Birks on Transparency and Accountability - February 1, 2010

How can ANYONE vote for her?  I don't blame Dr. Strotmeyer for not responding. When former school board director James Fraasch did, he was censured. Not "censored" as some pro Timmy residents were quoted as saying. Censured. To censure a member or an officer is to warn him or her that if a certain behavior continues, the next step is suspension or expulsion.

I find it ironic that this PTA President was bringing up ethics violations in Real Lebo's (Elaine Cappucci's neighbors)  Big Brother At The School Board? Read the comments, especially this one:

Mary Birks February 1, 2010 at 5:53 PM 

Just to let those reading this string that I would never forward or share with anyone, correspondence from a resident sent to me as a school board director.
Whether or not I agree with that individual's opinion, the message is their intellectual property.  

I am committed to looking at policy BCA, The Board Code of Ethics, as well as policy BBAA, Board Member Authority and Responsibilties, and will be making suggestions for more specificity in those polices. We owe it to our constituents to be transparent and hold one another accountable.
Thank you for your continued efforts to keep the conversation civil.

A Community With Character[s] Part 1

People generally reflect, while preparing for the new year. At least I do. 2014 was a record year for this blog. Thanks to Mt. Lebanon's own Genius Bar, the School District and Municipality,  Lebo Citizens readership is at an all-time high. New readers often tell me that they need a lesson in Who's Who so that they can follow along. While the Municipal website calls Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania "A Community With Character," I thought that I would provide a quick tutorial of Mt. Lebanon, A Community With Characters.

Starting with the Mt. Lebanon School District, here is a brief synopsis of each character, starting at the top.

Dr. Timothy Steinhauer a.k.a. Timmy, Super Tim, or super Super, is Mt. Lebanon's superintendent. He is fixated on construction, pizza lunches, tweeting photos of covers of concert and play programs, bathrooms, and shiny water fountains.

Janice Klein is the financial director for Mt. Lebanon School District. Jan Klein is famous for her fake budgets, double counting, manipulation of change order amounts, an advocate for keeping the same outside auditing firm for over twenty five years and winner of the prestigious Association of School Business Officials International's Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Award for the thirtieth year. This award costs taxpayers around $900. We pay for this award. As long as all the parts of the report are submitted, you win the award. Table of contents? Check. Meet the criteria and you win! So double counting and fake budgets are permitted.

Tom Peterson, an attorney with Tucker Arensberg, is our school district solicitor.  Enough said.

Jeanine Szalinski is Timmy's administrative assistant and the Open Records Officer who handles Right To Know Requests. Jeanine works hard at making Timmy look good. The school board directors would make her job so much easier if they were more transparent with the community. I feel sorry for Jeanine.

Our school board consists of nine school board directors. Each one brings a uniqueness to the board.

Larry Lebowitz is our new school board president. Larry is our in-house cheerleader. He is always excited about something. Whether it is about our fundraising efforts, excited about Tom Celli being excited during a Construction Update, Pay for Participation fees online, or excited to be the new president, we can count on Larry being excited. Larry's expertise is in outsourcing and how to skirt the law. He was a youtube phenomenon. Almost 500,000 hits on YouTube! Larry's term ends in 2015, but will most likely seek re-election.

Mary Birks is our newly elected school board vice-president. Mary has been known to roll her eyes at residents and make snarky remarks during public comment. It will be interesting to see if Mary continues to blame Harrisburg for everything, now that Tom Wolf is our newly elected governor. Mary, our resident Harrisburg aficionado blamed Corbett for everything. Mary's term ends in 2017.

Elaine Cappucci just completed her second term as school board president. As co-chair of the high school renovation project, Elaine would answer any questions about the renovation by snarling at residents.  An excellent time keeper, Elaine would watch the clock instead of listening to constituents speak. Elaine's term ends in 2015, and will probably run again.

Ed Kubit was president of the school board during the high school turf project. (See John Ewing.) Ed had a nervous habit of looking at his watch during school board meetings when his critics spoke during residents' comments. He also gave me the gavel when private citizen Kristen Linfante was heckling me during the residents' comments portion of the April 2010 school board meeting. It was fun to agitate Ed and watch him ramble. Ed's term ends in 2015, and it is doubtful that he will run again.

Dan Remely's campaign promise was to bring in the high school project under $95 million. As co-chair of the high school renovation project, Dan did vote against the $74,000 trophy case, which was moved to Capital Projects. Dan also ran against Dan Miller in the State Representative race. Dan's term ends in 2017.

