posted by Tom Moertel at 12:30 PM /
In this letter to the editors of Blog-Lebo, Elaine Gillen, who runs the website lebocitizens.com, argues that our school district is neglecting its online presence, for all to see. —Tom
School District Website Reflects Poorly on the District and the Community
For several months now, I have been asking the School District to update its website. At a June 14, 2010 school board meeting, I pointed out the deficiencies on the sadly neglected School District’s Balanced Scorecard, the District’s five-year strategic plan. It has yet to be updated.
Starting with Dr. Timothy Steinhauer’s “Welcome to the Superintendent’s Website,” which is embarrassingly labeled “Welcome to Superintendent John Allison's Web Pages,” Dr. Steinhauer encourages us to take a look at the website. The goal, we are told, “is to provide visitors with useful, up-to-date information about our District.” He further suggests to visit his blog and read his latest board report. That would be December 2009.
The School Board President’s reports are a little more up to date. The last report posted had been February 15, 2010 – until I had requested an update. Now there is one from July 19, 2010.
Hang on folks, because it gets better. On the District’s home page, there have been numerous spelling errors. The latest one prompted an enlightening email exchange. When I first received Dr. Steinhauer’s response (click the “email exchange” link in the previous sentence to read it), I thought it was odd that he used the word, “Monitor.” I am being encouraged to visit it in his welcome letter, but when I check for information, I am monitoring it?
My second thought was how the District does not have spell check built in their website software. Shouldn’t we have software with spell check? Then it dawned on me. The School District doesn’t need spell check since they have taught generations of children how to spell. Yet, we get an explanation as to why there are spelling errors from time to time. As one resident said at a recent school board meeting, “I don’t want an explanation” as to why it is happening.
The School District website is available for the world to see. What an embarrassment to our community. It is a reflection of who we are. From time to time, it contains spelling errors and is in desperate need of updating. Why are we getting excuses? Why must we lower our expectations of the School District? We get out-of-date websites, lower test scores, plans that don’t meet zoning requirements, and higher taxes. And explanations.
Elaine Gillen
Mt. Lebanon
School District Website Reflects Poorly on the District and the Community
For several months now, I have been asking the School District to update its website. At a June 14, 2010 school board meeting, I pointed out the deficiencies on the sadly neglected School District’s Balanced Scorecard, the District’s five-year strategic plan. It has yet to be updated.
Starting with Dr. Timothy Steinhauer’s “Welcome to the Superintendent’s Website,” which is embarrassingly labeled “Welcome to Superintendent John Allison's Web Pages,” Dr. Steinhauer encourages us to take a look at the website. The goal, we are told, “is to provide visitors with useful, up-to-date information about our District.” He further suggests to visit his blog and read his latest board report. That would be December 2009.
The School Board President’s reports are a little more up to date. The last report posted had been February 15, 2010 – until I had requested an update. Now there is one from July 19, 2010.
Hang on folks, because it gets better. On the District’s home page, there have been numerous spelling errors. The latest one prompted an enlightening email exchange. When I first received Dr. Steinhauer’s response (click the “email exchange” link in the previous sentence to read it), I thought it was odd that he used the word, “Monitor.” I am being encouraged to visit it in his welcome letter, but when I check for information, I am monitoring it?
My second thought was how the District does not have spell check built in their website software. Shouldn’t we have software with spell check? Then it dawned on me. The School District doesn’t need spell check since they have taught generations of children how to spell. Yet, we get an explanation as to why there are spelling errors from time to time. As one resident said at a recent school board meeting, “I don’t want an explanation” as to why it is happening.
The School District website is available for the world to see. What an embarrassment to our community. It is a reflection of who we are. From time to time, it contains spelling errors and is in desperate need of updating. Why are we getting excuses? Why must we lower our expectations of the School District? We get out-of-date websites, lower test scores, plans that don’t meet zoning requirements, and higher taxes. And explanations.
Elaine Gillen
Mt. Lebanon
Labels: letter to the editor, mt lebanon school district, superintendent, web site
1 Comments:
Imagine spending over $45,000 to buy a software program to provide Right to Know Requests and not spending a few dollars to put Spell Check on the school website!
There is an old saying: ”If you take care of the small details the large things will take care of themselves." Not having a Spell Check on the District website is an example of ignoring the small details.
Another example of ignoring small details is ignoring the Mt Lebanon Zoning Code at the expense of building the high school.
Mr. Remely, this really is embarrassing! You are in the real estate development business and your failure to comply with zoning is holding up your high school construction. Perhaps the Board leadership should address the little details, like zoning, before they waste a meeting complaining about forms that were filed over two years ago - long before Sue Rose brought them up.
Under school district policy setting the Board’s agenda is the responsibility of the Superintendent, the Board President and the Board Vice President. I didn’t hear anybody tell the community how you are going to address your zoning problems.
Neither have I heard how Remely will clean up his sliding hillside in Scott Township but the Mt Lebanon School Board is asking the Scott Township Commission, this week, if the Lebo tennis team can use Scott Township tennis courts for the next three to five years. Will Remely show up for that meeting?
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