Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Proposed Rifle Range Moved!



That pesky federal Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990, which got in the way of killing deer next to my house in Rockwood Park, forced commissioners to rethink their decision about putting the rifle range within 1,000 feet of Myrtle Avenue Elementary School.

I commend the Keystone Oaks School District for taking this stand. Unlike our superintendent who, in the next couple of weeks, will be issuing his annual statement about students staying on sidewalks while "sharpshooters" will be firing high-powered rifles starting at 4 PM in undisclosed (with the PA Supreme Court's blessings) neighborhoods for the next two months.


And to show how committed our Public Information Office is to getting the word out, the link to the FAQ Sharpshooting Program 2018 has been broken since December 5, 2017.

Forget 10 AM starts vs. 2 Hour Delays

This is the way to do it!


Protesting Super's Pay Increase

A teacher in Louisiana was hauled off in handcuffs at a school board meeting for protesting the superintendent's pay increase. Teacher’s Arrest For Criticizing Boss’ Pay Raises ‘Serious Constitutional Concerns,’ ACLU Says Here in Mt. Lebanon, teachers may be more subtle.

Watching Monday's school board meeting, I don't know how our superintendent can sit at a school board meeting and not be uncomfortable. Finance director, Jan Klein was talking about the "preliminary budget," once referred to as the "fake budget." She said that she has salaries at 3% (39:25 time stamp). She also emphasized that everything is an unknown at this point, especially with the teachers' contract.

Why should the teachers settle for a 3% increase, when Timmy is sitting there pulling in a 6% increase this July? We have the old school board to thank for that brilliant contract.

We don't have teachers being arrested over our super's pay increases, but it should be interesting to see what the new teachers' contract will cost Mt. Lebanon. Thanks to Timmy and his supporters for putting us in this position. A special thanks to Elaine Cappucci who played a major part in that decision and will be voting to accept the teachers' contract for her son.

Monday, January 8, 2018

Unblocked. No apology, no explanation, nothing but an admission.

From: Timothy Steinhauer <tsteinhauer@mtlsd.net>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Mike Riemer <MRiemer@mtlsd.net>; Sarah Olbrich <solbrich@mtlsd.net>
Subject: Re: "Can you get away with this in your District?"
Date: Mon, Jan 8, 2018 11:38 am

Dear Ms. Gillen,

At your request, you have been unblocked from the @mtlsdsuper Twitter account.

On Mon, Jan 8, 2018 at 9:11 AM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:
School board directors,

For those of you who do not read my blog, this post appeared on my blog on January 5, 2018.

Still no response from our superintendent or any of you. 

Elaine Gillen


Lebo Citizens isn't "Just" for Mt. Lebanon residents. Over the seven plus years of this blog, I have a following of readers from neighboring communities. Especially interested are those from surrounding school districts. This post is for you. Thanks for reading Lebo Citizens...

Timothy Steinhauer's  January 8, 2018 11:38 AM email 

More unbalanced reporting from Hayes

I stopped subscribing to the PG because of their "Outdoor Editor" John Hayes and his unbalanced "reporting." I got what I expected to read when someone forwarded a link to his article in yesterday's PG. In Michigan, a deer management experiment scrapped in Mt. Lebanon begins its second season

The PA Game Commission's mouthpiece is buying into the BS that deer killer Tony DeNicola is dishing out. Who else would be charging to kill 250 deer during a non-lethal "experiment?" Why does baiting not work during frigid temperatures OR milder temperatures? In either scenario, DeNicola is justifying his failures. 

Hayes also forgot to mention that DeNicola originally quoted MTL commissioners $250 per deer for "sharpshooting." This year, our commissioners are willing to pay $771.10 per deer, even more lucrative than Timmy's annual increases! That is based on killing 100 deer. What will be the true cost this year?  We will learn more in April, after DeNicola has cashed his check.

Saturday, January 6, 2018

KQV Tribute

EG:
My favorite Internet radio station, REWOUNDRADIO.COM, is having a KQV tribute show today from noon until 3pm, featuring air checks from the following jocks:
- Jim Quinn 1/21/68
- Bob Wood 1/21/71
- Chuck Brinkman 1/9/72
Thought you like to know.
RG

Friday, January 5, 2018

Can you get away with this in your District? UPDATED 010818

Lebo Citizens isn't "Just" for Mt. Lebanon residents. Over the seven plus years of this blog, I have a following of readers from neighboring communities. Especially interested are those from surrounding school districts. This post is for you. Thanks for reading Lebo Citizens.

