MTLSD appeals PA Office of Open Records' Final Determination

On April 17, 2018, Josephine Posti submitted a Right To Know to the school district, asking for "all electronic communications, including text messages, between and among school directors between December 2017 and March 2018 regarding support for or against the District's capital campaign or its rebranded effort titled "Lebo Gives."

The District partially denied Josephine Posti's request, so Josephine appealed to the PA Office of Open Records.

On August 24, 2018, the OOR issued a Final Determination. Posti's appeal was denied in part and granted in part.

MTLSD wants the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas to reverse the OOR Final Determination for the following reason:

Electronic communications sent among less than a quorum of the District's school board members on their personal devices and accounts are not records of the District.

I wish I could download the document. Here is the link to the petition.
https://dcr.alleghenycounty.us/Civil/CaseSearchByCaseNumber.aspx?CasID=SA-18-000773

Way Back Wednesday

Is there such a thing? If not, I am making it one now. I came across a Lebo Citizens post from 2013,
[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

We were told by Josephine Posti at Budget Time, that the school board has already trimmed the fat, now they're cutting into muscle. They cut back on guidance counselors, hacked away at the high school renovation plans, gave Timmy his sweet deal of an amended contract, handed out bonuses, and instead, decided to take almost a million dollars out of the General Fund to kick start the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign.

How does the former school board president have the audacity to come back to the school board and criticize? She got us into this mess.

Fortunately, the "Lebo Gives" and gives agenda item has been tabled to August.

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.

When is the focus going to be about education?

I started following the School District in late 2009, after my last child graduated from MTL. It seems as it has always been about construction. It was about turfing the high school stadium. "Staff spent almost two months establishing what our true school blue is," Jo Posti wrote in her Center Court post, "Go Blue!" In fact, read her post Board Approves Retaining Stadium Turf Consultant, and you will see names of folks who were brought back last night to speak about the new turf project.

After the color of the turf was carefully selected, then it was on to the high school renovation. Year after year, school board meetings were all about change orders, construction updates, pics of Timmy in his hard hat looking like Bob the Builder, shiny water fountains...

Here is a link to last night's school board meeting. Is it on TV yet? I can't seem to find it.



Last night's school board meeting was well attended by former school board presidents, band members and parents, sports parents and kids, all supporting the "Century of Excellence Capital Campaign." They heard that the turf at the stadium is at the end of its life and needs to be replaced. They heard about turfing the Rockpile. They heard about turfing Mellon and Jefferson fields. Four turf projects that need to be repeated every eight years or so.

We all heard about $70,000 trophy cases in the past. Currently, Timmy tweets about cool t-shirts.

Timmy's Tweets about focus are comical. What was he waiting to see on August 30th? His following Tweet was about focus. Hilarious and tragic at the same time.

What has happened to our school district? Smaller classes? Gifted program? Special needs program?

It is all about construction.  How about bringing school board meetings back to education?

A Capital Campaign Update

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.

Just when the prayers were kicking in

On February 28, 2012, former school board president, Josephine Posti told me that she was praying for me. Apology To Josephine Posti It took some time for her prayers to kick in, but they did. Early this morning, I mailed Holiday Greetings to Timmy, various school board members past and present, my favorite commissioners, and members of the Sports Advisory Board. Lo and behold, a water main break occurred at the post office on Castle Shannon Blvd this morning.

TRAFFIC ADVISORY 12/14/14 11:01

(MT LEBANON TOWNSHIP - 460.625) FIRE DEPARTMENT WITH MAJOR WATER BREAK, POST OFFICE AND SEVERAL VEHICLE IMPACTED, REQUEST PAWC [PEN084]

Josephine Post, spokeswoman for Pennsylvania American Water was on the scene. Jo, were you able to salvage my greeting cards?

Mt. Lebanon water main break to result in 'significant' damage to garage
Here is a video of the flooding.

Timmy, Mary, Elaine, Eddie, Kristen, John, Steve, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, (can never have too many Daves) He Who Shall Not Be Named, and Jo, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah. My card was in the mail. ;)

S.A.F.E. Lebo (Stop Addiction for Everyone)

Commissioner Kelly Fraasch and School Board Director Josephine Posti, co-chairs of S.A.F.E. Lebo.

Commissioner Kelly Fraasch and School Board Director Josephine Posti, co-chairs of S.A.F.E. Lebo.

