School Board is pulling a whopper!

On tonight's agenda are the following discussions:

Acceptance of 2017 Single Audit Report – The annual audit of the District’s finances has been completed by Maher Duessel CPAs and the results of the audit will be reported by Amy Lewis, CPA at the meeting. There are no findings or issues to report. The Superintendent recommends acceptance of the audit report.

Jo Posti is making her reset presentation tonight for the Century of Excellence Million Dollar Heist. This is what the late Nick Meduho had asked about at the last meeting, when Mary Birks said, "Nope." It is after the election and before the new board takes over.

Athletic Field Discussion - we already know that Bill Moorhead, Dan Remely, and the soccer ref's wife, Mary Birks will be going off the board and they are in favor of turfing everything in sight.

And then there is the Teachers Contract.

Letter of Engagement for Chief Negotiator – The Board is asked to consider the appointment Ira Weiss, Esq. as special counsel for teacher contract negotiations at a cost of $125 per hour plus training services of $1,500. The Superintendent recommends this appointment.

If these items are up for discussion, the board will be voting next week. It will be Birks, Remely, and Moorhead's last meeting. Ever. All of these items should be tabled for the new board! It looks like Mary is not going out quietly.

Change Orders and Contract for Chief Negotiator

Monday's School Board Meeting Agenda has a special item on the September Agenda:

Contract for Chief Negotiator – The Board will consider the appointment of special counsel for contract negotiations. 

Is this for the Teachers' Contract?

The annual contract for FindWealth software is up for renewal. Are we still in the Quiet Phase? Or have we bailed from fundraising efforts? Did we see anything in the budget in regard to fundraising?

Renewal of Wealth Engine Agreement –This is a renewal of an annual contract with Wealth Engine for Mt. Lebanon School District to use FindWealth software for donor qualification purposes. The cost will be $3,300 for the year. The Superintendent recommends approval of this agreement.

Also on the Agenda is the list of change orders for September:

The list of change orders for September totals $81,911 for the following contractors:  

a. GC-105-244 to Nello for $74,210 for wall patching and fireworking, door revisions and concrete work,

b. EL-66-245 to Farfield for $4,501 for concrete pad removal and light replacement, and

c. ME-27-246 to McKamish for $3,200 for ductwork.

While we are talking about how to spend $1.3 million...

Upper St. Clair is talking to teachers and saving $3.7 million. Upper St. Clair teachers accept concessions Yes, I realize I am talking about two different taxing bodies. What is Mt. Lebanon School District doing? "The List," which we should all be proud of, is cutting $878,991 out of the district budget by eliminating jobs and towels. USC's $3.7 million in savings does not include the savings as a result of the superintendent's and finance director's pay freezes. Here is a thought. Come up with a new teachers' contract, save jobs, and demand that Dr. Tim and Ms. Jan take pay freezes. Let the municipality buy a mower for the golf course, meet the FCC deadline by replacing the public works radio system, buy a stump grinder, replace the ice rink floor, fix the tennis center sidewalk and steps, upgrade the phone system, improve the drainage at Bird Park field, continue to improve the parks according to the Parks Master Plan, install 850 linear feet of sidewalk, buy 17 automatic external defibrillators, replace the fueling station, replace the security system at the Public Safety Building and Municipal Building, enhance the ice center facility, improve the community center rooms, replace the four year old watch commander vehicle, or put some in pensions. Spend the savings from contract concessions and administrative pay freezes on the best artificial turf available and build your own showcase fields.  Or better yet, put it back into education.

Follow up on my high school parking suggestion

At last night's Commission meeting, I had questioned if we could have students park in the school parking lot while teachers and staff park at the Mt. Lebanon Lutheran Church lot.  Dave Brumfield had heard that there were some obligations to the teachers that would not permit that.  Sorry, Dave, if I didn't quote you exactly.  I sent the commissioners links to the teachers' contract that I have posted on lebocitizens.com.  I have two links on my website, under The Facts, since one copy on the District website had a handwritten date on page 5 of the pdf of the CBA, while the other link had an undated copy on page 5 of the CBA pdf.

http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/2009/collectivebargainingagreement.pdf

http://www.mtlsd.org/district/stuff/2009/cba.pdf

I emailed the Collective Bargaining Agreement to the Commissioners last night and received this response from President Brumfield this morning.

Elaine,
Under any CBA, like the teachers contract conditions of employment cannot be unilaterally changed by the employer without the negotiated consent of the union.  The courts have held that such changes can constitute a grievance.  I apologize for giving the misleading shorter answer, the fact is the SD labor counsel should vigorously warn against taking the steps you recommended.
Dave

Thanks for clarifying that, Dave. I wish we could try.  You never know until you do.

Update 01 25 12 A resident/blog reader sent an audio clip of Bill Lewis' comment from the 01 23 12 Commission meeting.  The reader wrote, "The exchange between Mr. Lewis and the Commissioners concerning off-site parking during the HS construction is one of the best clips I've heard for a while, because it illustrates the arbitrary nature of local government enforcing its own laws." The first voice is that of Bill Lewis, followed by President Dave Brumfield and Solicitor Phil Weis.
Bill Lewis' comment 

Traffic plan needs tweaking

Email from the Washington School principal:

From: Mary Kay Davis <mdavis@mtlsd.net>
Date: Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Subject: Traffic Alert



We have noticed a deterioration in the traffic patterns here at Washington, especially on days of inclement weather. Please remember the safety of our children is our top priority. The parking lot across the street is a municipal lot. Parking violations such as double parking or parking in the handicap spot without proper tags can be ticketed. 

Pick-up and drop-off at Lawncroft has also become unnecessarily congested. Please remember there is NO parking on the left side of the street. Cars are asked to pull all the way down to allow for safe entrance into vehicles. This would allow for up to five cars to pick up their children and prevent cars from stopping side by side each other. Children should be entering and exiting the right side of vehicles from the side walk ONLY. Please do not encourage your child to walk through cars to get to your car. If you do not see your child when you approach the school, PLEASE circle around to keep the traffic flowing safely.

Please talk to your children about inclement weather plans: where to meet them and what they should do if they do not see you right away. 

The high school construction has begun and parking on the high school campus has changed. This has increased the traffic on Washington Road both in the mornings and the afternoons. High school students are now parking at the Mt. Lebanon Unitied Lutheran Church.

If unsafe situations continue to occur that jeopardize the safety of our students, I will need to request police presence to assist with the violations. Thank you for your assistance in keeping all of our children safe!

Sincerely,
Mary Kay Davis
Principal




If the Lutheran Church parking lot is restricted to teachers and staff, perhaps that would ease the traffic since they arrive at school earlier than the students. There is nothing in their contract about parking close to the school.  As mentioned in the email, it is about keeping all of our children safe.