R.I.P. Century of Excellence Capital Campaign

http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/Play.asp?12297121387892574!5

See 36:46 time stamp.

School Board is back from Summer Break UPDATED

For the first time in history, the school board took off the month of July. The agenda for Monday's Discussion Meeting is available here.

The school board will continue their practice of public shaming with their

Publication of Listing of Liened Taxes – Annually the Board takes action to make the list of liened property taxes from the prior year for public view. The list is recommended for public view by the Superintendent. 

Timmy had his review on June 27, 2018 and will be getting his contracted 6% increase, resulting in a salary of $217,822. No mention of a bonus this year. Aww.

To be voted on at the next meeting:

School Resource Officer: RESOLVED, That the School Resource Officer Agreement between the District and the Municipality is approved in substantially the form presented, providing for a three-year term with the District reimbursing the Municipality for 65% of all costs incurred by the Municipality in providing the School Resource Officer, in amounts estimated to be $78,088, $84,193, and $91,414, respectively, in each year of the Agreement. 

More discussion on the capital campaign.

The good news is that the school district is a loving and caring board. They will be approving $100 for supplies for the homeless. This will come from a Federal grant.

August 13, 2018 1:32 PM The capital campaign has list approximately $6,000 YTD ending 7/31/18.
https://www.mtlsd.org/uploaded/District/Century_of_Excllence/Capital_Campaign_Financials_073118.pdf

SRO and Lebo Gives and Gives

Lebo Gives - Bill Moorhead and Noelle Conover will present the board with a proposal for the board to consider moving forward with the Capital Campaign rebranded as Lebo Gives. The board will then consider moving this item to the action agenda for next week. 

The school board was presented with a proposal from Bill Moorhead asking for another $85,000 for rebranding the million dollar fiasco formerly known as the Century of Excellence Capital  Campaign. Elaine Cappucci is livid and I am in complete agreement with her.

Founding chair of the Campaign, Larry Lebowitz is asking for his colleagues' full support of "Lebo Gives," which includes giving another $85,000 toward rebranding. It should be called, "Lebo Gives and Gives." Here is the link to the YTD May 2018 Financial Report.

Elaine will not support the rebranding, asking what is different than what they did before. The school board wants to throw more money toward the money pit. I can't believe that 1.) I agree with Elaine Cappucci, 2.) The school board is willing to throw away another $85,000, and 3.) All this was before a discussion about "The School Board will discuss the High school Resource Officer position proposed for the 2018-2019 school year."

Please take the time to, at least, watch the Lebo Gives and the SRO segments of the school board meeting. It starts at the 01:13:00 timestamp.The citizen comments, especially by news anchor Kristine Sorenson, shouldn't be missed. 

Lebo Gives

Our commissioners may be raising the commission stipend to $5,000, while school board directors, who receive no compensation, will have to support the revamped Century of Excellence Campaign now known as Lebo Gives.

At the April 9, 2018 school board meeting, a presentation was made by Noelle Conover and Bill Moorhead* announcing the new fundraising campaign "reset."

Noelle gave some background as to why the capital campaign was started. Unfortunately, she is incorrect.

The original intent was to avoid issuing a second bond for the high school renovation. Mt. Lebanon School District to ramp up fundraising campaign.

The $6 million fundraising campaign originally was planned in 2012 to offset the second round of bonds issued for the project.

In that August 12, 2015 article, the Trib reported that the Mt. Lebanon School District fundraising campaign had received $1.1 million in pledges.  Compare that amount to the latest Capital Campaign Financial Report. (Saved in Google Docs)

As with every other project in Mt. Lebanon, we are told that this will raise property values.

I'm still waiting to see the value of my house increase because of the artificial turf on Cedar Blvd. Meanwhile, the school board directors will be approving the 2018-2019 Proposed Budget tonight.

2018-2019 Proposed Budget: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the 2018-2019 Proposed Budget in the amount of $98,958,314 setting the millage rate at 24.33 mills, a .40 mill increase in the form presented. The Board directs that the budget be placed on the District’s website until final approval with such changes as may be directed on May 21, 2018.