September 26, 2013

S.A.F.E (Stop Addiction for Everyone) Lebo task force is a coalition of Pittsburgh-area organizations dedicated to educating people in Mt. Lebanon and nearby communities about the dangers of prescription drug abuse; sharing resources for help, and providing a year-round opportunity to safely dispose of un-used or expired prescription medications.

In early 2013, Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Kelly Fraasch and Mt. Lebanon School Director Josephine Posti organized the first meeting of what would become the S.A.F.E (Stop Addiction for Everyone) Lebo task force. Over the past year, six Mt Lebanon residents ranging in age from 20 to 50 had died of opiod overdoses, prompting an urgency to raise community awareness of a national problem that was hitting home. The group of professionals that convened expressed specific concern about the increasing abuse of prescription medication—often the gateway to heroin addiction—by teenagers and adults.

Please take advantage of the 24-hour, free unused and expired medication drop-off sponsored by PA American Water at the Mt. Lebanon Public Safety Center, 555 Washington Road.

Learn more about S.A.F.E. Lebo

Click here to watch the S.A.F.E. Lebo News Conference

http://mtlsd.org/district/HeadlineArticle.asp?HLP_ID=1342&HL_ID=1474#1474

"Schools, the Role of the State, Parent and the Community" UPDATED

mtl -- Mt. Lebanon Magazine shared a link.

September 10

mtl -- Mt. Lebanon Magazine

State Rep. Dan Miller invites you to attend a public hearing with between five and 10 state representatives, Tuesday, Sept. l7, from 2 to 4 in tMt. Lebanon Municipal Building. The discussion is titled "Schools, the Role of the State, Parent and the Community. " Many local people, including Dr. Tim Steinhauer, Commissioners Kristen Linfante and Kelly Fraasch, Police Chief Coileman McDonough, PTA President Julie Daubner, School Director Jo Posti and MRTSA's Todd Pritchard will testify. For detailed information, visit http://www.pahouse.com/Miller/

From Dan Miller's website:

Please join state Rep. Dan Miller and members of the House Democratic Policy Committee for an upcoming public hearing in your community.

EXPECTED TESTIFIERS/PARTICIPANTS:

Part 1: State-School Relationship

Dr. Tim Steinhauer – Superintendent, Mt. Lebanon School District
Dr. William Stropkaj – Superintendent, Keystone Oaks School District
Ms. Nancy Rose – Superintendent, Bethel Park School District

Part 2: Parent-school Relationship and the Parental Involvement Leave Act

Julie Daubner – President, Mt. Lebanon Council PTA
Kristen Linfante – Parent and Mt. Lebanon Commissioner
Cindy Duch – Director of Parent Advising, Peal Center

Part 3: Community-School Relationship

Coleman McDonough – Chief of Police, Mt. Lebanon Police Dept.
Josephine Posti – Mt. Lebanon Drug Taskforce and Director, Mt. Lebanon School Board
Kelly Fraasch – Mt. Lebanon Drug Taskforce and Mt. Lebanon Commissioner
Todd Pritchard – Mt. Lebanon Drug Taskforce and Chief, Medical Rescue Team South Authority

It's a wrap!

The school board has decided to use a wraparound structure for the second bond issue vs. level payment. With the cushion, a.k.a over taxing, that the school board has established, the board has decided to use capitalized interest. The cushion could be used for OPEB, the grievance, the rifle range, etc.

Tim Frenz, again did not have a presentation for the public. He resorted to pointing to his papers, rather than sharing the information on the screen to his left. In all my years of making sales presentations for my $5 million territory, I would have been fired for being so unprofessional. Josephine Posti said it in a nutshell. The public does not have the figures that the board has to see, to know that they are making a good decision. Why not, Josephine? She went after Scott Goldman when he voted in favor of level funding. He calculated that level funding will cost the district $5.6 million LESS. By wrapping this bond, we will be paying 19% MORE. She said that it will cost us more in millage. Scott tried to explain that we have the option to refinance a level bond issuance, as well, while saving taxpayers $5.6 million dollars. Cappucci, Birks, and Posti all pounced on him.

The good news is that Moody's has given Mt. Lebanon an AA1 rating.

I am not pretending that I am an expert on this topic. It is complicated to me, so please listen to the podcast for a better explanation. It is available here.

Oh the irony!

From The Wall Street Journal:

Pennsylvania American Water Designates August 11 (8/11) as Special Reminder to Always Call 8-1-1 Before Digging

With August 11 only a few days away, Pennsylvania American Water today reminded customers to call 8-1-1 prior to any digging project to have underground utility lines marked. The 8-1-1 phone number, used in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, helps consumers access a free service that will identify and mark invisible underground utilities, so that unnecessary outages in critical services can be avoided.

