Yes, it's true

Woman still fighting to learn details about Mt. Lebanon deer cull

Don't worry, Folks. I'm not wasting your tax dollars. It falls well below the cap that Mt. Lebanon and Buchanan Ingersoll have set. Commissioner Steve "It's free" Silverman will tell you that it isn't costing Mt. Lebanon anything. Maybe he will mention that during the next Commission Discussion about the Unity Rally.

I have not pushed my "gofund me" because I got quite a bit of criticism for asking for help with Mt. Lebanon's appeal against me in Common Pleas Court. 

One of the Trib commenters wrote "Elaine Gillen needs a job. 10 to 1 odds she gets unemployment, aid to dependent children, WIC, foodstamps, free obamacare, section 8 housing, etc." Mike, I say to you I wouldn't make any bets if I were you. It is expensive to get to the State Supreme Court, but the only government assistance I am receiving is Social Security. "Not really" joking about human culling requests is highly inappropriate. I'm surprised that the Trib approved your comment, while reporting thirteen innocent people were gunned down, killing five in the Ft. Lauderdale Airport.

Yes, let's get the record straight. UPDATED

It has been nine days since this comment appeared on Lebo Citizens. There is no admission that you had things wrong, 6:12 PM.

"Seems to me the YSA and now the SAB have consistently supported improved quality *and* quality of fields. 

Contrary to Kelly's blog post, the Robb Hollow field would *not* have been a full-sized field. So the ROI of developing it would have been pretty low, with respect to gains for organized sports. 

So Kelly's plan was not "exactly what they [SAB] asked for." It would have left essentially unchanged the burden on existing fields for games, which would do little to improve the state of overuse which you rightly mention as a concern of YSA/SAB. 

Just wanted to set that straight. 

December 16, 2013 at 6:12 PM"

Trib reporter Matt Santoni asked Commission Kelly Fraasch about the Commission's decision to turf Middle and Wildcat, instead of spending the money on improving Robb Hollow Park and the municipal golf course. Mt. Lebanon leader questions turf fund

An unidentified sports person here expressed that he or she was unaware of Kelly's plan and was under the assumption that it was for a dog park only. I have been saying all along that the McNeilly/ Robb Hollow swap was sabotaged because Dave Franklin had his sights set on developing McNeilly next. Well here it is, in the last paragraph of the Trib article.

“From a field-sports, development perspective, it doesn't bother me that those restrictions are there on McNeilly,” Franklin said. “There's nothing to suggest we can't develop it five, 10, 15 years from now.”

I don't know what else to do, to get the community to see how we are being taken for a bunch of chumps. Linfante, Bendel, and Brumfield should be ashamed of themselves.

PSSA 'opt-out' movement growing

Staff reporter Kari Andren has an article in the Trib, Pennsylvania parents take stand against standardized tests.

As students prepare to take the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams this week, a growing number of parents are refusing to let their children take the high-stakes standardized exams aimed at showing which schools are excelling or failing.

We can see the what is at stake with the PSSA scores.  Just ask any administrator at Mt. Lebanon as I mentioned here. PSSAs - No pressure here

The performance on the PSSAs are the primary metrics used by the
Superintendent and Board to evaulate how the principals leadership has impacted student achievement.

With Mt. Lebanon prepping kids for the PSSAs, we can see the pay-off in the Pittsburgh Business Times Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools. We've moved up to Number 2 in the State.  Evan though it is budget crunch time, jobs are secure and raises are guaranteed.

Ms. Andren had contacted me, in hopes that I could steer her to Mt. Lebanon parents, but none were willing to come forward.

Dr. Timothy Slekar, founder of United Opt Out and Lebo Citizens commenter, did speak with Ms. Andren.

Slekar excluded his son, Luke, from standardized tests three years ago and helped found United Opt Out, a national group that protested standardized testing this weekend in Washington with a sit-in outside the Department of Education and a march to the White House.

A few opt-outs does not impact Mt. Lebanon's scores, but if enough parents opt-out their kids, we will fail to meet AYP, or Adequate Yearly Progress.  What does that mean? Read more here Some Children Left Behind or here About making AYP for students with disabilities UPDATED 2x or here Yes, he is very deserving. UPDATED

Parents, make sure your kids get enough sleep this week.  There is quite a bit at stake here.

Yet another "story" about YSA's contributions

Remember what Jan Klein wrote to Richard Gideon in this post, YSA vs. MTLSD - Updated? Remember the YSA 990's that I linked to in the same post?

Then we have the Trib reporting in my post, NSF YSA Makes The Trib!