*Schoolboard President and Outreach SECOND REQUEST April 11, 2017

The end of the Capital Campaign and the end of an era

Go to the 01:30:00 time stamp of the March 12 School Board meeting to hear the announcement of the new non-profit fundraising headed by volunteers Noelle Conover and Bill Moorhead. There is no more Century of Excellence Capital Campaign, but a reset of a new fundraising initiative with a presentation by Noelle and Bill next month.  Elaine Cappucci was really angry.

This discussion had followed the decision to have bids and permits filed for artificially turfing the Rock Pile with the board agreeing that artificial turf is the best course of action. Of course, Larry was very excited by this opportunity. Larry, can you change it up a bit? Do you ever say anything else?

I am still watching the meeting. They are going to talk about the budget next. WHAT???????????? I just heard that this will be Jan's last budget that she is preparing for the Mt. Lebanon School District!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I dreaming? Getting new auditors. New business director. End of the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign. Timmy actually being involved in the meeting, instead of sitting there with his arms folded watching everyone else do his job.

HUGE CHANGES! I am loving it!!!

According to Josephine, most of the Cabinet members have resigned

Wow! What a meeting! I was so pleased with the emphasis on education at last night's school board meeting, but then in a heartbeat, it went to hell. Except for Frioni and Diamond, Katie Caste threw the school board directors under the bus. According to Caste, the school board was responsible for all the decisions regarding the capital campaign. Nick Meduho was correct in stating that the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign is in violation of § 2-216 of the PA School Code. In October, Hugh Beal had said that the school board should take ownership of the capital campaign.

https://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2017/10/who-is-in-charge-of-capital-campaign.html

Then Josephine Posti got up to say that most of the Capital Campaign Cabinet have resigned. In fact, the personnel report confirmed my suspicions that Sloane Astorino resigned. DID YOU READ THAT, MEDIA? Where the heck are you guys?

Posti was really fired up and started going after Hugh Beal's loan/donation, and demanded answers from Mike Riemer. WOW! There will be a discussion about the Capital Campaign at the March meeting.

Before all of this, a resident - I believe her name is Dr. Melanie Austin talked about banning the rifle team. She shared her credentials, and presented her data. Bill Cooper also agreed that they should have a discussion about the rifle team program. Dr. Austin stated that the shooter in Florida was also on the school rifle team. A rifle team student from McGuffey School District took a rifle and committed suicide. She also said that people are against the deer cull here because of the guns. Coincidently, I posted the results of the deer killing earlier today.

What a meeting! Nick would have made video clips for me. Sadly, that is no longer the case. Here is a link to the school board meeting video. The comments are toward the end of the meeting.

YAY! 2nd page is included!

We're making some progress! The TWO page campaign financial report YTD ending 1/31/18 has been posted on the school district website here.

https://www.mtlsd.org/uploaded/District/Century_of_Excllence/Capital_Campaign_Financial_Rpt_013118.pdf

Thank you, Mike Riemer! One less Right To Know to file every month.

The following may be hazardous to your health

I keep bringing up the capital campaign and somehow it is always brought back to the issue of artificial turf. So let's look where we came from, if we dare...

For now, Josephine Posti's Center Court blog is still available on Blogger. You can read it here. If she does delete it, I have it archived here. Also from 2013 is my blog post [6.9%] 7.46% increase for Timmy

Picture this: a school board sitting in executive session making very, very difficult decisions.

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 6.9% 7.46% increase to kick off the 2014 contract. Perfect! But we have to do this quietly, because it will never fly if it gets out. Now what about the rifle range, the weight room, tennis courts, and Mellon Field? It should add up. We have TERC Investigations.

Here it is, Folks. Dr. Timothy J. Steinhauer's 2014-2019 Contract 

The picture I painted above was before the school board directors okayed a transfer from the General Fund in the amount of $923,520.02 IT ALREADY HAD. Josephine Posti and Elaine Cappucci, both on the capital campaign cabinet, were telling us that they were going to cut librarians, charge students to park at the high school, RAISE student parking fees, charge activity fees, cut guidance counselors, blame Corbett for everything, eliminate the rifle range, nix repairing Mellon Field, trimmed the fat and now cutting into muscle, while extending Timmy's contract - against the recommendation of the auditor general and give him lucrative annual raises.

