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.

What started out to be a post about the budget...

It all started with this article in the Post Gazette, Nice surprise: No tax increase in Mt. Lebanon after all. Thanks to some refinancing of bonds, and trouble in the world, taxpayers in Mt. Lebanon will not see a tax increase.

That’s because the district was the unexpected benefactor of a fortuitous dip in interest rates due to recent world events, such as the conflict in Afghanistan, tensions in North Korea and an upcoming election in France, according to the district’s financial adviser.

The article continues with

The board is expected to approve the final budget May 22. Until then, it will be available for public inspection online at www.mtlsd.org. (Go to http://www.mtlsd.org/page.cfm?p=1415 for the budget.)

And that is when my research took an ugly turn. Looking at the budget, I don't see anything about the Capital Campaign originally suggested by Pursuant Ketchum in 2013.

We are now in Year Four of the "Quiet Phase." The longest quiet phase E V E R 

District spokeswoman Cissy Bowman [What the hell does that woman actually do???] said the campaign remains in its “quiet phase,” with organizers planning “awareness events” for potential donors during the summer and into the next school year. 

That was two years ago. Still nothing. Nothing is in the budget. No totals are mentioned ANYWHERE. We have been given crumbs, like the current brochure and the webpage showing the Campaign Cabinet. OMG!   Look who is on the committee? Two members of the Timmy Ticket! Hey Ladies, how about coming clean with some amounts in the Capital Campaign, now known as the Century of Excellence Campaign? How about a spreadsheet showing what your expenses are and what you have taken in? This is starting to sound like Mary Birks being executive director of Outreach!

How about you, Jan Klein? What can you tell us about the Capital Campaign? Exactly how many more years will we be in the Quiet Phase? I guess Mark Cuban is finding better ways to invest his money on Shark Tank.

Yet, Lebo Larry is more offended by Dan Remely's comment. (See PG article above.) I never run out of things to blog about here. The Timmy ticket has really made a mess of things in Mt. Lebanon.

Here's a first!

There are no change orders on the August School Board Agenda! The August 19, 2015 Discussion Meeting Agenda has been posted for Monday's school board meeting. There's always the possibility  that some change orders may be slipped in for the August 17, 2015 meeting, but as of now, no change orders for August.

Other items on the agenda include a mystery agreement with Janice Klein, the finance director for the school district. Jan Klein should have retired years ago, but has been able to hang on by being a master at playing the shell game with stakeholders.

The school board is going to get wild and crazy and spring for the $10 per month plus 2.89% plus $.20 per credit card transaction so that people can charge donations to the school district capital campaign. This item was tabled at last month's meeting.

From a Title 1 Federal grant for $335,896, the school district will use $100 of the $335,896 grant for supplies for the homeless. Their generosity just warms the heart, doesn't it? The bulk of the grant will be spent on two full-time reading specialists at Lincoln and Washington Elementary; and two .5 reading specialists at Lincoln and Washington (Salaries totaling $240,000). Two more grants totaling approximately $129,000 will also be approved this month.

Naming of High School Library - Approval is requested to name the Library located in the High School in honor of Richard J. Madden for his contribution to the education of our students through The Richard J. Madden Foundation. His Foundation has been providing post-secondary scholarship assistance to students graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School since 2003.

And finally, an assessment of the capital campaign is going to be a topic for discussion. Have we reached the end of the quiet phase?

Change Orders and Contract for Chief Negotiator

Monday's School Board Meeting Agenda has a special item on the September Agenda:

Contract for Chief Negotiator – The Board will consider the appointment of special counsel for contract negotiations. 

Is this for the Teachers' Contract?

The annual contract for FindWealth software is up for renewal. Are we still in the Quiet Phase? Or have we bailed from fundraising efforts? Did we see anything in the budget in regard to fundraising?

Renewal of Wealth Engine Agreement –This is a renewal of an annual contract with Wealth Engine for Mt. Lebanon School District to use FindWealth software for donor qualification purposes. The cost will be $3,300 for the year. The Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement.

Also on the Agenda is the list of change orders for September:

The list of change orders for September totals $81,911 for the following contractors:  

a. GC-105-244 to Nello for $74,210 for wall patching and fireworking, door revisions and concrete work,

b. EL-66-245 to Farfield for $4,501 for concrete pad removal and light replacement, and

c. ME-27-246 to McKamish for $3,200 for ductwork.