This speaks volumes, Elaine and Mary.

Original publication date: 3/15/17 2:09 PM

Mt. Lebanon Democrats endorse School Board Directors

Last Wednesday, March 8, the Mt. Lebanon Democratic Committee endorsed the slate of Mike Riemer, Stephen Strotmeyer and Aviva Diamond for Mt. Lebanon School Directors.

We believe our candidates to be well educated, successful volunteers with a strong history of service to Mt. Lebanon, as well as, a desire to serve our District's students. This slate is composed of fresh thinkers who respect tradition, embrace accountability and innovation.

You can learn more about our endorsed candidates at

www.friendsofmtlebanoneducation.com

Let's play a game

What do the Mt. Lebanon Police Department, Mt. Lebanon Commissioners, Mt. Lebanon School Board Directors, and possibly Mt. Lebanon teachers and Mt. Lebanon Fire Department have in common?

Here are a couple of hints:

Paul Ryan and Capitol Hill interns

House GOP

More government waste UPDATED

From the August 15, 2016 MLSD Agenda:

Air Conditioning ­ RESOLVED, That the Board approves an agreement with Trane to provide engineering services for air conditioning at Mt. Lebanon Middle and Elementary Schools in an amount not to exceed $260,000, such agreement to be in a form approved by the Solicitor and the Superintendent

 This is one week after this was in The Almanac. Mt. Lebanon School Board weighs costs, benefits of air conditioning

After receiving more information at Monday night’s meeting, the board decided to table discussions in hopes of clarity in the next few months, when board members will decide whether to go along with the project that would cost between $5.6 and $6.1 million, according to project estimates completed by the engineering firm CJL. 

One aspect the board will consider in the near future will be paying the $285,000 engineering fee associated with the project, which will then determine a more specific price point if the district follows through with the project. 

“We constantly need to balance the need to do what we can to enhance the educational experience of our kids,” said Lawrence Lebowitz, board president. “In this case, it means air conditioning in our buildings, so they can be comfortable and perform to their best ability, while recognizing it comes with a cost.”

We know the answer will be that the school board directors will move forward with the project, so why spend the $260,000? Who are they kidding?

August 20, 2016 10:30 AM

And the new school board director is... UPDATED 2X

Mr. Stephen Strotmeyer.

Update August 16, 2016 8:40 AM I hesitated about publishing the first comment since it was anonymous. It sounded like a personal attack. After doing some research, I find that "Kru Stephen" is well known for his Muay Thai skills. [Did I say that correctly?]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biZ_QLxJzGk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdL8sW5-4gU

Update August 17, 2016 2:16 PM The District website announced the appointment of Mr. Stephen Strotmeyer. I have changed the original post and included the most recent photo of the new school board director.

Mr. Strotmeyer has plans to run for school board during next year's election. When interviews were taking place for Kristen Linfante's replacement, the commission ruled out the two candidates running for Ward 3, citing that it would give one of them an unfair advantage. Obviously, this is not the case since the election is not in the immediate future.

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.

Tone it down, guys

A comment was made on September 17, 2013 at 10:10 PM which is not sitting well with the Democratic Committee in Mt. Lebanon. In a personal email:

I know we have only met a couple of times but I consider you a friend. It was brought to my attention that our school directors were referred to as "whores" on a post that you permitted to appear on your blog. Several of these directors are my friends. How can I continue to be your friend if you allow this awful term to be used in relation to other friends?

I replied with:

Thank you for your email. I do appreciate your concern, however many of the comments published on my blog do not reflect my opinion. I do know that some of your friends have not been kind on my blog and elsewhere, so I hesitate to start editing comments. Freedom of speech is one of our constitutional rights. 

To which I received:

Please inform me in the future if any elected official from the Democratic Party addresses you w/such vulgarity.

So I am asking Lebo Citizens readers a favor. Could you please tone it down when referring to our school board? Even though these elected officials have hired a campaign manager to solicit funds to cover their extravagant spending habits, that doesn't make them...well, you know, that word. They can roll their eyes at us, treat us with disrespect, display open contempt, break the law during elections, submit hurtful anonymous posts to this blog, and cause us financial hardship, they are volunteers.

