What is Variatiability? Updated 11/15/17

Whatever it is, Dr. Davis is talking about it at the school board meeting tonight.

This just blew me away. Compare Mellon Middle School with Jefferson Middle School.

Jefferson Middle School 94.4
Mellon Middle School 72.9

Look at the range of scores within the elementary schools. Lincoln (where parents were asking for more teachers) scored 81.6, while Markham scored 99.3.

All this whileTimmy keeps tweeting about theater productions and sporting events, and the board wants to spend millions on turf, instead of text books and technology.

Update 11/14/17 5:34 PM Comparisons of the elementary schools' academic performance are below. In order to get reports for all the schools, a comparison was made to Howe.
Foster, Hoover, Markham, and Howe and Jefferson, Washington, Lincoln, and Howe

Mellon Middle School Academic Performance

The link to the November 13, 2017 School Board meeting is http://multimedia.mtlsd.org/Play.asp?12065119097741230!5

Update November 15, 2017 5:47 PM You wouldn't know that there are big problems at Mellon when the district posts news such as Outcomes Report Show Gains in Student Achievement  (saved in Google Docs)

So here is what I got for $1.25.

As I reported yesterday, I had to prepay $1.25 for missing receipts that should have been included in Nick M.'s RTK. See Getting nowhere quick! to read the ration of you know what that our disrespectful school board president dished out to me. Jeanine emailed the five receipts to me today. Here they are. Pursuant receipts

The five receipts must have come from the general fund. They are not earmarked Fund 27 Capital Campaign like the others were.

It was brought to my attention today to look at the footnote on Timmy's Capital Campaign Timeline. 

Jan Klein usually reports that the monthly bills are typical for this time of year. As we know from the school board president who is under investigation, items are approved through monthly bills without the school board directors taking the time to read the list of bills. Timmy always recommends that the monthly bills be approved.


I'm getting the feeling that the $923,530.02 loan/investment/heist is just the tip of the iceberg. How can these funds be co-mingled? How much money has actually been lost or mismanaged? Seriously, Jan Klein needs to go. We must hire different auditors. The school board needs to get rid of the Capital Campaign Director and her cabinet, even though Mary thinks it is a 100 year plan. They need to give Timmy his walking papers. Promote Dr. Davis to Superintendent. Go back to one assistant superintendent. Make "How to win friends and influence people" required reading for the board majority and the Timmy Ticket. And we need to get Mary Birks the heck out of there.

About making AYP for students with disabilities UPDATED 2x

During Monday's School Board meeting, Dr. Ron Davis and Dr. Deb Allen made a presentation concerning Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). See Tuesday's blog post, Some Children Left Behind. Since then, I received two articles that the School District should read. One is called Students With Disabilities Can Make AYP. This 117 page booklet is subtitled, "What Every School Leader Should Know."

The other article is titled, Promoting AYP for Students with Disabilities through Planning, Resources and Support. Both articles should be on the Superintendent Timothy Steinhauer's reading list since Mt. Lebanon School District has been issued a warning. In fact, it should be required reading for the assistant superintendents, as well as the school board president who feel that the legislation is ridiculous.

Update September 12, 2012 11:06 PM In today's Almanac, Avalanche of testing looms for Mt. Lebo students (saved in Google Docs)

"I think this is one of the more ridiculous pieces of legislation districts in the Commonwealth must abide by," said board president Jo Posti. "I would challenge legislators to find a district that serves these subgroups better than Mt. Lebanon."

She added that she had spoken with state Rep. Matt Smith (D-Mt. Lebanon) regarding the issue on several occasions, and urged concerned community members to contact elected officials as well.

Contact elected officials, as in elected school board officials, Josephine? Did the School District appeal? Or did they miss the deadline? Does MTLSD ever take responsibility or is it always someone else's fault in Harrisburg?

Update September 13, 2012 12:27 PM Today's PG has a great article written by Molly Born with Mary Niederberger. PSSA results come up short in Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park

Two school districts in the southern suburbs are pointing to positives after disappointing state test score results: Mt. Lebanon for its high school, which failed to make adequate yearly progress, and Bethel Park for the district as a whole, which missed the mark on graduation rates and high school math scores.

Twenty MTLSD administrators received salary increases

Remember how the school board directors agonized over the cost reductions totaling approximately $850,000? They were able to reduce costs by charging students for parking at $50 per student, eliminating six part time library clerks and one custodian, eliminating the teacher applicant software, and more.