Then-school Superintendent George Wilson dismissed the amount owed in 2008 because of the group's insufficient funds; and the organization paid the $20,000 balance for 2010 last year.

Now we have Dr. Steinhauer reporting that the Joint Maintenance Agreement has served us well. In fact, the YSA had paid $30,000 in 2008.  Huh? Listen for yourself on the podcast.  It starts at approximately the 58 minute mark. June 11, 2012 School Board Meeting

How many more versions of the story are out there?  Someone is lying to someone somewhere!!!

I do want to thank those school board members who questioned Jan Klein and Dr. Steinhauer. It is appalling how we can't get a straight answer.

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

Stormwater fee on the "Watch List"

On the "Watch List": Mt. Lebanon's stormwater "fee." Now being appealed at the local level on separate grounds by an apartment building owner and the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, the fee that is a tax that is fraught with legal jeopardy is sure to end up in court. If it's a "fee," its application is arbitrary and capricious. If it's a tax, nonprofits are exempt but it violates the Pennsylvania Constitution's Uniformity Clause.



Read more: Pittsburgh Laurels & Lances - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_785555.html#ixzz1oe6dGryq

This has to be the funniest thing I read today

After everything I have written about Josephine Posti and citing her sources, a.k.a. plagiarizing, and the discussion about intellectual property, school district copyrights, and their terms of use on this blog, I came across this article in today's Trib.

According to surveys of students and faculty by Rutgers Business School in Newark, N.J., about 33 to 40 percent of high-school and college students admit to having done some kind of cut-and-paste plagiarism.
Academic integrity is important, as is respecting people's intellectual property, says Brentzel-Martina, who teaches her students to value their own ideas and work and to give credit to other people's.

Read more: Internet creates a rise in cut-and-paste plagiarism

An observation

An observation: Legally unenforceable prohibitions against using any information from the taxpayer-funded websites of the Mt. Lebanon School District and the municipality of Mt. Lebanon (other than for "personal use") will lead to far wider non-personal use -- and decidedly non-flattering -- than either entity could ever have imagined.

Read more: Laurels & Lances - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_777471.html#ixzz1k0h9lMKr

It is starting to gel

Matt Santoni reports in today's Trib, that mtl Magazine is moving into the 21st century with a website hosting an online edition of the magazine.

″We think we're giving people a lot of value,″ said Susan Morgans, public information officer for Mt. Lebanon. ″We're maintaining it ourselves on a daily basis. If we need to, we can go back to the firm we worked with in the first place and they can troubleshoot for us on an hourly basis.″

The Trib article's last paragraph:

So far the municipality, isn't selling separate advertising for the website, but Morgans said that could eventually occur to help pay hosting and domain name costs of about $200 a year.

Hey, can I get a credit on my Lebo taxes for www.lebocitizens.com?

The Hart/Fraasch one-two punch

Talk about timely...I was reading an old post by Tom Moertel on Blog-Lebo called How to Brew an Economic Perfect Storm in One Easy Lesson.   The Trib had an article in Sunday's paper written by Jake Haulk (Allegheny Institute for Public Policy) titled, The property tax increase. It was a Policy Brief from Allegheny Institute that inspired Tom to write his piece on brewing an economic perfect storm. 

The comments on Tom's post, almost two years old, are fascinating. Mark Hart made his predictions and James Fraasch shared his thoughts; both were spot on with their comments.  I saw words like LEED certification, 15 Design Criteria, crossing Horsman Drive, etc.  Where are all these people now?  You folks are very quiet now.  In two days, will we be duped into accepting bids just under the limit?  When the bids come in at cost, will people enter a state of "whew" euphoria- even though it's still $115 million damn dollars?  And it is for a project nowhere near what we were promised for $95 million, let alone $113 million!

PS.  Thanks goes to Dave Franklin for coming up with the title of this post. 

Former MTL Commissioner wishes she lived in USC.

How's that for an attention grabber?  In today's Trib, Matt Santoni ran this article, Mt. Lebanon Board rethinks deer culling program.  Of all quotes to use, Carolyn Byham's was singled out - one of the few, if not the only, proculling comment made at the Budget Hearing.  I had given Matt contact information of four members of the coalition for neighborhood safety and of a commissioner elect who has a nonlethal plan to address the deer population, but none were quoted.

It made the Trib

In today's Trib, Much ado about....Mt. Lebanon board chief's blog, Posti (Sorry, I can't call her anything else)

"would be more attentive to citing and linking her material in the future. She said Gillen's call for her resignation was "ridiculous," but not unexpected.
"I think she's called for all of us (on the board) to resign at one time or another," Posti said."