Thanks for your help.

School District Fund Balances

This comment on fund balances was posted under the thread, From Timmy's association. 

Anonymous said...
Legally speaking I don't believe the district has the ability to indefinitely carry these balances year after year. They should have been assigned every year by the end of the next fiscal year. But clearly that hasn't happened.
Perhaps this is another reason we need a new auditor.
August 5, 2013 at 10:07 AM

I thought that was an excellent point made. The short answer is, "Yes, they can." Not wanting to be accused of pulling a Posti, I base this answer on the following Pennsylvania School Board Association information.
PSBA FAQ: School District Fund Balances

There are different kinds of fund balances and advantages to maintaining a fund balance.

Q.  What is the benefit of maintaining a Fund Balance? A. In addition to the ability to generate interest income, a fund balance benefit occurs when a bond issue is required. Credit ratings of school districts and other public entities can be affected directly by the level of their fund balances; those with little or no money in reserve are considered to be higher risks and their ratings - along with their cost of borrowing, suffer accordingly.

About raising taxes and fund balances:

Q.  Are there formal guidelines or standards for a Fund Balance? A. Guidelines that exist offer three different methods. One relies on a formula where a predetermined number of months (usually one to three months) of operating expenditures are used. The other is used by the three major bond rating agencies - Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch. The rating agencies recommend between 5% and 10% of current period operating expenditures (budget). Section 688 of the school code says that when the fund balance exceeds between 8 and 12% of expenditures, depending on the size of the budget, the district must consume any fund balance in excess of 8% prior to increasing taxes. 

Where do we stand as far as percentages?

About policies concerning fund balances:

Q.  Should there be a formal policy concerning fund balance? A. Yes. The board should adopt the standard that best suits the district.

 The School Board has such a policy. Use of Surplus Funds, Policy DFAA

1. The Unreserved Fund Balance will be set at six percent of budgeted expenditures;

2. Upon the completion of the annual fiscal audit, all funds in excess of this amount will be
transferred to the Capital Projects Fund and/or the Post Employment Benefits Trust Fund, unless such funds exceed 8% of budgeted expenditures. If such funds exceed 8%, those funds in excess of 8% will be allocated at the Board’s discretion;

I had asked about investing funds. There is a policy for that too. Investment of School District Funds, Policy DFA According to Timmy's August 2012 introduction to the 2012-13 budget posted on the School District website,

The School Board is working diligently to reduce the impact of the additional cost of that second bond issue on the tax rate on the community by discussing different bond payment schedules and setting money aside in the Capital Projects Fund to offset the need to borrow money for this project.

If what Timmy writes is true, and why would it not be, why isn't the board using the money being set aside in the Capital Projects Fund to offset the need to borrow money for this project?

I am still waiting to see the 2013-14 budget and the other options for financing the final amount needed to fund the high school renovation. It is August 6, 2013 and nothing has been posted on the district website.

Our School Board Would Never Do This

Since the following news item had been sent to me by multiple readers, I thought it would be interesting to post the article on Lebo Citizens.

State lawmaker acknowledges making anonymous online posts, apologizes

Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, attacked constituents, who support shale-gas drilling in Washington, anonymously online.

“It was a shock that he would go to this, (that) a public official who's an educated man would go to this depth of harassing people when he doesn't have to.

“He can debate and have his opinion. And he doesn't have to bash his constituents.”

White's statement:

These attacks have included anonymous or fictitious posts on various websites,” White, 34, said in an emailed statement. “On occasion, I have exercised my First Amendment rights and responded in kind, which was an error in judgment that I regret.

“To be clear, I did not use government resources while posting comments on these sites.”

Here in Mt. Lebanon, we know our school board would never do this. Elaine Cappucci has told me flat out at a budget meeting that she has no desire to write on my blog. In a phone call to me, Mary Birks said that she works full time and doesn't have the time or the desire to read my blog. Of course, the heaviest blog traffic is during work hours on weekdays.  Certainly Central Administration would never read this blog, let alone post on it. Even our Municipal and District public information officers, would never post anonymously.