Josephine Posti has the audacity to question a $700 donation to a political campaign made by an individual who also supports the MLFE and donates his time to the community - both municipality and school district. Read the crap that the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign "Co"chair has been writing about for years. The same woman who was praying for me. The same woman who is angry that her friend Mary Birks, pulled the reset presentation before the election like it is the fault of Riemer, Strotmeyer, and Diamond. Josephine Posti wanted to make cuts as far away from the student as possible, while wasting almost a million dollars from the General Fund - and she is the one who is angry. Unbelievable.

It has been FIVE MONTHS! UPDATED 02/09/18

I posted this FIVE months ago!

No wonder it's been in the Quiet Phase all these years! Holy Shit!

How much longer are we going to put up with this?

Update February 8, 2018 7:21 AM 

Total Revenue as of 7/31/17 $621,473.37
Total Revenue as of 12/31/17 $672,267.20
+$50,793.83
Total Expenditures as of 7/31/17 $756,791.06
Total Expenditures as of 12/31/17 $712,870.13
($43,920.93)

HOW CAN THIS BE?

Update February 9, 2018 4:35 PM Click on the link and watch what happens.

Mt. Lebanon School District: Advancement

https://www.mtlsd.org/page.cfm?p=1154

Sloane Astorino is the Director of Advancement for the Mt. Lebanon School District. Ms. Astorino oversees the Century of Excellence Campaign and is the Executive Director of the Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education.

It pays to say "shit show" at a school board meeting.

I got a copy of Monday night's personnel report which was approved by the school board. The very first entry on the personnel report lists Capital Campaign Board Member and potty mouth Beth Evans' daughter as being appointed as a permanent substitute English teacher at the high school.

Beth Evans lived across the street from the Cappucci family, and their teacher kids went to school together.

Also on the lengthy report shows the special education teacher at the high school, where her husband is the principal. I wonder if she works under her husband.

Yes! Timmy has new goals! UPDATED 121417

Mike Riemer has been president for two weeks now and already, the board has set Timmy's goals for 2017-2018. This should have been done months and months ago under Mary Birks' administration. Timmy has been working with no goals even though he received a 5.5% increase effective July 1.

During his Board President's Report, Mike Riemer spoke from the heart and talked about respect and meeting decorum. He also brought up academic excellence and announced that the Superintendent's Goals for 2017-2018 were going to be posted on the District's website today. I think that Mike's report was one of the best I have ever heard. To see the meeting, please watch the meeting here.

Update December 12, 2017 10:58 PM It was during Mary Birks' last days in office when I emailed the school board about the November Century of Excellence Capital Campaign. I never got an answer as to when the November Financial Report was going to be posted. Not only did Mike get Timmy's goals on the website, I see that the November Financial Report for the Capital Campaign has been posted. It is available here.

Update December 14, 2017 10:23 AM This is what was posted on the District website during the December 11, 2017 school board meeting. Superintendent Goals 2016-2017 

Financea. Conduct Negotiations for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with our Clerical Union (Contract expires June 2017.)

During the meeting, Timmy had no idea what the Clerical Union Collective Bargaining Agreement start date or expiration date was when it was approved at the December 11, 2017 school board meeting. That is pathetic. He had these goals for almost a year and a half.

A Work in Progress

For the second time in a month, the Century of Excellence Presentation was promised, but was removed from the November 13, 2017 agenda. It appears that we have entered a new Quiet Phase.

On October 16, 2017, Nick Meduho had asked about the Jo Posti reset presentation. His questions were not answered, so Nick had fifteen open Right To Knows with the School District when he passed away. I had to refile them in my name, as I had explained in an earlier post. The RTKs, all related to the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign or the Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education (MLFE) are starting to come in.

I'm not sure how to go about this, so these will be in no particular order. I will continue to update with RTKs as I receive them.

