For those offended by the snow removal criticism and other sacred cows

Mt. Lebanon sacred cows continue to increase. Add Public Works to the list. On Nextdoor, a person made the mistake of questioning snow removal this year. Most of the comments have been civil, but there are always those who become very defensive. It turns out that this year has not been as good for a reason. The answer is on Monday's commission agenda.

The municipality is buying two trucks for snow removal.  See? There was a problem. Funding for these vehicles has been appropriated in the 2018 municipal budget. 

Block parties has been on the sacred cow list for a couple of years now. In fact, remember how our now commission president got one of his Sleepy Hollow buddies all fired up and came to my door to tell me to mind my own business? The police ended up going to his house and told him that the next time, he will be arrested for trespassing. See Another unexpected visitor Also, a member of our PIO's family received preferential treatment, also from the same street.

On Monday's Commission Discussion Session agenda, FIFTEEN minutes will be devoted to reviewing the block party street list. I will be curious to see if Sleepy Hollow and Roycroft will be added to the "OK to have a block party" list. A certain school board director, also on the sacred cow list, may have the power to get her family and friends hired in the district, so it will be interesting to see if she carries any weight with the municipality and gets Roycroft approved.

It pays to say "shit show" at a school board meeting.

I got a copy of Monday night's personnel report which was approved by the school board. The very first entry on the personnel report lists Capital Campaign Board Member and potty mouth Beth Evans' daughter as being appointed as a permanent substitute English teacher at the high school.

Beth Evans lived across the street from the Cappucci family, and their teacher kids went to school together.

Also on the lengthy report shows the special education teacher at the high school, where her husband is the principal. I wonder if she works under her husband.

This shouldn't be happening! UPDATED 1/17/18

From: Timothy Steinhauer

Sent: Monday, January 15, 8:21 PM

Subject: Re: Blocked on Twitter...

To: Middle School Parent

Cc: schoolboardemaillist@mtlsd.net

Thanks for your request. You will be unblocked once I log back into my account. I am pleased that your wish to follow my tweets. This has been a great environment to spread the good activities that occur throughout the District. 

Best wishes,

Tim

On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 8:01 PM, Middle School Parent wrote:

Dear Board:

I am blocked from seeing Dr. Steinhauer's tweets. Is there anything that can be done about this?

Update January 17, 2018 5:43 AM This is why Timmy shouldn't be blocking ANYONE. I was assured when he unblocked me that he wasn't blocking anyone now. Why is he blocking anyone? This is what the middle school parent had been missing until two days ago.

This is so wrong!

A Nice Change

With the new school board majority, I noticed a subtle change on the January 15, 2018 Agenda. Who can find it?

Hint: It is NOT the potential millage increase of .73 mills. I said, "Nice."

On the school district website, Timmy is quoted:

We won't see that this year.

It's really not difficult

During all the "Just" drama, I read women thanking the moderators for managing their Facebook groups. Not having a Facebook group myself, I thought, "How tough can it be?" So I started one. And guess what? It's not!

The group that I started is for a local sewing group. It is considered a "secret group," meaning it will not show up in a search. Instead, you have to be added by a member or a moderator. It may be the answer for my Lebo Citizens blog.

I won't get ten hits a day from Timmy, Jan Klein, or the PIO. I won't get hits from Tucker Arensberg when Timmy or school board directors gets cranky. Think of the benefits. Productivity would increase. Billable hours would be reduced.

On my Facebook group, I don't get anonymous comments where I am called a c***. Telling me to move out of Mt. Lebanon just doesn't happen. No hideous comments about my poor husband. Remarks about my "miserable life" are non-existent. I can still share documents, links, and photos.

I do see some disadvantages. You would have to be on Facebook. You would have to email me at EGillen476@aol.com, if you want to become a member or rely on another member to join. Circulation would decrease. But who cares? It would slow down the haters.

My Facebook group is a delight. I'm going to give this some serious thought.

Throwing more money away on Virginia Manor decorating guide

Back in 2015, the Historic Preservation Board, along with staff liaison Susan Morgans spent $25,000 on a decorating guide for Virginia Manor. See Oops, there goes $25K The commissioners scrapped the idea. Then in my February 2017 post, Commissioners, please save Christmas for discriminating residents, I predicted that the Historic Preservation Board will ask the commission to revisit the decorating guide. Guess what was in today's Administrative Report. I called it!

This is the same group that wanted to keep brick streets in Ward 1. How much is this online design costing taxpayers this time? 

Proposed Rifle Range Moved!

Mt. Lebanon moves site of proposed rifle range

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.

Bullets never cross sidewalks.

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.

Fire on Pinoak

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/01/08/mt-lebanon-pinoak-house-fire-woman-rescued/

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.

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

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