Planned Parenthood and Devil's Advocate

Mt. Lebanon High School's newspaper is called the Devil's Advocate.

The high school newspaper is published monthly. To participate, students must be enrolled in the Journalism Production class (Journalism 1 is a prerequisite). Journalism production is a credited, scheduled course. 

Mrs. Dawn Begor, sponsor

I received an anonymous tip that Planned Parenthood is the largest sponsor of the high school newspaper, along with this statement.

Gold level is the highest level for a sponsor, with blue being second highest, and white being third highest. Personally, I find it to be very unethical for a school newspaper to be sponsored by such a controversial group.

 I don't know how much a sponsorship costs now, but from August 16, 2008 Sponsoring the Devil's Advocate:

Blue-level sponsorships are $100 for the year, and gold-level sponsorships are $250. Sponsors will have their name or business name appear in every issue of the paper and receive a copy of each issue.

How Seton-La Salle handles threats vs. MTLSD UPDATED

Seton-La Salle High School closed due to threat

Seton-La Salle takes this seriously. Mt. Lebanon School District does not.

When the deer cull was taking place, the principal from Seton-La Salle called the municipality and expressed concern. Mt. Lebanon School District did not.

Kids are being exposed to dialogue that killing deer is OK in Mt. Lebanon. They are told to stay out of parks while innocent deer are killed. Threats are not taken seriously by Mt. Lebanon authorities. Articles exhibiting bullying behavior are treated as a humorous piece. Parent offended by article in The Devil's Advocate We're accused of being helicopter parents. 

What is Mt. Lebanon teaching our kids? Thank you, Seton-La Salle for erring on the side of caution. Bomb threats are nothing new at Mt. Lebanon High School. I always kept my kids home because what if...? 

Seton-La Salle closes Wednesday after violent threat

Threats close Seton-La Salle High School

Seton-La Salle High School closed after email threat to students, staff

	WPXI (@WPXI)
April 8 JUST IN: Seton-La Salle HS cancels Thursday's classes as investigation into threat continues -on.wpxi.com/1JqhOd1 pic.twitter.com/J7ili2liJE

Update April 9, 2015 7:00 PM Seton La-Salle High School cancels classes for a third day, but students will work from home Very troubling. 

Instead, the school will have a Chrome from Home Day, according to a statement from school principal Lauren Martin, and is also planning to hold a meeting to discuss when students should return to the building.

Update April 12, 2015 9:22 PM Seton-La Salle to reopen Monday after threats

I missed this one about the trophy case

The Almanac ran this opinion piece last month, Districts need to set fiscal priorities. (saved in Google Docs)

First, on top of its multi-million dollar high school renovation, Mt. Lebanon is actually considering spending nearly $74,000 on a trophy case for the athletic building. To put that into perspective, the district recently approved a contract with Kristen Friedrich Schaffner for psychological services on an as-needed basis. Mt. Lebanon assistant superintendent Dr. Deborah Allen noted that she didn’t expect the cost of said services to exceed $15,000 – and should that expenditure increase, it will be brought to the board’s attention.

We ask you this – what is more important, a trophy case or the mental well being of students? 

...thankfully, at the board’s Jan. 20 meeting, it was decided to delay the vote on the bid. The board is now trying to decide if they will fund the trophy case with funds from the district’s capital campaign or as a capital project.

I wonder if Ms. DeLuca is telling potential donors that their donation is not going toward education, but to a $74,000 trophy case. Another little factoid that was posted on a previous thread concerning the ONLY bidder:

"Low bidder" for trophy case, Viking Woodworking is owned by the father of the author of the Devil's Advocate article entitled "You and I are not equal."
January 31, 2014 at 10:26 PM 

Devil's Advocate response to last month's "You and I are not equal."

A Lebo Citizens reader submitted this comment under an earlier post, but in my opinion, is deserving of a whole new thread.

The paper was distributed today in school, complete with a response to the "opinion piece".
Here's a copy of the article:
http://i.imgur.com/8wam2wU.jpg

A few thoughts from my perspective.