1. MLFE 990's 2013-2015
2. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: the most recent detailed statement by the Mt. Lebanon school board directors of any/all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district (Mt. Lebanon), the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising there from, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising there from have been applied., Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait.
3. A comprehensive financial report for the Mt. Lebanon Foundation for Education for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2017.
4. Copies of all invoices pertaining to the purchase of stadium blankets which are being sold to benefit the MLFE.
5. Payroll records for Sloane Astorino from when she began employment in 2015 to present.
6. An absolute complete/comprehensive and accurate income/expense report for the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign for dates January 1, 2012 thru October 15, 2017 which will include all the following; #1 All revenues itemized including but not limited to dates, amount and source of each transaction being as specific as possible, I understand that specific donor names must be redacted. #2 All expenditures itemized including but not limited to date, amount, payee and category of each transaction being as specific as possible. #3 All balance of money whether they be in a bank account, the Pittsburgh Foundation, etc. as of September 15, 2017. #4 All itemized transfers of money with specific dates and amounts transferred back to and from the school district general account for the capital campaign account.                    The District has located, with respect to the Capital Campaign Fund, documents setting forth “Revenue Accounts” and “Expenditure Accounts” for the 2012-2013 school year, the 2013-2014 school year, the 2014-2015 school year, the 2015-2016 school year, the 2016-2017 school year and the 2017-2018 school year as of November 3, 2017. In addition, the District had located a document entitled “Mt. Lebanon School District Fund 27 Capital Campaign.” These documents provide you with your requested information. 
7. The agreement between the Capital Campaign and the Pittsburgh Foundation that was approved on November 17, 2014.
8. "Any/all documents in the form of contracts, agreements, disclosure forms, terms, etc. that each donor was either made aware of, agreed to and/or signed either when they donated any money to the Century of Excellence Campaign or have pledged." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
9. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: The detailed statement for fiscal year 2012 by the Mt. Lebanon school board directors of any/all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district (Mt. Lebanon), the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising there from, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising there from have been applied., Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
10. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: The detailed statement for fiscal year 2013 by the Mt. Lebanon school board directors of any/all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district (Mt. Lebanon), the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising there from, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising there from have been applied., Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
11. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: The detailed statement for fiscal year 2014 by the Mt. Lebanon school board directors of any/all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district (Mt. Lebanon), the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising there from, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising there from have been applied., Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
12. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: The detailed statement for fiscal year 2015 by the Mt. Lebanon school board directors of any/all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district (Mt. Lebanon), the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising there from, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising there from have been applied., Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances." Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
13. "On November 8, 2017, the Mt. Lebanon School District (the “District") received your Public Records Request (“Request”), made pursuant to the Right to Know Law ("RTKL"), seeking: An absolute complete/comprehensive and accurate income/expense report for the MLFE for dates January 1, 2014 thru October 15, 2017 which will include all the following: 1) All revenues itemized including but not limited to dates, amount and source of each transaction being as specific as possible. Donor names to be omitted. 2) All expenditures itemized including but not limited to date, amount, payee and category of each transaction being as specific as possible. 3) All balance of money as of October 15, 2017."  Another thirty days, on top of what Nick had to wait. 
14. District treasurer's reports from June 2013-December 2013
District treasurer's reports June 2013
District treasurer's reports July 2013
District treasurer's reports August 2013
District treasurer's reports September 2013
District treasurer's reports October 2013
District treasurer's reports November 2013
District treasurer's reports December 2013
15. The last RTK was combined with Number 13.

School Board is pulling a whopper!

On tonight's agenda are the following discussions:

Acceptance of 2017 Single Audit Report – The annual audit of the District’s finances has been completed by Maher Duessel CPAs and the results of the audit will be reported by Amy Lewis, CPA at the meeting. There are no findings or issues to report. The Superintendent recommends acceptance of the audit report.

Jo Posti is making her reset presentation tonight for the Century of Excellence Million Dollar Heist. This is what the late Nick Meduho had asked about at the last meeting, when Mary Birks said, "Nope." It is after the election and before the new board takes over.

Athletic Field Discussion - we already know that Bill Moorhead, Dan Remely, and the soccer ref's wife, Mary Birks will be going off the board and they are in favor of turfing everything in sight.

And then there is the Teachers Contract.

Letter of Engagement for Chief Negotiator – The Board is asked to consider the appointment Ira Weiss, Esq. as special counsel for teacher contract negotiations at a cost of $125 per hour plus training services of $1,500. The Superintendent recommends this appointment.