To help raise awareness of PA One Call, Pennsylvania American Water Production Supervisor George Cradic attaches "call before you dig" plate to company vehicle. (Photo: Pennsylvania American Water)

By calling 8-1-1 three days before digging, homeowners and contractors will be connected to PA One Call, which then notifies the appropriate utility companies of the intent to dig. Professional locators are then sent to the requested digging site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags, spray paint or both.

"On August 11 and throughout the year, Pennsylvania American Water reminds customers and contractors to 'dial before you dig' and call 8-1-1 to eliminate the risk of striking an underground utility line," said Steven Tambini, vice president of operations for Pennsylvania American Water.

Tambini said striking a single line can lead to injuries, repair costs, fines and inconvenient outages. Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants a call. Installing a mailbox, building a deck, planting a tree and laying a patio are examples of digging projects that should prompt an 8-1-1 call. Visit the PA One Call website at www.pa811.org for more information about safe digging practices.

"It's a free call and a free service for homeowners -- a great price for safety," said Tambini.

The depth of utility lines can vary for a number of reasons, such as erosion, previous digging projects and uneven surfaces. Utility lines need to be properly marked because even when digging only a few inches, the risk of striking an underground utility line still exists. According to the Common Ground Alliance, an underground utility line is damaged during digging projects every three minutes nationwide.

Pennsylvania American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 2.2 million people. Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest publicly traded U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs approximately 6,700 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to an estimated 14 million people in more than 30 states and parts of Canada.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130808005835/en/ CONTACT: Pennsylvania American Water

Terry Maenza
T: 610-670-7789 ext. 1009
M: 610-849-6484
terry.maenza@amwater.com
or
Josephine Posti
T: 724-743-3103
M: 412-667-1479
josephine.posti@amwater.com

"Even Our Critics Have Chosen to Remain in the Community"

Last evening's board discussion concerning the budget starts at the 1:00:35 mark (about half way through) of the podcast found here. Some of the highlights include:

• There is no windfall. Act 1 will permit 1.7% in real estate dollars plus exceptions.
• Goldman, Ostergaard and Remely will not support the budget. 
• No Cooperisms other than he could not hear parts of the meeting while phoning in.
• Posti indicated that residents' income in 15228, our largest zipcode, have collectively seen an increase in their incomes of 12.6% since 2010.
• Posti (approximately at the 1:20:00 mark) also stated that while some of the critics bet three years ago that the millage increase needed to fund the high school project would tax people out of their homes, impact our housing market, and make our community undesirable for new families to move to, it has not been the case.  In fact our housing market has remained strong, the increases have not been as high as predicted. Even our critics have chosen to remain in the community. Betting on failure is always a losing bet.
• Goldman felt that we have not had those hard conversations.

I, for one, have not "chosen" to remain in the community. I am stuck here. I am working to fix up my house for when I am forced out when the deer killing begins. I have virtually no income and have been living a modest life since the first time I spoke about the budget in 2010. So it has been a slow process.  I resent Posti saying that critics have chosen to remain here. I absolutely hate what our elected officials have done to this town. 

I had it right, Josephine.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-school-officials-given-raises-646316/

"The salary of finance director Jan Klein increased from $129,179 to $133,054."  This is an increase of $3875, or 3%.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/mt-lebanon-school-officials-given-raises-646316/

The board voted to adjust Ms. Klein's salary, which was clarified at the July board meeting.
"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.

See page 3 http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/act93agreement2012_2017.pdf

B. In addition the Board may authorize additional funds that can be used for merit and/or salary adjustments. The Superintendent has the discretion to award those additional funds based on individual performance and potential for any administrator earning a rating of Meets Expectations

or Far Exceeds Expectations.
 
From my blog:
http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/07/twenty-mtlsd-administrators-received.html

2. Ms. Klein would then get a "bonus" which was literally an extra check. If she was to get a 3% raise on top of the adjustment, she would not get an increase in salary but would receive a single check for that increase. A bonus.
...she always got the COLA "class" adjustment plus a fat 4.5% salary bonus every year.

Did you know Jan Klein teaches at CMU too?
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/faculty-and-research/faculty-profiles/faculty-details/index.aspx?faculty_id=47

Looks like I had it right, Josephine. I stand by my words. Unfortunately, you tried to discredit me on TV.

April Fools from Google

Google Analytics sure fooled me! I was so excited to see The International Space Station Control Room was reading my blog last night and this morning!

