posted by Mike Madison at 12:51 PM /
Updated 12/10/09 at 9:40 am: The Mt. Lebanon Accountability Organization (MLAO) prepared a transcript of the School Board's "reorganization" meeting, which is the subject of this post. You can find the transcript here.
The Mt. Lebanon School District's website reports:
Updated 12/8/09 at 6:50 pm:
School Director Josephine Posti summarizes the reorganization meeting in terms that point only obliquely at possible disagreements among Board members:
The Mt. Lebanon School District's website reports:
School Board Elects New LeadershipFive to four? Five to four? This can't be good news for Mt. Lebanon. And School Director James Fraasch confirms that it's not:
The Mt. Lebanon Board of School Directors held a reorganization meeting on December 7, 2009 to elect board leadership for 2009-10. Edward Kubit was elected president in a vote of five to four and Sue Rose was elected vice-president in a vote of five to four.
When I was younger and played sports in high school and then in college, it was always a given that every member of the team was to be on their best behavior at all times. When we traveled we would wear ties and when we stayed in hotels our coaches would even check our hotel rooms before we checked out to make sure we cleaned them up. We were part of a team and when you are part of your team your actions are a reflection of the entire team. When even a single teammate out of 40 would leave his hotel room a mess he is implying that the entire team is a mess. All the players understood this simple lesson. Unfortunately, last night we had far too many board members leave their hotel room a mess. ...I haven't seen a tape of the meeting, and after this report I seriously doubt that I want to waste a bunch of my time watching it. Last night I spent the evening at an event on the North Side where a writer I know read from his reporting on the brutally repressive regime in Burma. You want melodrama where the stakes really matter? Read the work of George Packer and check out the Pittsburgh City of Asylum. You want melodrama where people who have money and safe places to live can't figure out how to work together? Come to Mt. Lebanon.
The Board is not a reality TV game show. It should not be a place where board members decide to publicly air their dirty laundry about their gripes and grievances against other board members. It should not be place where board members can publicly make up unfounded accusations and level them against other board members. It should not be a place where parents have to put their hands over their kids eyes and ears because some of the behavior that goes on is so reprehensible and distasteful that the parent just doesn't want their child to see that adults can behave this way.
Updated 12/8/09 at 6:50 pm:
School Director Josephine Posti summarizes the reorganization meeting in terms that point only obliquely at possible disagreements among Board members:
Last night’s meeting was a chance for the Board to share concerns some members, including myself, have had regarding the responsibilities Board leadership have fallen short on during the past two years and to recognize the division this has created among the team. Mr. Kubit offered a commitment to improve communication with constituents, Board members and stakeholders, work on team building and correct gaps some of us have observed in governance.Reading her description and James Fraasch's description, I come away thinking that there were *two* meetings last night.
Labels: mt. lebanon school board
10 Comments:
It was unpleasant.
I couldn't wait to go home and take a shower.
At last night's meeting, the board members who said the least came off the best. The meeting's purpose, after all, was to take two simple votes. Every board member had the option to simply cast their votes and leave it at that, but some couldn't resist the opportunity to cast stones, too. Bizarrely, the board members who claimed to be striving for unity and mutual respect seemed to be doing the bulk of the stone-casting.
One board member, for instance, said that she could not vote for another board member because, she alleged, he had undermined the board's mutual trust and respect by sharing information that should have been kept private. This she did by sharing – at the televised, public board meeting – information that should been kept private.
It was not the school board's best showing.
Cheers,
Tom
The school board reorganizational meeting proved we still have gentlemen on the board but only one lady. Thank you, Faith!
Mike, I fear this blog will quickly descend into irrelevancy if you continue to present such a one-sided view of the goings-on at our School Board meetings. While I couldn't attend last night's meeting, I far prefer board members speaking frankly and candidly as opposed to carrying on behind the scenes at the soccer pitch or Aldo's. This is a small town and we all hear the whispers -- who are we kidding? If this blog has turned into a bunch of sheep, it's no longer required reading for me. (And hey, I'm with you on City of Asylum -- I interviewed Henry Reese back in September and you are spot-on at pittsblog, they are the real heroes.) Thanks, Elaine Labalme
Elaine -- how is Mike's posting one-sided? He posted links to both James' and Jo's blogs to show the differences between their views on how the meeting went.
I appreciate Joe's defending me, but in a way, Elaine is right: The post implicitly endorses James Fraasch's view of events. James isn't alone; I've received other emails that take the same view of that meeting.
Like lots and lots of people in Mt. Lebanon, I have been increasingly frustrated and disappointed by the performance of our School Board over the years since the Marge Sable deal (and that includes the Marge Sable deal itself). The level of personal pettiness displayed all around the School Board table has been extravagant even for a town as self-absorbed as this one. I was cautiously optimistic that the recent election would produce a group of people who could rise above their own agendas. It appears that I was wrong. I am not taking the side of one group against another. Things have gone from bad to worse, and a pox on all of their houses. The Mt. Lebanon School Board is in the process of rapidly making this town the laughing stock of the Pittsburgh region. I don't have the history of a Mt. Lebanon native on my side, but I have been here a long time, and the longer I live here the clearer it is that the town has dug a giant hole for itself - and is still digging.
As for this blog and its relevance, I have zero plans to moderate my opinions in order to placate people who don't see the world as I do. This blog was started largely to express those opinions. So long as I'm blogging here, then I'm going to continue to do so. I hope that even people who disagree with me will think that there is value in understanding how the world looks from over here, but no one is obliged to read the blog. My side of the blog is *not* a news service.
Blogs are free for the asking. To borrow the thought of Scoop Nisker - someone who is well-known to anyone who lived in the San Francisco Bay Area - anyone who doesn't like my opinions is free - literally - to express their own.
The meeting should be available again for all to view repeatedly tomorrow (Thursday, December 10), as this is the normal second day of re-broadcast for a Monday school board meeting (the first being yesterday, a Tuesday). Set your DVR/TiVo for two to four hours tomorrow, and you'll likely catch the approximately half hour meeting somewhere in the middle.
If anybody is curious about what was actually said at the meeting, the MLAO has prepared a transcript of the voting portion of the meeting: Partial transcript of the Mt. Lebanon School Board's reorganization meeting of 7 December 2009.
(BTW, if anybody finds meeting transcripts helpful, please let me know. Maybe this is a service the MLAO could perform regularly.)
Cheers,
Tom
Tom,
The transcript is invaluable. Thank you for this service.
Mike
No specific comments, just general questions. Board in-fighting moving the "management" team from bad to worse? Lebo not ranked in the latest "Best List" of high schools? Is this a trend or coincidence? Is the bubble ready to burst on this community?
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