If these items are up for discussion, the board will be voting next week. It will be Birks, Remely, and Moorhead's last meeting. Ever. All of these items should be tabled for the new board! It looks like Mary is not going out quietly.

We have a match!

A Right To Know for the October 31, 2017 CC financials has been granted. I can't believe that there was no change for YTD ending 6/30/17!

Click here for the October 31, 2017 financials.

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

More reasons not to vote for Cappucci

There is that little thing about her son being hired as a social studies teacher at Jefferson Middle School and no trace of why the job posting was altered nine months after Elaine Cappucci's son was hired. Keep in mind that Elaine had to resign from the school board because of the nepotism policy and is now running to replace herself, as well as seeking another four year term.

Please listen to Paula's comments on nepotism, as well as Elaine's "rebuttal" from Monday's school board meeting. The school board meeting video is available here. Paula begins at 1:30:57. Elaine begins at 1:38:33. The clip can be viewed here.

Besides her belligerent demeanor during Comments or Questions from Residents or Taxpayers at the October 9, 2017 school board meeting, I wanted to share a little more background on Elaine Cappucci's bio from the CCRB campaign website.

I was part of the team that negotiated the current Act 93 agreement for our District administrators.

That is not something I would be proud of, especially with what has been revealed with Jan Klein's creative accounting in recent days. The Act 93 Agreement can be found here. You can read about Jan Klein's salary adjustment here. Twenty MTLSD administrators received salary increases Please take the time to read the comments in that 2012 post. We were complaining about Jan's sloppy bookkeeping five years ago!

Elaine Cappucci is part of the Million Dollar Heist also known as the Century of Excellence Campaign Committee. Mary Birks likes to refer to it as a 100 year plan. Since Timmy doesn't have an original thought, Elaine has a major role as Timmy's key Key Communicator.

You vote for Elaine Cappucci, it is job security for Janice Klein and Timothy Steinhauer!

Who is in charge of the Capital Campaign? UPDATED 10/11/17

Carefully read § 2-216 of the PA School Code. Gifts to districts; investment accounts. Specifically:

(c) It shall be the duty of the board of school directors to keep an accurate account of all devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations accepted, the income arising therefrom, the proceeds thereof, and the expenses of administering the same; and at the end of each fiscal year to render a detailed statement of such devises, bequests, grants, endowments, gifts, and donations, held and possessed by such school district, the proceeds thereof, the investments which have been made therewith, the income arising therefrom, the expenses of administration, and the purposes to which the income arising therefrom have been applied. Such statement shall be audited as hereinafter provided for the auditing of school finances.

School Board Director Hugh Beal tried to pinpoint the actual start of the Capital Campaign at the last school board meeting.  The superintendent said that the actual start would probably have been August 12, 2013 when Alyssa DeLuca was hired. Have the school board directors kept an accurate account of this campaign since its inception? No. Mr. Beal had to abstain from a vote since he was not informed. Has there been a detailed statement at the end of each fiscal year? No. We were in the Quiet Phase for several years. In addition, the detailed statement at the end of fiscal year 2016 keeps changing from month to month.

From Financials ending 09/30/17 

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

Mr. Beal questioned the accuracy of the 8/31/17 campaign spreadsheet and if the Administration stood by its accuracy. They did. The table above proves otherwise.

In the video clip above, Mr. Beal continues by saying that the school board should take ownership of the capital campaign. Who is in charge of the Capital Campaign? The school board? It doesn't feel like it. The Century of Excellence Campaign is definitely an internal operation, namely the Campaign Cabinet. All donations received by the school district must be approved by the school board unless the Board has given the superintendent the authority to accept donations on its behalf. Most boards formally vote to accept all donations and gifts over a certain amount (i.e. $1000) and allow the superintendent to accept small gifts and report them as information items on a monthly basis. The acceptance and fiscal management of all donations should be being captured by the District's auditors.

Who is on the cabinet? From the Capital Campaign website:

And the District Representatives?

This is the only report that I am aware of, presented on November 21, 2016.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aq7yK_oWz4yC4nXTvWo7HI8LBF4p PowerPoint is available here. 