Bill Cooper made his mark on the school board when he advocated for the full proposed .54 mill increase, comparing it to “two large pizzas” on a $100,000 house. Bill's term is up in 2015 and it is doubtful that he will run again. Bill was one of Timmy's initial Key Communicators:

Al Frioni
Andy Rhodes
Betsy Dillon
Bill Cooper
Blaise Larotonda
Corey Polena
Dan Goff
Dave Reese
Deb Smit
Diane Wainwright
Elaine LaBalme
Elizabeth Glantz
Frank Baker
Frank Hines
Gail Sieg
Hugh Beal
Joe Polk
John Schrott
Kim Ressler
Kristen Linfante
Larry Lebowitz
Mary Ellen Schmidt
Rob Gardner
Rob Papke
Ruth Foltz
Sheldon Campbell
Sue Fretterd
Sue Simmons
Tom Moertel

Scott Goldman, last of the good guys, always voted with a conscience. Not a popular guy on the board, I believe he was set up one summer evening, but that's not a tale for discussion. Scott's term ends in 2015. I hope he considers running again, but it is doubtful.

I have never met Bill Moorhead. I stopped going to school board meetings before he took office. Bill doesn't appear be a yes man by voting for everything that comes along. Bill's term ends in 2017.

I remember Mike Riemer as "Officer Riemer" who would visit the kids at school. I'm not a fan of Mike's since he claims that my blog is trash. Everyone is entitled to his opinion, but he allegedly has never read Lebo Citizens. Mike's term ends in 2017.

There are others in the School District's cast of characters.

Cissy Bowman is the District's Public Information Officer, Director of Communication. Cissy has a cake job. Timmy is her photographer and the Mt. Lebanon Public Information Office writes all her stuff for mtl Magazine. 

Tom Celli, architect from Celli-Flynn Brennan, and Tom Berkabile, construction manager from P.J. Dick, are usually seen at the high school construction updates. I'm too tired to write about these guys. Do a search here and you will learn more about these cast members.

David Huston brought transparency to the school district with his trusty recorder. David has been recording all the school board meetings for five years now. He taught me everything I know about Right To Knows. Thanks, David for your dedication.

John Ewing's claim to fame is his classic line about artificial turf to Ed Kubit, "You didn't look at it, Ed." John also coined the phrase "Deadbeat Athletic Supporter." Don't dare criticize Timmy or say anything negative about fundraising. It will set him off. If you want to get on John's good side, start bad mouthing the teachers' union. They're to blame for everything.

A blast from the past includes:

Josephine Posti, former school board president, was the plagiarism expert and authority on bending school board policies. Jo was a carrier of School Board Disease. Symptoms of School Board Disease include, but not limited to:

• Disrespect of public thought
• Listening only to those who agree with you
• Illegal executive sessions protected by lawsuits against moms
• Rejection of other board members’ viewpoints
• Groupthink
• Unity Voting – the most deadly symptom

James Fraasch was definitely last of the good guys. He was head of the Audit and Finance Committee and was the most level headed school board directors that I knew. James was always a threat to the other school board directors. They circled their wagons and attacked James at every opportunity. James ended up resigning and was replaced by Larry "I'm excited" Lebowitz.

John Allison was superintendent prior to Timmy's arrival. I didn't know Mr. Allison, even though I have a photo of him handing a diploma to my son. Mr. Allison's parting gift to the school board was a stern warning about going overboard with the high school renovation. Needless to say, we would have been better off had the school board listened. Mr. Allison went on to bigger and better things in Wichita, Kansas. 

I hope Part 1 of the Mt. Lebanon School District's Who's Who guide is helpful. Part 2 includes the characters from the Municipality.

Did you know...

The district already is deep in debt after borrowing $55 million in 2005 to update its elementary schools and won't start making large payments on that debt until 2017, Fraasch said.

According to a December 4, 2008 article by Matt Santoni, we are in deeper debt than I ever knew!  Maybe I am not alone on this one. I am appalled!
Yeppp, glad there is no baggage on that joint steering committee. Love what Posti said.
Talk about irresponsible - look at Jan Klein's comment.

Mt. Lebanon board member urges postponing school projects

Superintendent buyouts: Waste of money and often lack in transparency

Mt. Lebanon made today's Trib article, Legislators target buyouts for superintendents.  Remember the Sable buyout?

The state Senate Education Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill that would limit the value of buyouts for public school superintendents and require that officials detail severance packages up-front in contracts, instead of allowing school boards to negotiate them at the end.

Does anyone remember if our superintendent's contract details a severance package?

James Fraasch, a former Mt. Lebanon School Board member, said that district board's decision in executive session in 2004 to pay more than $500,000 to buy out former Superintendent Margery Sable was one of the main reasons he sought election in 2006.