Ridiculous? Take a gander at the latest poll.  I am not alone.

Update August 27, 2011 8:45 AM I changed the date of the poll to close on the same day as the next School Board meeting.


Read more: Much ado about....Mt. Lebanon board chief's blog - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_753219.html#ixzz1W2Cx08Ss

Trib correction in order?

This appears on the District website:

Trib Article Reports Inaccurate Information About High School Project
In a July 21, 2011 article in the Tribune Review written by Matthew Santoni, it was inaccurately reported that the School Board had approved the removal of the auxiliary gym and tennis courts from the High School plans. The incorrect quote reads, “So far, the board has given Celli the go-ahead to…remove an auxiliary gym and tennis courts…” The correct information is that the auxiliary gym and tennis courts remain in the plans for the High School project. A correction will appear in the Trib.

Aren't the tennis courts supposed to be gone for four or five years? The Mt. Lebanon athletic director asked Scott Township to use their tennis courts for 3-5 years in this letter.  (We got turned down.) This is a perfect example as to why Dan Rothschild and many others have asked to see "The List."  If the School District would publish "The List," corrections in the newspaper would not be necessary

Newsflash: The School Board needs as much public input as possible.

The Trib wrote an article this morning about Dan Rothschild's new blog, lebodesign.net.

Well-known architect seeks public say on Mt. Lebanon renovation

"He wants to play a role; he wants to help. ... We should and we will take advantage of that," said school board member Larry Lebowitz, who had not yet been appointed to the board when the advisory committee made its original recommendations. "We need to obtain as much public input as we can."

Tom Moertel was quoted as saying, "Right now, after having been stung so badly by the bids, the school board may be receptive to reconsidering its previously unshakable beliefs."

I am not seeing it, Tom.  I also don't understand why there aren't any links to lebocitizens.com where one can also hear podcasts of architect's updates on Dan's new blog.  My email went unanswered.   I am also confused as to why I get 400 hits a day on this blog and only get a handful of votes on the polls.  Maybe people are worn out trying to give input to our local government.  As Giffen Good had stated, "It really doesn't matter that the board's decision doesn't sit well with us."

Just putting it out there.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_735394.html

They push...and push...and push

In today's paper, Matt Santoni from the Trib, writes:

Board member Dan Remely recommended further changes to the project as it moves forward, like relaxing the district's pursuit of "green" certification for the building, or fighting the municipality's decision to designate the building as a "high-rise" based on its height from the proposed new entrance on Horsman Drive.
Mt. Lebanon Fire Chief Nicholas Sohyda said the designation has been part of the fire code since 1970, when it was amended to say that any building higher than 50 feet would be considered a high-rise.
The code for such buildings includes requirements like smoke-evacuation systems, pressurized stairwells, communications systems, water pumps for the sprinkler system and a small "fire command" room with alarm panels and connections to the intercom system.
Municipal Commission President Dan Miller, himself a volunteer firefighter, said any conversation about relaxing the building's fire code standards was "a non-starter."
"I've pulled a dead child from a fire. ... I'm sure as hell not going to let them skimp on public safety just to save a million bucks," Miller said. "I tried to save them money on the inspection fees, but I'm not going to let them skimp on that."

As I recall, Dan Remely said that the "high rise" designation cost the District a million dollars. If we eliminate the million dollar bridge, aren't we back to even?  Oh wait, that's right.  The bridge is there to keep the kids safe when crossing Horsman Drive.  Here's an idea. Eliminate the bridge and when hiring a crossing guard for the student parking at the church, hire a second crossing guard for Horsman.  I wonder what the ROI would be for that decision.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_734251.html

Eligible for a free lunch?

It looks like there are more students eligible for a free or reduced-priced lunch that ever before in Mt. Lebanon, according to today's Trib.  

Eligibility for the free and reduced-price lunch program is tied directly to income levels. Students from a family of four are eligible for free lunches if their family's annual income is $29,055 or less; students from a family of four with a family income up to $40,900 are eligible for reduced-price lunches. 

In the Mt. Lebanon School District, eligibility rose from 6.1 [in 2006] to 8.8 percent [in 2010].  

If there are any eligible Lebo Citizens readers with kids in high school, make sure to talk with your child's guidance counselor.  SAT fees and many college application fees can be waived. If only the School Board and Commission majority would have taken off their Rose-colored glasses before approving the high school project.  

Read more: More students in Western Pennsylvania qualify for free, reduced-cost lunch - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_722661.html#ixzz1DtoS2sS3