School Board Members CAN disagree!

During the school board meeting on Monday night, there was a heated discussion concerning allowing Mt. Lebanon High School students whose family has moved out of the district to continue to attend on a tuition basis. Currently, there is a policy which allows high school seniors to continue to attend until graduation. This was brought up during policy committee meeting. The discussion was initiated by our super Super who had a request from a junior who wished to complete her Mt. Lebanon High School education, even though the family moved out of the district.  Timmy wanted to have the ability to make the decision on a case by case basis.

Dan Remely, Ed Kubit, and Larry Lebowitz brought up some excellent points as to why this is not a good idea. Elaine Cappucci wants to change the policy and if it doesn't work, change it back. I believe the final outcome of the discussion was to have strict guidelines and it would be up to Timmy's discretion.

This policy change will appear on next week's agenda. To hear the discussion via the Lebo Citizens podcast, the time stamp is 31:30.

On a side note, the CDC says that kids are getting way too much salt in their diets. The culprit? Pizza.
Those pizza lunches might not be such a good idea, Tim. It was already a bad idea for kids who must follow a gluten-free diet. But for a school district who has no problem exposing kids to toxic turf, I guess this is nothing in the scheme of things.

Who is spineless?

I am sure it is too late to make a difference, just a few hours before the School Board passes another raise for our superintendent. I thought it would be interesting for the community to see an article that was in the Sept. 28, 2012 High School newspaper. In summary, the Devil's Advocate editorial talks about consequences and how school policies are not enforced.

As high school students, we understand that consequences are sometimes deserved and a natural part of growing up. But we also know the difference between a strict policy and an empty threat.

The night before graduation last June, a number of high school seniors were cited for drinking or drugs when the police broke up a party. Almost every student was able to walk at graduation.

Why do we have a Policy Committee? Why do we have policies which aren't enforced? There aren't consequences. I pointed that out at a policy committee meeting on more than one occasion. We have a District website that is not updated, complete with spelling errors. We have a school board president who doesn't cite her sources [plagiarism for anyone else.]

The School Board is a disgrace. Giving out salary increases while charging students to park, cutting staff, not meeting AYP, while their "What did you do today to improve the life of a child?" mantra is a joke.  Who is really spineless in Mt. Lebanon? Sorry, School Board Directors, but the kids are on to you.

The Parking Chair

Josephine Posti reports on her blog that "Students have been observing parking and walking restrictions." We did have a recommendation made by a Lebo Citizens blog reader for residents on Main Entrance.  They should resort to using "The Parking Chair." This would eliminate any "issues" concerning parking on side streets.



Photo by Jennifer Ciroli

I am not sure that is necessary [or legal], particularly since Jo Posti's relatives on Main Entrance said that everything was good in the 'hood when this all started.

While I was looking up some school policies, I stumbled upon this policy, Policy ECE TRAFFIC AND PARKING REGULATIONS. I advise parents to read this, especially those who use Hoover for football practice.

The speed limit for all vehicles on all school property, including parking lots, streets, roadways and play areas, is 15 miles per hour. No vehicles (other than District authorized vehicles) are permitted on tracks, ball fields, lawns or District property other than roadways and parking areas.

Just last week, a car was parked on the field. The person who observed this found it ironic since the sports groups complain about the condition of our fields.

Another point of interest is:

Student vehicles parked on District property are subject to search by the District and/or law enforcement authorities at any time for any reason, with or without notice. General and random searches (including canine sniff searches) are authorized. Students should have no expectation of privacy as to vehicles on District property. Parking is a privilege, not a right, and student parking permits will be issued only where students and/or parents consent to such searches. Refusal to cooperate in such searches may result in loss of parking privileges as well as disciplinary action.

This raises some questions in my mind. Are student vehicles subject to search by the District and/or law enforcement authorities at the Mt. Lebanon Lutheran Church or municipal parking, such as Dixon? Now that the students have to pay for parking, is it still a privilege? We still are not sure about the District's right to enforce anything on municipal parking lots, are we? Are they allowed to charge for student parking on municipal lots?

I recommend that the Policy Committee review Policy ECE after they cook the books, I mean, review the policies concerning "Purchasing Authority" and "Construction Contracts, Bidding and Awards."