It turns out that twenty Mt. Lebanon School District administrators received salary increases for the 2012-2013 school year averaging three percent. Here is the breakdown:

• Deb Allen, assistant superintendent and top earner, went from $133,136 to $135,693.
• Ron Davis, assistant superintendent, went from $117,853 to $121,671
• Jan Klein, finance director, went from $124,451 to $133,054

In today's PG, Molly Born was able to clarify the technicality concerning Jan Klein's salary adjustment in Mt. Lebanon school officials given raises.

"She would not have been able to achieve her 3 percent raise for meeting expectations because she was at the top of her salary scale," Ms. Posti said.

Upper St. Clair's finance director declined a payraise. We take care of our finance director here in Lebo.

The increases were based on evaluations; 1.5% increase if approaching expectations, 3% increase for those who met expectations, and 4.5% increase for those who far exceeded expectations. 1.5% for those who approached expectations??? Does that mean "Close enough?" Are we playing horseshoes?

What about Dr. Steinhauer and his increase?

The board will approve superintendent Tim Steinhauer's salary sometime in the coming months. For the 2011-12 fiscal year, he earned $151,420 -- an increase of 3.5 percent from the previous year.

Dr. Steinhauer eliminated the supervisors, but has created "Dean of Students." I don't know how much of a savings there is with this new position, but I am sure that the board will be giving Dr. Steinhauer a 4.5 percent increase since he is doing a bang up job. Remember the super Super from  USC who requested a pay freeze? Not here. We charge students for parking, so that our administrators can get their raises. Only in Mt. Lebanon.

Construction timeline revealed at Commission Discussion Session

Last night, Dr. Ron Davis presented an update concerning student parking, a timeline of construction and answered commissioners' questions.  Here is a link to the discussion session. It is the first item on the agenda. 02 06 12 Commission Discussion Session

The construction timeline is as follows:
Contractors are localizing. For the remainder of this semester, MOST of the work will be occurring outside of the current high school building.  Construction of the athletic building (on the tennis courts site) and the new science wing (grassy surface in front of the swimming pool) will be the starting point.
Summer and throughout the course of the next school year, work will continue on the athletic building and science wing. SOME of the work will be inside, renovating the Fine Arts Theatre and one floor at a time starting with the sixth floor in Building B.
The next school year should include completion of the Fine Arts Theatre, sixth and fifth floors renovation. Work will continue with renovation of the fourth and third floor.  Demolition of Building C will occur during the 2014-15 school year.

A couple of questions:
When will the asbestos abatement occur? A concerned parent informed me that their child reported that walls are being knocked down and plastic is going up.  Is this going to be another example of hypocrisy like having the students park on Washington Road, Main Entrance, and Jefferson while the adults park on site?

Further in the discussion, several commissioners addressed concerns about on street parking, line painting, and the confusion about whether Horsman Drive will be closed or open. Commissioner Fraasch noticed that a 2010 document said nothing about Horsman Drive closing.

I spoke with a Main Entrance Drive resident who told me that neighbors are gridlocking Main Entrance by parking their cars in front of their houses to block students from parking.  But according to one resident on Main Entrance, a relative of a school official, everything is delightful. Of course.

I find it curious that the athletic building and science buildings are going up first.  If the high school is in such abominable shape, why begin there?  Is it so that when the money runs out, the referendum will be necessary for the kids' safety?  How could we vote no? It is for the kids.

Letter from Dr. Steinhauer

A letter was sent out to parents today.  The announcement has been made that all curriculum supervisor positions are being eliminated.  The letter goes on to announce "the reappointment of Dr. Deborah Allen in a new role as the Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education and the appointment of Dr. Ronald Davis as the Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education. We will now have two senior level administrators with a clear focus and mission to improve student performance and achievement at each level." What isn't mentioned is, do these new senior level administrators get pay increases?  Dr. Steinhauer's letter to parents
Also, word on the street is that teacher furloughs are coming too.  Hmmm.  Maybe we weren't fear mongering after all.

In other districts, there is talk of mergers.

Carlynton School District has invited Keystone Oaks, Chartiers Valley and Montour to talk informally about the prospect of merging. Carlynton has 1,460 students, Keystone Oaks about 2,050 students and Montour has nearly 3,000.

So far, Keystone Oaks is leaning toward attending a meeting, Chartiers Valley has said no and Montour hasn't weighed in.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11095/1137021-298.stm#ixzz1IgzvYARP

Update: April 6, 2011 Dr. Steinhauer's letter has been posted on the School District website.  http://www.mtlsd.org/Superintendent/stuff/Lettertoparents.pdf in the "Stuff" folder. The letter isn't dated, but the document properties show that it was created on 4/5/2011 at 4:28:52 PM.

Update: April 8, 2011  Keystone Oaks has accepted Carlynton's invitation to informal talks about merging districts.