No answers, but a nice pay increase

The Almanac has an article in this week, ML superintendent gets increase in pay. (Saved in Google Docs.)

Mt. Lebanon School Board voted 8-1 to grant superintendent Dr. Tim Steinhauer a 4 percent pay raise on Oct. 15, bringing the superintendent's 2012-2013 salary to $157,477.

Board vice-president Elaine Cappucci said, "Dr. Steinhauer sets the bar high and is always looking for continuous improvement."

She summarized the board's goals for the superintendent over the coming year, which include operating the district in a fiscally responsible manner, continuing to manage the district's high school renovation and advancing learning through technology. Cappucci also highlighted the superintendent's key role in the district's upcoming capital campaign, through which the board hopes to raise $6 million.

Yes, Dr. Steinhauer is always looking for continuous improvement. His thought provoking Post It Note in a previous thread, What is his sentence? inspired a resident to seek the answers to Tim's two questions twice in separate meetings. Dr. Steinhauer has yet to answer those questions.  Here is his latest response.

From: TSteinhauer@mtlsd.net
Subject: Question
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:42:05 +0000

Dear Mr. Huston – Last night you seemed to be referencing a posting on the Superintendent’s blog (August 31, 2012). As I noted below the posting the idea came from author Daniel Pink. Below are links to a couple of videos posted on his blog that may give you more insight into this idea. If you want a more detailed understanding, I would suggest that you read one of his books – Drive and/or A Whole New Mind.

http://www.danpink.com/2011/01/whats-your-sentence-the-video

http://www.danpink.com/2010/03/9th-graders-ask-themselves-whats-my-sentence

Best wishes -

Timothy J. Steinhauer

Superintendent of Schools

Mt. Lebanon School District

7 Horsman Drive

Pittsburgh, PA 15228

412-344-2076

What did you do today to improve the life of a child?

The Almanac article continues to summarize Dr. Steinhauer's goals, which have finally been posted on the District website. I don't see how Dr. Steinhauer is very deserving.

Here are Steinhauer's goals since he has been with Mt. Lebanon.
2009-2010
2010-2011
2011-2012

Posti, by phone said that Steinhauer is currently managing the second largest construction project in Allegheny County. What a scary thought. What happened to Terrence Kushner? http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/a-newsmaker-you-should-know-educator-will-manage-logistics-of-high-school-project-292399/

http://www.mtlsd.org/district/HeadlineArticle.asp?HLP_ID=1342&HL_ID=866

http://jposti.blogspot.com/2011/03/owners-liaison-hired.html

Is this the reason why we are not hearing about  him anymore?
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/fans-back-upper-st-clair-principal-in-courtside-conduct-controversy-468455/?print=1
Did Joe put his foot down? Why aren't we seeing Timmy's USC buddy in any RTKs?

No answers, but he is very deserving.

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.

"Don't let this happen again."

The Class of 1972 High School Reunion took place this weekend. What a hoot! Our 30th reunion drew 86 people. Ten years later, social media made a huge difference. We had close to 250 people in attendance.

Besides seeing all my fellow classmates, I got the biggest kick out of a picture of the Academic Games Team that had appeared in our yearbooks forty years ago.  Below is "the rest of the story"as told forty years later.

In the early 80's, a secretary at the school district office was working late. Her boyfriend came to pick her up, and she told him to look through the old yearbooks till she finished. He started laughing at one of the pictures. Turns out he was an ex navy signal corps man. The secretary showed the picture to an administrator, and apparently more than 10 years after we graduated, it got circulated to faculty members with the admonition, "Don't let this happen again.”

I was reminded of the sit-in we had because we were not allowed to wear jeans to school. We won that battle. We reminisced about the renovation. Saw pictures of the renovation very much like the ones posted on the Superintendent's blog and MTLSD website.  Sad to learn that 52 people had passed away. Happy to see old friends again.

All in all, a great weekend.  Thank you, Reunion Committee!

The School Board is on a Roll! UPDATED 10/19/17

I noticed that a whole year of videos have been removed from the school district website.  Mt. Lebanon School District Multimedia Channel The only videos posted are from the last six meetings, August through October.

One of the meetings removed was from early May where Mary's report includes being caught voting on Outreach contracts. Get rid of the evidence, Mary. Atta Girl!

Update October 19, 2017 7:09 AM The district continues to update its website. Mary's scathing President's Report for October has been uploaded. However, Timmy's reports have been stripped down to one month - August 2017. The Superintendent's blog had been removed months ago. His goals for the 2017-2018 school year are MIA, but 2016-2017 goals are still up.  Even though eighteen school board meetings videos have been removed, concerts and plays are still available as early as June 10, 2008. The school board is in lockdown mode. Instead of a "reset," the board should be thinking about a District Detox. I hope November 7, 2017 will mark the beginning of such detox.