With my heart racing, I did some searching online and found this article. April Fool's prank has International Space Station invading Google Analytics.  They got me!

Remember this from last year?  http://lebocitizens.blogspot.com/2012/04/exclusive.html Not much has changed.

The REST of the story

Pennsylvania American Water announced two of twenty recipients, each receiving $2500 in special grants. Amazingly enough, Josephine Posti presented checks to Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania and Mt. Lebanon Foundation of Education (MLFE). Does MLFE sound familiar? It should. MLFE helped to fund Josephine's pet project, a feasibility study done by Pursuant Ketchum.  Did our water bills help to fund this? Here is the article from the Almanac.

Josephine Posti's Girl Scout Troop led the Pledge of Allegiance at a recent school board meeting.

Nice picture of Matt Smith with Josephine. Doesn't he realize there is a conflict of interest?  I know...

Dream Team, Change Orders, and More

I updated the change orders list (see sidebar) to reflect tabled item number 28. Dan Remely, always careful with our tax dollars, felt that the carpeting expense could be considered as a capital expense item down the road. I deducted $6,559 from the change orders running total.

We have a new Policy Committee, which one reader described as our "Dream Team." The new members consist of

• Plagiarism expert and authority on bending school board policies, Josephine Posti
• Mary Birks, our resident Harrisburg aficionado who blames Corbett for everything
• Bill Cooper, all around nice guy who never makes waves by agreeing with the status quo

Other big news, a resident expressed concern regarding the networking technology bidding and contract, and how we are implementing antiquated systems, instead of state-of-the-art technology.
I would love to hear more about this, if that resident is reading this. In fact, as always, I would like anyone "in the business" weigh in on this.

In addition, the School Board was amazed at the response to the Math Nights, drawing 650 people. Are they surprised that the community is deeply concerned about our TERC Investigations math program?

Finally, the School Board listened to the students, as Larry Lebowitz pointed out, and promoted Judith Kolko to the new activities director. Carlie McGinty is now at the USC High School as their new guidance counselor. Congrats to both women.

More on TERC Investigations

Josephine Posti has to go. Surely, she should not seek reelection with this kind of attitude towards stakeholders.  Will the Board think enough of her to elect her to a third term as President next week? 

In the emails listed, identifying information has been redacted to protect the personal privacy of individuals discussed in the letters.

From: JPosti@mtlsd.net
To:  Stakeholder, Parent 1
CC: SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net; Parent 2
Subject: RE: TERC Investigations
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:08:02 +0000

Stakeholder,
Your email is childish, disrespectful and counterproductive in addressing the concerns of parents with children in the District. Name-calling is beneath you and not an effective method of motivating the educational professionals charged with curricular responsibility.

Parent 1 and Parent 2,
Have you discussed your concerns with your [child's] teacher or principal? An understanding of those discussions would be helpful to Dr. Allen and her team as they evaluate how Investigations is being used in each building and within specific classrooms.

For the Board,
Josephine Posti
President
Mt. Lebanon School Board
 412.667.1479
 http://jposti.blogspot.com

Mission: To provide the best education possible for each and every student
________________________________

From: Stakeholder
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 1:03 PM
To: Parent 1,
Cc: School Board Email list; Parent 2
Subject: Re: TERC Investigations

Good going.....I hope parents organize and hound the SB and staff at meetings & e-mail to get off their "high horses" and do something about this....firing Steinhauer for his behavior know-it-all attitude plus Allen for her total incompetence would be good for starters....then give 12th grade PSSA, ACT & SAT math portion tests to all math teachers forcing them to use only this current flawed math teaching protocol.  Fire all who fail the tests!
 ---------- Original Message ----------
From: Parent 1
To: <schoolboardemaillist@mtlsd.net>
Cc: Parent 2
BCC: Additional Stakeholders
Subject: TERC Investigations
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:25:51 +0000

Good afternoon Board,
Have all of you actually reviewed the Investigations books that are actually used in the classroom? If so, what have you found?
Yesterday evening, ...I asked my [child] if...Seriously folks, would this have been acceptable for your children?
I honestly don't see how the entire board can just sit there while the mother of a 6th grader says during a public meeting her son cannot do long division. The parents of the children in our school district demand more. What are you going to do about it?

Here is a link to provide you more information:
http://www.wgquirk.com/TERC2008.html
Parent 1

I have received numerous emails complaining about Dr. Deb Allen's performance. Yes, I agree with the stakeholder.  Getting rid of Posti, Steinhauer, and Allen would be a great start.  Throw in Klein's retirement and we just might get the District back on its feet again.
   

