What else should a superintendent be doing?



Mt. Lebanon School District Superintendent Timothy Steinhauer shows the construction that is going on at the school on Monday, October 22, 2012. Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review

 Matt Santoni, from the Trib, reported that we will be reimbursed for nearly $400,000 in repairs because of the electrical line that was hit by a contractor. That is great news.  What is even better news is that Tim Steinhauer is working hard on meeting his goals. Goal number 2 is:

2. High School Project – The Superintendent will continue the District’s efforts to build/renovate the High School.

Insurer to reimburse Mt. Lebanon after contractor hit electrical line

Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2012, 8:57 p.m.

The Mt. Lebanon School District is waiting for its insurer to reimburse it for nearly $400,000 worth of repairs necessitated when a contractor on the high school renovation project struck an underground electrical line in August.

Finance director Jan Klein said the total bill should come to slightly over $390,000, and the district’s insurance policy should reimburse it for all but a $5,000 deductible. That should eventually be reimbursed by the subcontractor that had been doing the digging, Superintendent Tim Steinhauer said. Although that agreement has yet to be finalized, the contractor has given no indication it would challenge the district, he said.

The board last week approved a final $5,866 payment to Fairfield Electric for its work, bringing its total to about $279,000.

A few other bills, like money to Verizon for the phone system repair, may go before the board later, Steinhauer said.

The district’s cash-flow for the ongoing $109 million renovation should not be affected, since the repair money can be temporarily taken from the project’s contingency fund, officials said.

The electric problems occurred when subcontractors digging near the school’s loading dock along Cochran Road hit the buried 5-kilovolt line on Aug. 13, causing sparks, smoke and damage to the building’s phone systems and more. Three trailer-sized portable generators powered most of the school for the first three weeks of classes until the electrical line could be repaired

In a tour of the construction site on Monday, Steinhauer showed off progress on the athletic wing, which is going up between the main high school building and the stadium. Concrete supports are beginning to define the swimming pool, while masonry walls have gone up for the locker rooms and athletic offices along the building’s lower floors.

Steel girders have risen for the academic wing, and a canopy is taking shape where a new entrance will eventually pass through where the main gym is now. Steinhauer said that space will become into a central space for students once new gyms are completed.

The Fine Arts theater has been gutted for refurbishment, while the sixth floor of the old B Building, which fronts Cochran Road, has had many of its interior walls knocked down, opening up vast spaces that will be re-divided into larger classrooms.*

The project is scheduled to wrap up in 2015.

This week, subcontractors again had to dig for an electric line, but the work proceeded without incident.

* Old B Building has been gutted for refurbishment, but the 1972 C Building couldn't. Our school board is a train wreck. They are spending millions on the high school project. The superintendent is seen more times in photos wearing a hard hat than with students in a learning environment. We are paying him to be a project manager.

But where is the school board's priorities? Photo ops for Timmy, the high school renovation, turf and grinding.  As someone wrote on another blog about Lebo's grinding,

Teens have died from excessive drinking.
Nobody's ever died from grinding.

Shame on all of you, School Board. Your priorities are all wrong.
I almost forgot. While you gave Timmy his raise and charged students for parking, Number 26 on your cost reduction list:

Reduce use of contracted security at District events $ 5,000

Yes, he is very deserving. UPDATED

The Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Linda Lane turned down her raise for a second year in a row. So far, she has declined $35,000 in pay.

After the vote, Ms. Lane said that she and the top academic team will forgo pay raises.

The decision comes as the district has made unprecedented teacher furloughs and tackles a budget deficit.

Ms. Lane said the decision is in recognition of the serious fiscal problems the district face and a statement of support "for the district and those who aren't with us. We lost a lot of good folks."

Ms. Lane's contract calls for a raise of $5,000 each year as well as a bonus of $10,000 each year if certain performance goals are met. For 2012, she was eligible for the full $15,000. But for 2013, she was not eligible for the bonus amount because state test scores dropped.

