SOS

Monday's school board meeting agenda has been posted. Same old... "Typical for this time of year."

Oct. 8, 2012 School Board Discussion Meeting agenda


The shell game continues.

Ratification of June 30, 2012 List of Budgetary Transfers – The list of budgetary transfers to close the books on June 30, 2012 is required by law. It is a lengthy list totaling $2,435,420 and reflects transfers from and to budgetary accounts which have or need additional funding. Last year the list totaled $1,685,433. The superintendent recommends approval of this list.

Audit Report for Year Ending June 30, 2012 – Annually, the independent audit firm, Maher Duessel, CPAs, completes a financial audit of the District financial records. A draft of the audit report will be presented and reviewed by Amy Lewis, CPA and Dave Duessel, CPA. The final audit report will be complete for Board action at the October 15, 2012 meeting. The superintendent recommends approval and acceptance of the report.

More change orders, of course.

Change Orders for High School Project – This month there are a number of change orders for the Board to consider.

a. #PL-02-11 for $2,189 to Vrabel Plumbing for temporary water to B building for asbestos abatement when water lines were offline during construction.

b. #PL-03-12 for ($19,776) to Vrabel Plumbing to credit the District for reusing rain conductors rather than replacing them since the current ones are in good condition.

c. #AB-01-13 for $12,828 to Precision for Asbestos abatement to an unforeseen area hidden in the wall in a shaft. 

d. #FP-01-14 for $3,593 to Simplex Grinnell for temporary work required for Fire Department regulations to keep building B open while we are occupied during phasing.

e. #IN-01-02 for $5,866 to Farfield Electric for the balance of the cost of the temporary generators as part of the large insurance claim. This will be covered by insurance and will be a deduct change order once the final accounting for the claim is complete.

The total cost of all these change orders is $4,700. These have been reviewed by the architect, construction manager, Rick Marciniak and Jan Klein. The superintendent recommends them for approval.

I hope they did the math correctly this time.

And finally, for discussion:

1. Feasibility Study – The Board will discuss the Feasibility Study that was presented by Pursuant Ketchum.

2. Strategic Plan – The Board will hear a presentation regarding the District’s Strategic Planning efforts.

Obviously, the Board will be sharing all the topics that were discussed at their three coffees. The feasibility study has been a hot topic here. "Direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan", Tim Steinhauer's Number Two goal, was delegated to a facilitator and committee.  Our tax dollars at work.

Vote early and vote often?

In the November 2011 Board President Report, Josephine Posti wrote about the steps of the Stakeholder‐Driven Strategic Planning process.

At the October 17, 2011 School Board meeting, the School Board voted to pay Mr. Ewy $1,000 a day plus expenses, not to exceed $15,000.

So what are we getting for $15,000? We can get our money's worth by voting over and over again on the District website Strategic Plan Survey. According to a Lebo Alert, we can go to the Municipal Building and Public Library to get paper copies. According to the District website, paper surveys will be available in the lobby of C-28 at the high school.

I am no expert in surveys, but I have run a few polls on this blog. I have found that if Blogger is working properly, one can vote once per computer. Polls on Blogger are free. The District Survey - $15,000.

One thing I found out was, having multiple answers disqualifies the validity of the results. When adding up the percentages, the results would be well over 100%. That cost me nothing to discover. The District survey demographics, allowing multiple answers - $15,000.

The District website states that the results will be reviewed by Strategic Plan Steering Committee members, District administrators, and Board members. One of Dr. Steinhauer's goals for this year:

The Superintendent will direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan.

To see "Provide support to retain top quality administrators" on a survey that will be reviewed by District administrators and one of the Superintendent's goals, isn't that kinda, well...self-serving?

How much money is this costing us in District administrators' salaries? The School Board voted to pay Mr. Ewy $1,000 a day. This is one expensive, invalid survey. Mine are free.

Strategic Plan Survey

From: Dr. Tim Steinhauer [mailto:noreply@mtlsd.net]
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 7:22 PM
Subject: MTLSD Strategic Plan Survey

[Attachments to this email can be found by clicking on the links at the bottom]

Dear Mt. Lebanon Parents,

The Mt. Lebanon School Board has initiated a District Strategic Planning process. A key component of this process is to receive input from a survey from students, parents, staff, and community members that will be used to set District priorities for the next six years.

The survey is short, taking about five minutes of your time. The survey asks for basic demographic information and then presents four multiple choice questions and two open-ended questions regarding priorities you believe to be important for the District to consider. The list of responses to each of these questions was developed by a Steering Committee made up of a cross-section of community members. Please complete the survey by May 1, 2012. Click the link at the bottom of this email to take the survey.

Thank you for your participation in this most important process. Your answers to this survey will be reviewed by Strategic Plan Steering Committee members, District administrators, and Board members.

Sincerely,
Timothy Steinhauer Ed.D.

Attachment: http://forms.mtlsd.org/StrategicPlanSurvey

---

MTLSD DISCLAIMER: THIS TRANSMISSION IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE ADDRESSEE AND MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT IS PRIVILEGED, CONFIDENTIAL, AND EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, OR THE EMPLOYEE OR AGENT RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING THE MESSAGE TO THE INTENDED RECIPIENT, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT ANY DISSEMINATION, RETENTION, DISTRIBUTION, OR COPYING OF THIS COMMUNICATION IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS COMMUNICATION IN ERROR, PLEASE NOTIFY THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY.

According to the MTLSD Disclaimer at the bottom of Dr. Steinhauer's email, I guess I am doing another no-no since I am copying this communication and distributing it on this blog. My bad.

B.Y.O.T.

While Dr. Steinhauer pitches his technology presentation on "Bring Your Own Technology" and the sports groups plead for more fields, in addition to the multi million dollars being spent for the high school sports facility, here is what Chartiers Valley is doing with their money. They are providing 1,325 laptops to their high school students.  The students will return them upon graduation.

While our school board discusses the pluses and minuses of auxiliary gyms, spends almost two months discussing Blue Devil blue, and sports groups rally for more fields, CV students are enjoying the smell of new computers.  Go Blue!

Update: Chartiers Valley secondary students each to get computer,

The One-to-One laptop initiative came about because of feedback from parents, faculty and administrators during last fall's strategic planning process, which determined that integrating technology would improve student enthusiasm for learning and consequently boost achievement.

In Mt. Lebanon, the school board directors will be getting new laptops, to replace the ones that were supplied in the "Go Paperless" test a year ago.