Posti on TERC Investigations UPDATED

There has been a lot of interest in this particular thread. David Huston had an email exchange with Josephine Posti concerning TERC Investigations.  As with any email exchange, start at the bottom and work your way up. To avoid confusion, I separated the emails with ***.

RE: TERC Investigations math

From David Huston
To jposti@mtlsd.net
Cc gwensell gwensell@southfayette.org, schoolboardemaillist@mtlsd.net

Mon, Nov 26, 2012 4:15 pm

Ms. Posti,
Thank you for correcting me regarding Mr. Wensell.
You can understand my confusion because you never mentioned his first name.
Please see the attached booklet from 2009, when Mr. Wensell was employed by the District.

Mr. Wensell's presentation was:

Creating a Balanced K-12 Mathematics ProgramIs your school district seeking a balance between procedural and
conceptual learning opportunities for students? Come learn how
one district's approach led to the incorporation of both reform and
traditional resources.

Obviously, when Mr. Wensell recommended TERC Investigations, he
thought it was best to include traditional resources.
Now Mr. Wensell is using traditional resources along with Investigations at South Fayette.
The Mt. Lebanon School District is now using 100% TERC investigations,
which goes against Mr. Wensell's recommendation.
Who made the decision to go all TERC in our district?
I included Mr. Wensell so he can provide clarification beyond the spelling of his name.
David Huston

***

From: JPosti@mtlsd.net
To: David Huston, SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net
Subject: RE: TERC Investigations math
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:35:26 +0000


Ken Wentzel is a retired high school physical education teacher so I'm not sure what report you'd be referring to. You may want submit a RTK request.


Josephine Posti
President
Mt. Lebanon School Board
412.667.1479
http://jposti.blogspot.com

Mission: To provide the best education possible for each and every student

***

From: David Huston
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2012 3:20 PM
To: Josephine C. Posti; School Board Email list
Subject: RE: TERC Investigations math

Ms. Posti,
The 138 parents signing a petition to scrap TERC in 2011 were not overly satisfied:
http://www.amherstbee.com/news/2011-04-13/Education/Parents_want_examination_of_elementary_math_progra.html

The man's name is Ken Wentzel, not Wensell.
Please provide Mr. Wentzel's report for the public to review.

David Huston

***
From: JPosti@mtlsd.net
To: David Huston; SchoolBoardEmaillist@mtlsd.net
Subject: RE: TERC Investigations math
Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:11:41 +0000


Mr. Huston,
FormerSchoolDirector's rationale is the same rationale most Board members follow when making decisions about curriculum. With few exceptions, we are not educators and rely on recommendations of the District's educational professionals on curriculum decisions. This was no exception.


Mr. Wensell's recommendation was brought to the Board for our approval after he conducted research and evaluation of tools that could help better prepare our students for middle school math, was vetted within his department, shared with Curriculum Council and evaluated by our administration. If you look at the District's student achievement results since these program change proposals were approved, it appears to have been a wise decision that has resulted in academic success for our students and, anecdotally, an increased love of math that our middle and high school teachers have observed since its adoption. As with any part of our curriculum, if there are opportunities to improve it, we will pursue them. Our goal is to teach a balanced math program that meets PA common core standards and prepares students for success.


Regarding the information you shared below, did you know that Amherst Central School District continues to use Investigations as a core resource in elementary math and that when surveyed, parents were overwhelmingly satisfied with the math curriculum?


Thanks and best regards,

Josephine Posti
President
Mt. Lebanon School Board
412.667.1479
http://jposti.blogspot.com

Mission: To provide the best education possible for each and every student

****

From: David Huston
Sent: Saturday, November 24, 2012 6:46 PM
To: School Board Email list
Subject: FW: TERC Investigations math

Hello Board,
Please see the exchange I had with a former school director 2 years ago.
Ms. Posti and Mr. Remely were on the board at the time and voted to approve Investigations.
Why did Ms. Posti and Mr. Remely approve it?

Also, the link below is informative.

From: FormerSchoolDirector
To: David Huston
Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 17:37:46 -0400
Subject: Re: TERC Investigations math


I have no idea. Don't remember the discussion. Probably bc supervisor said to...


On Sep 7, 2010, at 5:37 PM, "David Huston"  wrote:

Former School Director,
Why did the 2007 school board choose TERC Investigations
for the Mt. Lebanon math curriculum?
http://amherstmathprogram.com/math/main.php

Update November 27, 2012 1:37 AM Josephine Posti updated her blog to include this post, More on Math.

