Disheartening news

I received some disheartening news this morning from a reliable source that Durwood Hill has dropped out of the school board director race. He was the only one who was getting my vote. Four seats. Four candidates. So that means there is no reason to vote. Meet our new school board directors:

Incumbent Mary Birks
Incumbent Dan Remely
Mike Riemer
Bill Moorhead

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Contrary to what a certain school board member reports, state education funding has not been cut again. Governor Corbett signed the state budget last night. 

From Pittsburgh Business Times:

Corbett noted the budget does not raise taxes on working families, and touted increased education and early childhood development funding, as well as funding for people with intellectual disabilities, domestic violence and rape victims, and the state's Children's Health Insurance Plan.
"This budget once again provides record levels of state funding for basic education while meeting our obligations to those in need, ensuring the safety of our citizens and supporting our job creators," Corbett said in a prepared statement.

The Trib reports:

An increase of $122.5 million for basic education is one of the budget's key features.

According to an April 2013 report, the State Basic Education Funding for Mt. Lebanon School District  increased by 3.4%.

I would like to point out that only one school board candidate sees the true picture of state funding.  Durwood Hill nailed it. Remember that when you vote in November.

"Thank you for your interest in our community schools."

Even though these comments were submitted under another post, I believe they deserve their own space on this blog. The following comments were submitted by Richard Gideon under Primary and Special Election News UPDATED:

Blog Readers:
In regards to the question of whether I asked the other candidates the same 14 questions I posed to Mr. Hill, the answer is that I sent the questions to Mr. Riemer recently and received the following reply:

"Council PTA has compiled a list of questions for the school board candidates. Please visit the website and review the responses.

Thank you for your interest in our community schools."

Replies from Mr. Moorehead are still pending. I did not ask these questions of Ms. Birks or Mr. Remely, as their positions are well known.

Although Mr. Hill answered only four of my 14 questions for reasons that he has delineated in an earlier post in this thread, I give him high marks for being willing to address the remaining questions in a face-to-face meeting (I forgot to ask him if he has Skype! - that would solve the face-to-face issue).

Addendum:
The list of PTA questions and candidates' responses referenced by Mr. Riemer may be found here: http://www.mtlsd.org/district/districtpta/schoolboardcandidatesqanda.asp

How disappointing.  Mike Riemer will be a perfect fit on the school board. Don't answer our questions. Instead, give the Cappucci response.  "Check the district website for answers." Nice.

OK, so I read the responses to the PTA's questions in the link provided by Richard Gideon. What a joke. Mary Birks forgot to include how she rolls her eyes at Scott Goldman whenever he expresses his opinion.  Riemer thinks we have a very lean budget already. It is not clear to me what he means by reviewing the drug and alcohol policy. Does he want to change that? The PTA question was, "Do you have any specific changes you want to make to school district policies..."

So who are the officers on PTA Council?   


2012-2013 Officers

President
Sheryl Cohen
skccreations@aol.com

1st Vice President
Julie Maselko
themaselkos@gmail.com

2nd Vice President
Sara Dougherty
tjdsjd@verizon.net

3rd Vice President/Superintendent
Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
tsteinhauer@mtlsd.net

Treasurer
Jennie Bhojwani
jenniebhoj@hotmail.com

Recording Secretary
Teresa Saxton
4saxtons@comcast.net

Corresponding Secretary
Julie Daubner
geo.mom@verizon.net

Historian
Hannah Vaughn
hvaughan@mac.com


2013-2014 Elected Officers

President
Julie Daubner
geo.mom@verizon.net

1st Vice President
Sara Dougherty
tjdsjd@verizon.net

2nd Vice President
Julie Maselko
themaselkos@gmail.com

3rd Vice President/Superintendent
Dr. Timothy Steinhauer
tsteinhauer@mtlsd.net

Treasurer
Jennie Bhojwani
jenniebhoj@hotmail.com

Recording Secretary
Teresa Saxton
4saxtons@comcast.net

Corresponding Secretary
Julie Smith
juliejsmith23@hotmail.com

Historian
Hannah Vaughn
hvaughan@mac.com


Just an FYI, President Sheryl Cohen was Josephine Posti's campaign treasurer when Jo ran with Rob Gardner. President Elect Julie Daubner is Elaine Cappucci's sister. Ms. Daubner went from 2012-13 Corresponding Secretary to 2013-14 President.  Interesting.

Primary and Special Election News UPDATED

The League of Women Voters is sponsoring a debate for the 42nd State House District special election. It will be held on May 15, 2013, 7 PM, at the Bethel Municipal Building. If you have questions for George Brown, Dan Miller, or Dan Remely, this is your opportunity to submit questions. All questions submitted that evening will be subject to the approval of the League of Women Voters moderator(s).

Finally, some news about the school board race! The League of Women Voters will be sponsoring a "Meet the Candidates" night at Jefferson Middle School on May 8, 2013 at 7 PM. Again, you can submit questions on index cards which will be subject to the approval of the League of Women Voters moderators.     [Note: Event has been canceled. See update below.]

It is been an extremely quiet race for school board. Dan Remely is running alone, but there is a slate for the four remaining candidates.  Their website is here. I received an email this morning about one of the candidates, Durwood Hill.

Durwood Hill is running for school board and kicking off his campaign with a series of community meetings. These are intended to be informal and honest conversations. Attached is a flyer with meeting information, hope you are able to join Durwood at one of these times. Also, please feel free to pass along to other community members, especially friends and family outside the Lincoln area.


Durwood is running as part of a slate (http://www.leboeie.com/durwood-hill/); however, these meetings are set up by Durwood alone. If you have any questions, you can contact me at montoyase@verizon.net.

When I met Durwood, I told him that I would never vote for Mary Birks and that I really didn't know anything about him. I promised that I would share his information here on Lebo Citizens. I am glad to see that he is reaching out to the community.

Update April 30, 2013 11:00 AM The Candidate's Forum scheduled for May 8, 2013 has been canceled. It is my understanding that the PTA canceled the forum due to lack of interest. In its place, the school board candidates will provide written responses to a uniform set of questions and the responses will be posted online.
In addition, Durwood Hill asked me to share this with Lebo Citizens readers:

I took a look at the blog and it probably should be noted that, while friends of mine organized the events, I am running with a slate of candidates and they all plan to attend some of the events. I will be at every event and will be accompanied by various members of our slate.