Timmy's Twitter Travels

School board president Elaine Cappucci said, “this has been an exceptional year for our district and Dr. Steinhauer has proven an effective and capable leader. He has achieved all the goals the board set for him, including sound fiscal management and supervision of the high school project. Multiple measures of student achievement have also shown improvement.” Read more: Mt. Lebanon approves new bond issue

His goals:

Superintendent Performance Goals 2012-2013

1. Fiscal Management- The Superintendent will operate the District in a fiscally responsible manner. 2. High School Project – The Superintendent will continue the District’s efforts to build/renovate the High School. 3. Strategic Plan – The Superintendent will implement strategies to accomplish the goals established by the new Strategic Plan. 4. Student Achievement – The Superintendent will maintain or improve student achievement. 5. Collaboration/Communication – The Superintendent will collaborate and engage members of the school community. 6. Technology – The Superintendent will advance student and adult learning through the use of Technology.

**********

Our proven effective and capable leader received a 4 percent salary increase. Read what he sent to parents yesterday:

Subject: Back to School Message from the Superintendent
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:32:21 -0400

Dear Mt. Lebanon Parents and/or Guardians,

This is always an exciting time for us as we anticipate the return of students for another new school year. All of our schools are ready for the first day-we can’t wait to see your children. 

School begins on Tuesday, September 3, 2013. 

• Elementary School starts at 8:30 a.m.
• High School and Middle School start at 8:00 a.m.

Throughout the summer we have been busy refining our curriculum and instruction, cleaning and maintaining our buildings, hiring new teachers and staff, and improving our knowledge and skills as educators. Our guiding philosophy of continuous improvement necessitates that we constantly look for opportunities to get better in what we do. 

Of great significance is the progress we’ve made at the high school. In the coming school year many new and renovated spaces will begin to open. As these spaces open to student, staff, and community use – I know you’ll be impressed. 

Enjoy the final few days of summer vacation and don’t hesitate to contact your building principal or me with any questions. I look forward to welcoming the students back on September 3. 

Best wishes for a great school year. 

Timothy J. Steinhauer

Timothy J. Steinhauer, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools


P.S. - Please follow my travels throughout the District on the first day of school on Twitter @mtlsdsuper. 


**************

Timmy is hard at work blogging again.

 

Progress from the Superintendent's office window

11:44 AM

Above is another picture of the high school progress seen from my office window. Scroll back through my blog to see several other similar pictures. (November 6, October 18 & 4)

Another fine managing job by our "totally unaccountable and incompetent school board."

District/Municipal Collaboration

Wow! I can't believe it.  Both the President's November Report and the Superintendent's November Report have been posted on the School District website. I didn't have to remind them.  Just a little background, both reports were about six months behind on the website. While Dr. Steinhauer was blogging about fortune cookies and construction, his monthly board reports were MIA. Mrs. Posti decided to reprint her board reports on her unofficial blog instead of keeping them official on the website.  Nice to see some improvement.

By reading Posti's report from last night's meeting, I see that she is taking a more cooperative stand with the municipality.

Later this month, the Commission will be taking action on developing a new ad hoc committee designed to review Mt. Lebanon’s available fields as well as the needs that the various local athletic organizations have for field space. This committee will be made up of representatives from the Municipality, each of the field sport organizations as well as representatives from the District. Should this committee’s development be approved by the Commission, I’ve asked Mr. Grogan, Mr. Marciniak and Mr. Kubit to serve on the committee.

This is just one of the many ways the two local taxing bodies work together on a regular basis to realize cost efficiencies, share resources and provide support to each other. In addition to this committee, representatives from both taxing bodies serve on our Strategic Planning Committee, the Municipality’s Comprehensive Planning Committee, the Environmental Sustainability Board, our Safety and Security Committee and the Municipality’s Economic Development Council. Our staff work together to coordinate field maintenance, fuel purchase, winter maintenance, photocopying and printing, interoffice mail delivery, fire safety, police and fire training, pedestrian safety, drivers training, contracted services, recreation, parking and communication. We also work together on programs like School in the Park and Arts in the Park regularly and have realized cost efficiencies for things like joint elevator maintenance in the past when it was cost-efficient to do so.

Additional areas of potential cooperation might include contracting District employees for things like HVAC and Building Automation controls, janitorial services, shared purchasing and fleet management. As contracts are renegotiated in future years, these opportunities and others might be explored. We’ve worked with the Municipality over the years to realize cost and service efficiencies that benefit our residents and are grateful for such a collaborative relationship with their employees and elected officials.

Josephine Posti forgot to mention how she had cheerfully invited the commissioners to the school board community coffees rather than having a Joint Discussion Session.  She is much too busy and requires an agenda to determine if it is worth her time.  Josephine also failed to bring up how difficult it has been for the commissioners to discuss the Joint Maintenance Agreement with the board members.

What is his sentence?

If you go on Tim Steinhauer's blog, you will see a Post-It note with two questions.