I would like to thank the eighteen students from the editorial board of the Devil's Advocate, who took the time to write such a thoughtful response to this blog. I would like to clarify that the name of this blog is "Lebo Citizens," not "Concerned Citizens of Mt. Lebanon."

If the comments are anonymous, how do the students know that adults are writing them?  Could it be disgruntled or bullied freshmen?

Is it satire? Later in the response, the column in question was considered as "an opinion based on the writer's observations." The DA response indicated that it was "a humorous examination of life in the school." Satire, observation, or examination of life in the school? Which is it?

Dr. Steinhauer is your superintendent and deserves your respect. Timmy hasn't earned my respect. My tax dollars pay for his pizza lunches, his phone from where he sends his mindless Tweets of which I am blocked on his Twitter account, his excessive salary and benefits, and his idiotic blog on the District website, funded by yes, you guessed it, my tax dollars. Thankfully, IT has Timmy's Twitter feed available again on his blog. Timmy has lied under oath at a Municipal hearing, again funded by my tax dollars. Your superintendent shows no respect toward taxpayers who are cheerfully and willingly footing the bill to your education, not to mention the $100 million+ high school renovation. I am calling him Timmy, no doubt a name he has been called at other points in his life.

Finally, promise me this, Students. Keep this article and read it in five or ten years. You may be reading it from our perspective, and understand why your "opinion piece" garnered such spirited debates here on Lebo Citizens.

I hope to get a better copy of the article and post it here some time this weekend.

The Devil's Advocate, a month later

High School Parents, has the next issue of The Devil's Advocate been printed? I would like to know if there was any mention of last month's "opinion piece."

The school board meeting podcast was uploaded last night. Presently, there is a black screen on Channel 33, with no audio or video. Why must it be such an ordeal to view the school board meetings now? It is my understanding that nothing was mentioned at the November 11, 2013 school board meeting about The Devil's Advocate.

Source: WPXI.com

RTK concerning The Devil's Advocate article UPDATED

I filed a Right To Know on October 25, 2013 asking for:

All correspondence to and from Administration, Staff, and School Board concerning the Devil's Advocate article, "You and I Are Not Equal." Please include the email that Dr. Steinhauer referenced during Citizens Comments on October 21, 2013. 

Yesterday, my RTK was granted in part and denied in part. Gillen Response I received 144 pages of emails. I had to print out many emails and redact personal information. I also tried to eliminate duplicate emails since many of them were sent to multiple administration and staff members.

RTK emails Part 1
RTK emails Part 2
RTK emails Part 3

DA senior athletes response I scanned this email separately since it seemed like the official statement from the Devil's Advocate.

I noticed that Elaine Cappucci was copied, but there were no email responses from her. Also note that communications which are protected by the attorney-client privilege do not meet the definition of “public record” under the Right To Know law. You won't see anything from the solicitor except a reply to Suzy Harouse's email. I will warn readers in advance that reading the emails gets very confusing and is time-consuming.

I want to thank the district for granting my request in a timely manner. I was pleasantly surprised.

November 4, 2013 7:39 PM  The attached article was in the most recent edition of Central Catholic's student newspaper. This was written by a student, but not as an editorial. Still, I thought the contrast in messages between this and the Lebo piece was interesting.
-Submitted by Tess Scotti, a Lebo Citizens reader.

Parent offended by article in The Devil's Advocate UPDATED

I uploaded the podcast from last night's school board meeting. The last seven minutes or so, during Citizens' Comments, Suzy Harouse, from Cedar Blvd., confronted the school board about a highly offensive article published in the student newspaper, "The Devil's Advocate." I do not have a copy of the newspaper, but if a reader would send me a copy, I can post it here.

Ms. Harouse went on to say that after checking with administrators in our district, as well as other districts, that they too, found it offensive. Dr.Timmy was surprised that this parent had received a copy of his email concerning this situation, one that was sent at 2:00 AM. He was also offended by this woman's comment. Both he and President Elaine Cappucci said that it was the student's right under the First Amendment.

Funny how I just approved a link/comment about The First Amendment, under Mt. Lebanon Magazine Sued Updated 2X.

October 22, 2013 8:39 PM Devils' Advocate article is here.
Suzy Harouse's comment is available here.