If you look at our comparator districts in Pennsylvania, many of them use Investigations, including local districts like Baldwin, Elizabeth Forward, Fox Chapel, Hampton, Peters Township and Upper St. Clair. 

But according to PG readers,  Meetings will discuss new math curriculum in Mt. Lebanon schools, USC dropped this years ago. Dr. Steinhauer weighed in on the subject in the PG article.  Josephine admitted that she is not an educator and relies on the educational professionals, yet the "educator" addresses more important issues such as Chinese proverbs and construction on his blog.

District/Municipal Collaboration

Wow! I can't believe it.  Both the President's November Report and the Superintendent's November Report have been posted on the School District website. I didn't have to remind them.  Just a little background, both reports were about six months behind on the website. While Dr. Steinhauer was blogging about fortune cookies and construction, his monthly board reports were MIA. Mrs. Posti decided to reprint her board reports on her unofficial blog instead of keeping them official on the website.  Nice to see some improvement.

By reading Posti's report from last night's meeting, I see that she is taking a more cooperative stand with the municipality.

Later this month, the Commission will be taking action on developing a new ad hoc committee designed to review Mt. Lebanon’s available fields as well as the needs that the various local athletic organizations have for field space. This committee will be made up of representatives from the Municipality, each of the field sport organizations as well as representatives from the District. Should this committee’s development be approved by the Commission, I’ve asked Mr. Grogan, Mr. Marciniak and Mr. Kubit to serve on the committee.

This is just one of the many ways the two local taxing bodies work together on a regular basis to realize cost efficiencies, share resources and provide support to each other. In addition to this committee, representatives from both taxing bodies serve on our Strategic Planning Committee, the Municipality’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Environmental Sustainability Board, our Safety and Security Committee and the Municipality’s Economic Development Council. Our staff work together to coordinate field maintenance, fuel purchase, winter maintenance, photocopying and printing, interoffice mail delivery, fire safety, police and fire training, pedestrian safety, drivers training, contracted services, recreation, parking and communication. We also work together on programs like School in the Park and Arts in the Park regularly and have realized cost efficiencies for things like joint elevator maintenance in the past when it was cost-efficient to do so.

Additional areas of potential cooperation might include contracting District employees for things like HVAC and Building Automation controls, janitorial services, shared purchasing and fleet management. As contracts are renegotiated in future years, these opportunities and others might be explored. We’ve worked with the Municipality over the years to realize cost and service efficiencies that benefit our residents and are grateful for such a collaborative relationship with their employees and elected officials.

Josephine Posti forgot to mention how she had cheerfully invited the commissioners to the school board community coffees rather than having a Joint Discussion Session.  She is much too busy and requires an agenda to determine if it is worth her time.  Josephine also failed to bring up how difficult it has been for the commissioners to discuss the Joint Maintenance Agreement with the board members.

Key words and culling

I am always interested in learning more about my readers. By checking the statistics, I can get a handle on who reads my blog, where they are from, and how they found the blog.

Since November 29, 2010, I have posted 831 times. To those 831 posts, I have published 9,286 comments. This number does not include the ones which were deleted or not approved. Lebo Citizens has been read in 81 countries or 1,804 cities. Key words are also tracked. 554 have searched "Jo Posti mt. Lebanon commencement speech." But only one has searched using:

rob papke so true, tracey. the alternative to a controlled culling is to introduce other natural predators into the habitat, such as mountain lions and coyote; i really don't think that this is a very wise choice. we can not continue to do nothing, ...they are everywhere and they cause trouble other than treating our gardens as salad bars. man, as the other natural predator, must take action to control the herd. also, the "bambi" lovers are a relatively small % of the mtl population however they are very vocal in their opposition to doing anything about the problem.

Rob, the "bambi" lovers have been concerned about the safety of letting loose a bunch of inexperienced yahoos who never counted bullets, shot themselves in the foot, shot deer and never knew they hit them, hit a house near Williamsburg Park, almost shot a kid, and can't find evidence of anyone being stomped to death in Upper St. Clair. These people who are "a relatively small % of the mtl population" as you say have never been counted, just as how you have no idea how many deer there are. Your commissioner is very vocal about killing deer, and has said repeatedly that she is the lone wolf on the commission.  To me, that translates to 20% of the commissioners want to kill deer. How many signed up for culling in 2008? It didn't even represent 20% of the houses in Mt. Lebanon.  So don't make these grandiose statements without having the facts to back them up. I can support every one of my statements.