For an explanation to this thought provoking post, watch this short video by Daniel H. Pink.
http://vimeo.com/8480171
Dr. Tim's post is timely. It is the start of the new school year. I checked to see if Dr. Steinhauer's new goals have been posted.  They have not.  Here are his goals for last year:

Superintendent Performance Goals 2011-2012

1. Reorganization – The Superintendent will implement the revised administrative organizational structure. 2. Strategic Plan – The Superintendent will direct and supervise the completion of the District’s Strategic plan. 3. Student Success and Achievement – The Superintendent will implement measures to improve student achievement. 4. High School Project – The Superintendent will move forward the District’s efforts to build/renovate the High School. 5. Fiscal Responsibility – The Superintendent will operate the District in a fiscally responsible manner and identify and implement cost saving strategies. 6. Future of Education – The Superintendent will explore, identify, and implement innovative and effective educational programs. 7. Connection to the Community – The Superintendent will be a visible participant in school, community, and regional activities and events. So what is Tim's sentence? Would it be: Dr. Steinhauer was able to eliminate the supervisors and promote them to Dean of Students or principals, and give them raises even though his goal was "implementing the revised administrative organizational structure." Dr. Steinhauer was known for getting raises while other superintendents accepted pay freezes. Dr. Steinhauer never met all of his goals. Dr. Steinhauer lied while under oath during the zoning hearing. Dr. Steinhauer was to "operate the District in a fiscally responsible manner and identify and implement cost saving strategies." That translates to Dr. Steinhauer cut programs, reduced staff, and gave twenty administrators raises. Dr. Steinhauer convinced the Policy Committee to give him more purchasing power. This is the time of year when the Board reviews the Superintendent's goals, evaluates his performance, discusses if he is worthy of a raise, and determines his goals for the new school year. Was Tim better today than yesterday? Does it really matter?

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.

Is this what they mean by 21st century learning?

The latest entry on the Superintendent's food blog, "My Monthly Breakfast with High School Students," just above "Lunch with Mellon Middle School 8th Grade Students" is:

My monthly breakfast with high school students turned into a quick tour of the renovated 6th floor. After seeing some of the completed work they realize that this temporary inconvenience will result in some great learning spaces. Several of the students mentioned that it has been very interesting watching the construction close up. Thanks to our students for reminding us why we are doing this work.

After seeing some of the completed work they realize that this temporary inconvenience will result in some great learning spaces.  Say that again? Aren't they standing in the...the...bathroom?

Remember Ben Franklin's quote? “Eat to live, don't live to eat.” As someone wrote to me, "Does he eat to work or work to eat?" 

Laura Pace Lilly wrote for lebomag.com making progress back in October,

Ironworkers wearing safety ropes traipse along steel supports, a sight that often transfixes Steinhauer, he says. Students with the luxury of window seats in their classrooms also report daydreaming while watching the men at work.

I get chastised for comparing USC to Mt. Lebanon, but come on. Their superintendent writes budget summaries while ours writes about eating, watching the men at work, or some great learning spaces in our bathrooms.

A disconnect between the school board and taxpayers?

I have been following House Bill 1326 and see that it is up for second consideration on Monday, June 13, 2011. House Calendar  In the article, Amid budget cuts, Pa. public school districts also may see their taxing authority curtailed, I had to laugh.

Dave Davare, director of research services for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, said boards are usually reluctant to raise taxes. He argues they have become the focus of the debate because schools get about 70 percent of property taxes, with counties and local municipalities splitting the rest.
"We can put out information, districts have websites, but to what extent are people looking at it, using it and understanding it?" Davare said. "You go to a lot of school board meetings, and you'll find a lot of times very few people in attendance, unless you're talking about hiring a new football coach or firing a football coach."

The School Board majority had no problem raising our taxes 10.5% last year, and turn around and say that they are holding the line this year. Could it mean that they took too much from us last year? Or is it because it is an election year?  Or is it that it is the calm before the storm waiting for that second bond? 

I had to laugh because a director for the PSBA was quoted as saying that school districts put out information on their websites, but are people looking at it and using it?  It is pretty clear to me that Kindergarten parents, thankfully, weren't reading it yesterday.  Dismissal was uneventful.

The representative from the PSBA also went on to say that few people attend school board meetings unless it is about hiring or firing football coaches. Where are all those people now when they were insisiting that we "absolutely" must have the sports complex? I find that happening right here on this blog.  I have been asking for candidates or "Key Communicators"  to record public meetings that would not be public otherwise, and I get no response except from one KC who was asked to record a meeting.  We are still in search for someone to record the architect's update.  It is sad that only three people have come forward admitting that they are on the superintendent's task force to communicate.  Two of the three mention it on their campaign websites.  We don't know who belongs to the committee, never hear anything from them, and only two from last year's list signed the infamous petition to cap the high school project.  We get the link to the Harris survey indirectly from the School District.  We have Policy meetings scheduled at inopportune times, forecasts disappear, and audit and finance committees vanish. Is that how the District is putting out information as the PSBA claims?

Governor Corbett's education secretary, Ron Tomalis said that,

if the exceptions are eliminated, he expects tax increase referendums to become far more common. And if they continue to fail, he said, that would reflect a disconnect between the school board and taxpayers.
"Would it mean more work on the part of school district officials? Yes, but that work would entail, first and foremost, controlling costs, and second, communication with the citizens of the district about exactly where the money is going, what it's being used for," Tomalis said.

A disconnect between the school board and taxpayers?  Here? Communication with the citizens of the district about our tax dollars?  I hope these bills pass, for our sakes.