Back to the bubble, our super Super gets raises every year. Dale Ostergaard concluded, "I am also normally conservative when it comes to raises, but I think in this particular case with a single individual Dr. Steinhauer is very deserving."

Yes, he is very deserving. As I commented in my last thread about grinding and a 16 year old girl who was carried off the dance floor and taken to St. Clair and then later to Children's Hosptal because she was drunk, the PG story was the number one emailed story according to the PG.

Just last month, Mt. Lebanon School District was recognized in the PG story, PSSA results come up short in Mt. Lebanon, Bethel Park.  Goal number four 4. Student Achievement – The Superintendent will maintain or improve student achievement. We can get another warning label from PA and Timmy will be maintaining student achievement. Yes, he is very deserving, Dale.

The number one superintendent in the state, Dr. Patrick O'Toole voluntarily froze his salary as well as the financial director's salary. Certainly Dale, O'Toole is very deserving.

I guess I shouldn't be so harsh with Dr. Steinhauer. I actually got a response from his office the other day to an email I sent.

Fwd: Your website

From	egillen476 egillen476@aol.com
To	schoolboard schoolboard@mtlsd.net
Cc	TSteinhauer TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net, CBowman CBowman@mtlsd.net

While I never received a response from ANY of the eleven of you, I see that the Board reports were updated and the goals have been posted. Thank you. Why would you remove the existing reports? Would you please include all of the reports for the year?

Still nothing for the Extra Mile Award. If you just cut and paste from
the Board President's Reports, my request is a rather simple one to
fulfill.
Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: schoolboard <schoolboard@mtlsd.net>
Cc: TSteinhauer <TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net>; CBowman <CBowman@mtlsd.net>;
EGillen476 <EGillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Oct 17, 2012 3:56 pm
Subject: Your website

When do you plan to update your website?

Extra Mile Award is from January 2012.
Superintendent Board Reports are from April 2012.
Board President Reports are from March 2012.
Superintendent Goals are from last year?
The agenda for Monday's meeting was finally posted on Monday morning.

Is this Cissy Bowman's responsibility?

Elaine Gillen

Finally, I got a response from an email I sent to the board.
Response from Tim Steinhauer While all hell was breaking loose over grinding at dances, Tim is enjoying his very deserving additional vacation days. Does an automated response from his office satisfy goal number five, Superintendent Performance Goals 2012-2013? Tim is well on his way for an increase next year.
Update October 25, 2012 1:30 PM Timothy Steinhauer's contract is available here. It is from June 8, 2009. It does not reflect his current salary, contract extension or additional vacation days. Article V permits him to undertake consulting work during his vacation days or with prior written approval from the Board. In other words, any time he wants.

They have a point

The you-know-what hit the fan today when Molly Born of the PG reported School tries to eliminate 'grinding' from Mt. Lebanon dances. I watched WTAE news this evening and recognized the reporter I saw this afternoon as I drove past the high school.  [Oh the irony of seeing a spelling error under Cissy Bowman's name at the 1:01 mark!]

The day of the homecoming dance Oct. 13, six students were cited for underage drinking, including a 16-year-old so intoxicated that a police officer had to carry her off the dance floor, said Lt. Aaron Lauth of the Mt. Lebanon Police Department.
Paramedics took the girl to St. Clair Hospital, then Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. Lt. Lauth had no update on her condition.

But the kids have a point, as usual:

The principal's Friday morning announcement wrongly made the grinding issue of chief concern, according to some students.

"I was mad because I think it's stupid that they're focusing on how we dance rather than on the drug and alcohol issues," junior Paulee Manich said.

How many kids were busted the day before graduation last year and walked? If you look on the UJS portal, it took several days before all the kids' names showed up. The story goes that there were so many kids busted that citations had to be mailed days later. I believe school board directors Kubit and Remely were overheard at Commencement talking about the kids who were busted. Yet, those kids walked.

I think the Policy Committee has their work cut out for them. A dancing policy should be implemented and endorsed by Len Goodman. How about enforcing the Alcohol Policy, Tim? Oh yeah, and get rid of the 21 Club, Blaise.