For several years, I have been emailing our superintendent and school board directors about being blocked from following and/or viewing the superintendent's Twitter account.














Tucker Arensberg's Tom Peterson is our solicitor. He was emailed concerning this issue. Over the years that I have been emailing the school board about this, we have had three attorneys sitting on the school board. They all understand the ramifications of the superintendent's actions blocking a taxpayer from a District Twitter account. Here is the latest email sent to the superintendent with copies to the school board.

You may wonder why I am able to have his Twitter feed in the right sidebar. I was able to embed the HTML code of his Twitter feed onto my blog so that everyone has access to it. I was also able to follow his Twitter account as @notElaineGillen. Pathetic, isn't it?

As you can see, his Tweets and Retweets are also pathetic. They are not the caliber that you would expect from the highest paid superintendent in the Pittsburgh area. He will also get a SIX PERCENT increase on July 1, 2018.

So why am I so concerned about being blocked? It is the principle of the thing. I am a Mt. Lebanon resident and taxpayer. Recently, I brought this up on a local Facebook group, which resulted in an hour long attack by a PTA officer, which was liked by yet another attorney! Being readers of this blog, you know the ending of that story. Ultimately, I was kicked out of that group.

I am asking you if you can get away with this behavior in your school districts? Would your school board directors condone this? Do you have a sweet contract like this one? Amendment to Mt. Lebanon Superintendent's Contract Under terms of Dr. Steinhauer's contract, his salary increase for the 2017-2018 is 5.5%, resulting in a salary of $205,492.

I'm still debating how I am going to proceed with this. I am not getting any answers from anyone.

Update January 8, 2018 12:18 PM After all these years, the superintendent unblocked me from the @mtlsdsuper Twitter account.

Letter to the Editor

Television, radio, newspapers and social conversations are full of complaints, but we forget that we are the ones responsible for putting them there. Last November, in Mt. Lebanon's election for a commissioner, this was made very clear to me.

The Republican candidate's name is on a plaque naming him the community's "outstanding citizen." He is a life time resident. He is a very active volunteer for the fire department, (including teaching the classes for citizens and fund raising). There are very few community events he doesn't actively participate in.

The Democrat candidate has been a resident for four years. In that time, he has made no known contribution to our community but has managed to get three police citations, one involving drunkenness.

The Democrat won (14% to 12%) simply because Democrat registrations far out-number Republican. As long as people vote a straight party ticket; instead of taking the time to learn about the experience, ability and character of the candidate, we will get exactly what we've got. The strength of our democracy depends on voter wisdom and participation in all elections.

Ann Roper
Mt. Lebanon, PA

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Yes, sad day

Mt. Lebanon Magazine

Congratulations to new Commissioner Craig Grella, who was sworn in this evening by his good neighbor District Judge Blaise Larotonda.



1.1K Views

Comments
JoAnne Bova Mt Lebanon Magazine you can’t even get the right ward. Really? Sad day!
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Reply9h
Mt. Lebanon Magazine Sorry, Ward 4. Once elected, however, a commissioner is charged with making good decisions for the entire community. We do not identify commissioners by ward or party in Mt. Lebanon Magazine for that reason.





Nice try, Mt. Lebanon Magazine. The original post read Ward 2. As someone wrote to me privately,
"This is just another example of the bias flip flopping of this magazine. You can not trust this magazine. They either have things wrong or it's out dated. Maybe they should research into the depths of the Commissioners "Good" neighbor and how he has the power to dismiss violations."

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

For Posterity UPDATED 010318

I belong to a closed group on Facebook called "Just" a Mt. Lebanon Housewife. There are over a thousand members in the group. It is a good group, with lots of suggestions, tips, and support. Last night, there was a lively, but civil discussion about school delays. It boiled down to the pros and cons of 10:00 AM starts vs. two hour delays. It brought back lots of memories and reminded me of how tough parenting can be, especially when trying to juggle family responsibilities and work.

A couple of members had several threads going at the same time, both pertaining to today's delay.

