgh PA  15228
412-344-2077

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elaine, why don't you ask if you can pay for them when they become available. Am I to understand that they delayed all of Mr. Meduho's requests?

Lebo Citizens said...

Thanks, 5:43 PM. I sent an email to Jeanine and copied the school board. Yes, you are correct. The district delayed all of Nick's RTKs thirty days. That would be after the election. The district made it as difficult as possible for him. I hate this place. I am hoping that the Timmy Ticket loses tomorrow. Timmy let them get away with this bullying.
Elaine

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered that maybe if this group hadn't been so rude and harsh towards these officials over the years that they may have been kinder to you?

Lebo Citizens said...

In the words of Mary Birks to Nick, "NOPE."
Elaine

Lebo Citizens said...

I haven't been to a school board meeting in four years. Nick just started going to them recently. Besides, the school board doesn't read this blog, so how would they know about "this group?"
Still trying to work out the guilt, 6:56 PM or are you just dead inside?
Elaine

Anonymous said...

6:56, did you ever stop and think - these people hid the finances of the fundraiser campaign from the getgo? Plus whenever people asked about it they were lied too and stonewalled and that’s just one example.
Another was Cappucci’s response to the CAC volunteers that reviewed the HS renovation plans.
Her response to their professional critique was that she had no intention of revisiting building C.

Anonymous said...

Dead inside.

Anonymous said...

6:56.. ive attended SB meetings for almost a decade,, and I've witnessed Mary Birks as just a citizen making rude comments to SB members...I was shocked to hear later she was worked in mental health...

Lebo Citizens said...

I updated this post with something from Mary's public Facebook page. The friend's comment is classic.
Elaine

Anonymous said...

The Capital Campaign was established to fund things that fall outside of the core responsibilities of the district and therefore should not be funded with taxpayer dollars. From the very beginning, when the district transferred $900,000 to this "non core" fund, the SB was out of bounds. Now after accumulating $700,000 in "administrative" costs, the Capital Campaign fund has no means to repay to district let alone complete the projects for which they did receive donations. As a resident, I'd like to see the District Attorney take a look at this misuse of taxpayer dollars.