"That definitely raised my eyebrows," Fraasch said. "I don't know if this law would have stopped what happened, but it would have been much more difficult to do in the dark," he said, referring to the executive session. "I always felt the more the information the public has the better."

Absolutely, James!  You always believed in transparency. But if you were still on the board, Josephine would be livid with you right now.  Or at least you would have gotten an email asking if there was anything she needed to know about the interview.

PS The people in Scranton are reading about us too! Make buyouts bit less super

Reassessment Talk

At a recent school board meeting, Jan Klein was explaining the ramifications of the reassessment.  There are anti-windfall provisions that are built into the reassessment process so that school districts cannot gain significantly from a simple reassessment.

James Fraasch made an excellent presentation on the subject at an Audit/Finance Committee meeting.  He wrote about it on his blog.  Here is the link.

http://lebosbupdates.blogspot.com/2010/05/eyeing-2012-allegheny-county.html

 

It is interesting how James had an entire page listing his sources. 

Still Comparing Apples to Oranges?

While Blogger tries to fix their problems, I found this article about Upper St. Clair's budget gap.  http://upperstclair.patch.com/articles/upper-st-clair-school-district-narrows-budget-gap Dale Ostergaard brought up these same issues at the April 25 meeting.  James Fraasch had warned us. In the article, Upper St. Clair said they don't have much latitude.  We do.  We have been given a second chance.  That is how many see it here in Mt. Lebanon.  If the School Board candidates are out campaigning, as they should be, they should know that already.

On Lebo Citizens The Facts, this entry is posted. 

On May 6, 2010, Mt. Lebanon School Board Director Elaine Cappucci and high school renovation architect, Thomas Celli, made a joint presentation on “21st Century School Design Promoting Entrepreneurial Education” at the Pennsylvania School Board Association School Design and Construction Conference in Lancaster, PA.

http://www.psba.org/workshops/school-construction-conference/learning-journal-online/21st-Century-School-Design-Entrepreneurial-Education.pdf

Note: “The presentation was not one that was approved or even reviewed by the Board.” 

                                                               -School Board Director James Fraasch, Blog Lebo

Unfortunately, the presentation has been removed from the PSBA website.  Mrs. Cappucci has been quoted as saying that she will not revisit Building C.  I hope that has changed. Maybe that could be "Plan B" as is written on her campaign website. http://voteccl.com/news If Plan B doesn't work, try Plan C[AC].

Update: A reader shared a copy of the presentation: 21st Century
Update 8:46 am Slide 2 shows the Taj Mahal.  How appropriate.  Slide 10 shows Blogger.  Interesting timing since Blogger went down yesterday and this morning.

The Way Forward

The following letter, written by resident Steve Diaz, was sent to the School Board Directors on Apr 28, 2011 8:34 am.  It is being reprinted with Mr. Diaz' permission.

Members of the School Board:  In the midst of the din and disappointment over the bids received on "the new high school", it was a pleasure to see the board finally upset with its advisors, particularly Architect Celli, over the failure to accurately comprehend the likely range of project bids.  Most significant, to me, was the board president's cry that Mr. Celli's undisclosed list of 75 candidate reductions "should have been presented to the board a year ago."  Indeed they should.  But many suggestions from the CAC and others on such points were received by a stone ear, as the board was not really interested in such cuts.  One example arises in the LEEDS certification matter. This is a policy value of high significance in the community in Mt. Lebanon, one that was an essential element of the advocacy for the project (see your own brochure, written, printed and mailed to us at our own expense).  Now, Mr. Remely says that LEEDS certification is an easy take away--really?  The underlying issue with the effort to reform the bloated proposal that went out for bids (a rebuild, not a "renovation" project, if we are honest with ourselves) is that the credibility of the board is directly in issue. You seem to have lost your soul by suddenly now demanding answers to questions that you failed to address when the community, including a petition signed by 4,000 voters, asked you to do so. Question the LEEDS standards and the true returns for the cost?  That was deemed unreasonable and unacceptable by the board back during the Act 34 public hearings.  What else might be cut? The third gym? Mr. Remely went shouting after a Municipal Planning meeting that it was a mandatory element of the project to satisfy community demands.  The extra over-sized addition to the new pool?  Notwithstanding substantially decreasing student population trends, that has also been ridiculed as an absurd and miserly approach--the pool was even defended at the risk of not telling the truth when, contrary to published board policy, our superintendent told the Municipal Commission that parking was not in issue because the facility would definitely not be open to the public. Not tear down the newest building on campus?  This was also openly mocked when suggested to the board by the public on many occasions.  Given such items, what do you expect to see on Mr. Celli's obscure list of "75" reductions that might, at this time, have become acceptable (remember, you told the public that the project was as tight as it could be, with no fluff--again, see your own minutes, tapes of meetings, and your boastful brochure)?

