School board reorganization meeting on Monday

I have been waiting for this day. The Reign of Terror will be over, according to the Reorganization meeting agenda.

Also on the agenda is the appointment of the solicitor, that Thomas P. Peterson be appointed School Board Solicitor for one year. Remember, he didn't see a conflict of interest with a former school board director approving contracts with her employer. I hope the school board keeps that in mind when they appoint Peterson again.

I am hoping for some big changes with the reorganization. We're long overdue.

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.

Current Status of the Teachers' Grievance

At last night's school board meeting, a resident asked for an update concerning the grievance. Solicitor Tom Peterson answered the question by saying that the arbitrator issued an initial decision that neither the MLEA nor the District really fully understood.  They had different interpretations of the scope of the relief, so the District submitted a few questions to the arbitrator to clarify her award.

The arbitrator concluded that certain people should be advanced on the pay scale, but it wasn't clear whom or how many people. The District doesn't have any idea of the economic scope of the decision. They are waiting for a final award and hope to hear from her any time now.

The podcast is available here. The status of the grievance is answered at the very end of the podcast.

Since you asked, Josephine UPDATED

Josephine Posti asked if we heard any good rumors in her August 30 post, Project On Schedule and On Budget. She writes:

Have you heard any good rumors?  Do you have questions or concerns?  Just ask.  At our last Board meeting we spent considerable time answering questions raised by one of our closest residents.  It was a great opportunity to not only address his individual concerns but to get out accurate information about security, utility outages, the project's schedule and how damage from the line hit will be addressed.  

If we have questions or concerns, you instructed us to ask. So we did. A Right To Know was filed on August 30, 2012. It would have been nice to have this RTK granted in time for Monday's Construction Update, but unfortunately, here is your response. Weekly construction meeting minutes This was a great opportunity to get out accurate information and you blew it. The email was CC'ed to: TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net; grobb@tuckerlaw.com; TPeterson@tuckerlaw.com I question why all RTK's are cc'ed to two attorneys at Tucker Arensberg.  Do the frivolous ones go to two attorneys?

Update September 6, 2012 6:22 PM An identical RTK was filed April 13, 2012 and was granted five business days later. Construction meeting minutes RTK 041312 What has changed? Could it have something to do with the rumors circulating?

YSA is costing the kids $7,000 UPDATED

At Monday's meeting, the Board approved the Joint Maintenance Agreement extension even though the agreement had expired. At approximately the 38.5 minute mark on the podcast, during "Comments from Residents and Taxpayers Concerning Action Items for This Meeting," David Huston urged the Board not to approve the following:

Joint Maintenance Agreement Amendment: RESOLVED, That the Amendment to the Joint Maintenance Agreement dated as of July 1, 2010 is amended in the form presented, and the Superintendent is authorized to execute such Amendment on behalf of the District.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Joint Maintenance Agreement between the District, the Municipality and the Youth Sports Alliance is extended for a period of six months, through December 31, 2012, with the District paying $35,700 to the Municipality for services similar to those provided previously, and the Youth Sports Alliance paying between $10,000 and $11,000 to the District (based on the number of participating children), and with other terms and schedules to be specified in an Extension Agreement acceptable to the Superintendent and the Solicitor, and to be signed by the Superintendent.

David gave the following reasons:

• The amendment is for an expired agreement.
• The Municipality is not a party to this agreement.
• The YSA's "contribution" is being reduced from $30,000 to $23,000.
• The Board is catering to the YSA's payment schedule, so that it is convenient for YSA.

Listen to Tom Peterson's explanation. I have not been able to provide an audio clip of this portion of the meeting, so tune in at the 38.5 minute mark of the podcast. Of course, Timmy was grateful for the YSA. Jan Klein also spoke. Josephine chimed in to say that since the YSA is made up of volunteers with turnover of officers, discrepancies could occur. The relationship is a collaboration, so the District will not come down on them punitively. The Board wants to work creatively with YSA so that they (the YSA) can continue to do good for our children.

The discussion resumed at the time of the vote. See 01:10:48 of the podcast. By reducing the YSA's contribution by $7,000, the taxpayers (or the students) will take the hit since there will be less revenue collected. Mary Birks needed help with that. We cut staff so that we could reduce costs, but since the YSA is collaborating with the School District and they do good for our children, it is OK to reduce their "contribution" by $7,000. The vote was unanimous.

Update August 21, 2012 9:30 AM Audio clip of both parts of the YSA discussion.

No contract for appeals!!!!!

David Huston filed a Right To Know on June 14, 2012 asking for the most recent version of the contract with Diversified Municipal Services. This is the company hired to represent the School District during the OVER assessed appeal hearings as reported in this post Wouldn't this be a cheaper way to go for everyone? UPDATED David's RTK was granted today. Right to Know response To summarize, there is no contract!

Let's go back to last night's school board meeting.  David Huston asked our solicitor about the appeal process. Link to podcast Listen to the tail end of the meeting. It is in the Questions or Comments from Residents portion of the meeting.

In an email to Tom Peterson, David wrote this:

Mr. Peterson,
  According to the P-G, attached,  "Shortly afterward, (March 2006) the school board decided to hire the firm Diversified Municipal Services to represent the school board at appeal hearings."

My RTK request revealed there is no agreement with DMS.

How can the District use their services without any written agreement?

David was able to locate the meeting minutes that included the agreement.

From the 18-SEP-2006 meeting minutes:

It was moved by Garson and seconded by Rose that the Superintendent [Wilson] is authorized to retain representatives for representation of the District at residential tax appeal hearings before the Board of Property Assessment Appeals and Review.

ROLL CALL For: Campbell, Garson, Remely, Rose, Silhol, Walton, Rodella

Abstained: Posti

Against: None

MOTION UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED

Posti and Remely were the only current directors on the board at the time. Wilson was two superintendents ago. Posti abstained because she was in the process of appealing her own assessment. Does this authorization extend six years, two boards and two supers later? At Monday's meeting, Peterson referenced the authorization of 2006.

Other Districts, such as West Jefferson, hire DMS on retainer at $1000 a month. Their agreements are online. Ours is $100-$150 a case because we have more appeals. There is no written agreement for ours.
I want to know if there have been any recent appeal hearings in which DMS was not present. Any feedback from readers?
Listening to Elaine Cappucci's report, she really took a shot at the commissioners for not sharing the expense of the appeals. Rumor has it that Josephine Posti has no plans to go after the underassessments. Of course not.

Let's hear it for Directors Ostergaard and Goldman!

Last night, the school board directors voted and approved raises for head custodians, administrative assistants, supervisors, specialists, custodial/maintenance employees and administrators (3%). June 18, 2012 School Board Meeting Agenda  Scott Goldman explained why he was going to vote no. Dale Ostergaard also explained why he was voting no. Watch the meeting or listen to the podcast and hear Josephine Posti publicly scold Dale for his reasons. Larry Lebowitz also chimed in and supported Josephine. We knew it was going to go that way since Josephine included in her monthly report how Dr. Steinhauer deserved his raise. Here is the best part. Scott Goldman asked Tom Peterson if the vote was 9-0 against the raises, would the staff still get the raises.  Peterson said, "Yes." Then Goldman asked why even vote if it is guaranteed. Peterson said that's the way it's always been done.
It's on the podcast.
Remember what USC's superintendent did? Is Steinhauer in this for the money? Evidently.