Had the timeline been placed on the school district website as promised by under PA Ethics Commission investigation School Board President Mary Birks, and Superintendent Steinhauer, with one of his goals - improve communication with community stakeholders, we would be able to see that the school board directors had not been informed for months at a time of the progress of the Capital Campaign. I am still waiting for the timeline to be released through a Right To Know.

School Board Directors Riemer, Strotmeyer, Olbrich, and Beal have been chastised by this group for asking too many questions.

Dan Remely, Mary Birks, Elaine Cappucci, Katie Caste

Bottom line - the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign is in violation of § 2-216 of the PA School Code. Gifts to districts; investment accounts.

Update October 10, 2017 4:39 PM The video from last night's school board meeting is available here. Click here to view http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/Play.asp?12028118732501576!5

Jan Klein Rewrites History UPDATED 10/11/17

The Capital Campaign Financials for 09/30/17 have been posted on the Capital Campaign website. (Saved in Google Docs) Want the second page? File a Right To Know.

Mr. Meduho, 

The updated financials will be posted once the month of September has been closed out. This will occur at the end of the week.

The operational document is available to you through RTK request.

For the Board,
Mary D. Birks

          On Tue, Oct 3, 2017 at 10:30 AM Nicholas Meduho Jr wrote:

Can we please update the financial report that is posted on the school district website for the capital campaign to include month end 9/30. 

Also, what about a second page that includes specific breakdowns of revenues and expenses…can that be added? 
Thank you,  

Nicholas Meduho 

Let's compare how Jan Klein rewrote history over the course of the last thirty days.

From Financials ending 09/30/17 

From Financials ending 08/31/17 

From Financials ending 07/31/17 (updated 10/11/17)

Keeping it Simple* (updated 10/11/17)

Jan Klein - Wait. What's that behind her?

Next school board meeting is Monday, October 9, 2017. Agenda is here.

* Please check my numbers.

Update October 7, 2017 1:20 PM At the September 11, 2017 meeting, School Board Director Hugh Beal asked Jan Klein about the accuracy of the 8/31/17 spreadsheet. Jan Klein verified the accuracy. The video is available here. http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/Play.asp?11982118278419844!5 Could someone make a clip of Hugh's questioning which begins at approximately 48:08 minutes into the meeting? I will add it here. Thank you, Richard Gideon and Nick M.! I guess it wasn't accurate, because Jan rewrote history as I indicated above.

Another Capital Campaign sponsored event?

Mt. Lebanon Hall of Champions Celebration Hi Everyone, I wanted to let you know of a very important celebration coming up later this fall and ask for your help.  The Blue Devil Club is sponsoring our first (of what we hope will become annual) Hall of Champions Celebration!  This is an event that I have wanted to get off the ground for awhile now.  I wanted to have an event where we celebrated the history and tradition of ALL of our sports in Mt. Lebanon.  I believe this has the potential to be a really fun night for our alumni, coaches, parents, and friends of Mt. Lebanon Athletics.  In addition, I believe this will become an important fund raiser for our athletic department. Please see below a post card invitation to the event.  I would certainly love to see all of you at the event but would ask you to please forward the post card to your parents and people within your organization as well as anyone else that you feel would be interested. Thomas Donati, Head Coach Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club  If you have any questions, please reply to:coachmikek@mlacswimming.com

Hall of Champions Celebration post card invitation

This email was sent by
Mt. Lebanon Aqua Club (MLAC)
PO Box 14684, Pittsburgh, PA, 15234 United States 

He's trying, really trying

Appendix A

I would like to request the following:

An absolute complete/comprehensive and accurate income/expense report for the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign for dates January 1, 2012 thru September 15, 2017 which will include all the following;

#1 All revenues itemized including but not limited to dates, amount and source of each transaction being as specific as possible, I understand that specific donor names must be redacted.

#2 All expenditures itemized including but not limited to date, amount, payee and category of each transaction being as specific as possible.    

#3 All balance of money whether they be in a bank account, the Pittsburgh Foundation, etc. as of September 15, 2017.

#4 All itemized transfers of money with specific dates and amounts transferred back to and from the school district general account for the capital campaign account.