The result of such behavior, your own unprompted but closely observed conduct and words, is that you seem to have slight regard for facts, and no actual plan or value other than spending as much money as you can without obtaining review from the voters. With such a decision process, no wonder you find yourselves confused and in disarray.  But on you push.  As Mr. Rothschild has insightfully observed, you cannot push on without completely re-scoping and re-conceiving the nature and the purpose of a "renovation."  It is time to show a modicum of humility and admit that the process has been badly mismanaged for a long time.  Admit that you have not listened to the people.  Admit that you may not be the right decision makers. Has it occurred to any of you who were so invested in the absolute correctness of the proposal that at this juncture you have had your turn at the wheel and perhaps it is time for you to voluntarily step down and allow new leadership to clean up and lead us forward?  Has it been worth all the damage and rift in this community you have caused by your intransigence, disrespect for public opinion and single-minded refusal to compromise, only to come to this juncture?  

It seems to me that a public apology is due from all of you to Mr. Fraasch for the manner in which you treated him.  It seems to me that a clear sign of new-found respect for the petition of 4,000 of your neighbors and constituents is also in order.  It also seems to me that any self-respecting board member with a sense of shame should be willing, publicly and voluntarily, to accept personal responsibility for what you and your policies have done.  Don't look to blame others, chosen by you in the first instance, for your own failures in formulating and achieving successful public policy.  Show true leadership and some measure of maturity---you have not succeeded, don't keep doing that which has not worked for any of us.  

Respectfully.  Steve Diaz

Former School Board Director Promotes Job Opportunities

The following email from James Fraasch was reprinted with his permission.

Subject: 50 Job Openings at Ansaldo-STS

I hope that you will take a moment to pass along the link below to people who you think might benefit from it.  Having had the experience just over 18 months ago of being laid off, I want to make sure that everyone looking for a job knows that we have opportunities right here in Pittsburgh.

The company I work for now, Ansaldo-STS USA,  is currently seeking applications for over 50 positions.  Many are technical positions, but some are project management and planning positions. Our business has been extremely strong for the past few years and we currently have half a billion in work backlogged. That's enough work for about five years.  There has been some recent turnover due to a reorganization but that is finished now and this company is ready to move forward.  Some of the positions offer an opportunity for international travel.  Our US office is on 2nd Ave on the other side of the Hot Metal Bridge from Southside Works. Pay is good, health care premiums are mostly paid by the company, and there is a matching 401k.  Additionally, Ansaldo offers a tremendous relocation package for those people that might be from out of town.

If any of the positions are of interest to you or anyone you know, let me know and I can deliver an introduction directly to our HR staff.

Please see this link on the company website and search for the Pittsburgh jobs.  There are 34 job descriptions but many of them are for more than one position:

https://ansaldosts.tms.hrdepartment.com/cgi-bin/a/searchjobs_quick.cgi

Happy New Year to everyone if I haven't had the opportunity to say it to you personally yet. Let's see if we can do our part to insure that everyone who wants a job, gets a job.

Best wishes,

James Fraasch

School Board Applicants: Beware

Harrisburg is on the verge of bankruptcy.  Today’s Policy Brief from the Allegheny Institute asks,

Is the Capital City Headed for Bankruptcy?  

Will we be following Maryland’s footsteps?  Maryland Considering Cuts in Education Funding

Did you happen to catch 60 Minutes on Sunday?  State Budgets: The Day of Reckoning
Just got this in my mailbox: The PSEA Is Funding Its Fight Against Kids   Here is their website. Commonwealth Foundation - Fund the Fight

And we need to build spend $113.3 million on a high school renovation now?  Remember this when trying to fill James Fraasch’s shoes.  He was the only one with any fiscal responsibility.

Updated December 23, 2010: As mentioned on Blog-Lebo, the first draft of the Five-Year Forecast from the September 30, 2010 Audit and Finance Committee meeting is now public.  It may be viewed here. September 2010 First Draft of 5 Year Forecast I was denied a copy of a later draft at the October 28, 2010 Audit and Finance Committee meeting.  As I said above, School Board Applicants: Beware!

One of the last of the good guys

I read with great sadness, that School Board Director James Fraasch has resigned from the Mt. Lebanon School Board. His final post is on his blog, Lebo School Board Updates. James was the voice of reason on the Board.  In my opinion, this is Mt. Lebanon's greatest loss.  James has started a new blog, Politics, Policies, Government, and Economics.
James, if you are reading this, thank you for all your years of service. You are one of the last of the good guys.
Elaine