This post, however, got ugly.
Original Post 
Diane Wissler Rattay
Mt. Lebanon schools will have a 10:00 start for students and a modified Kindergarten schedule on Tuesday, January 2, due to weather conditions.


[Asking group members to sign up for Twitter and Tweet the Superintendent]

This would be an awesome reason to sign up! You know you want to!! All your friends are doing it! </Peer pressure>

When it was originally called, the wind chill advisory was until 9am, so I get it. It has been extended until noon on Weds, now.

Diane Wissler Rattay I would tweet, but can't. He blocked me on Twitter.








Elaine Trigg Gillen - if you criticized, name called & publicly humiliated me, the way you have him & others, I'd block you, too.

And now it gets ugly. He is a public servant who is blocking a taxpayer from a School District Twitter Account. Give me a six percent raise and pay me over $200,000 a year, and you can call me anything you want. Heck, people do it to me now and I don't get paid a cent.

There's nothing ugly about my statement, it's truth. Not once have I seen you at a school board meeting, offering your opinions. Hiding behind a keyboard & monitor, making veiled threats, accusations & bullying is what's ugly. I'd be careful, if I were you. Someday, someone is going to strike back & sue you for slander, defamation of character, and a slew of others. But what do I know? I'm just a Mt. Lebanon Housewife.

Diane, you might want to check all the recordings of every school board meeting from 2010-2014 on my website lebocitizens.com. Guess who recorded them? Me. I attended every single meeting until the school board directors were so rude that I stopped going. Take the time and listen to them. I was polite. They were not. I don't hide behind a keyboard. I don't make veiled threats. I back up everything I say with facts. It isn't slander or defamation of character if it is true.

That's just golden who liked your comment.
[Libby Windsor, Susan Morgans’ daughter]

I'm sure she doesn't like her mother being called names.

Again, pay me over $100,000 a year and get paid to go to NYC, and write about drinking in Napa, you can call me anything you want. I don't get a dime. Her mother has gone after me several times at commission meetings. It has all been recorded. Again, facts.

Dozens of people I know are paid to travel. And many of them make more than $100,000. Maybe Ms. Morgans deserves a raise.

That may be true. I am sure she will get one. Do you feel better now?

I was never feeling poorly.

You have taken a post about a 10:00 AM start and turned it into bashing me.

Actually, I haven't said one negative thing about you.

Please stop. It is going on an hour.

Have a good evening, Ms. Gillen.

******

The post, in its entirety, was removed by the administrator of the group. I don't believe I know Diane Rattay, but she sure knew me. It turns out that she is a PTA Vice President. She also chairs half the committees at that school. 

I have decided to post this thread on Lebo Citizens for posterity. I hope that the readers were not turned off and still wrote to the school board, asking them to consider going back to two hour delays, instead of 10:00 AM starts.

Update January 2, 2018 8:47 PM Peters Township is leaving the final decision up to parents.  District says students who are absent or tardy will be excused.

Update January 3, 2018 7:20 PM I have been kicked out of the Secret Facebook Group.
You are unable to see the contents of this group because you are no longer a member.
The group was not happy that I shared the deleted post on this blog. They wanted me to remove it, and just keep it our little secret. Diane published a link to this post and shared it with the thousand members. Diane also asked me to remove the name of the school where she is PTA Vice President, which I did. In addition, the PTA President of the school asked me to delete the post, which I won't. She was defending Diane for all the wonderful work she does for PTA. I guess she didn't realize that we had kids at Foster School from 1973-2004. We outlasted Barbara Float! Both my husband and I were members of PTA. When he was disabled, he went to all the Mellon PTA meetings. Instead of focusing on the hour long bashing of me, the "ladies" were upset with how I reacted to the bashing. Why does it remind me of an abusive relationship where the victim is told not to tell anyone what happened? I have a feeling that Diane is still a member of "Just" a Mt. Lebanon Housewife and they can continue to bash me and this blog. I loved how the members were thanking the two administrators of the secret Facebook group for all the work they do keeping the Facebook page going. I thought that was pretty funny. The administrator then removed Diane's link to my blog and the comments that went with it and said to knock it off. Then I was kicked out of "the sisterhood."

The moral of the story is that PTA rules this town and don't mess with them. One woman was very concerned that I would post their inner most secrets on the blog. I told her that I only shared what was directed toward me and my comments. Not good enough. I was kicked out.