Last night was the the reorganization meeting for your Mt Lebanon School Board. Typically, this type of meeting does not amount to much more than a procedural meeting with Board members simply casting their votes for who their want their next leadership team to be. Last night was different.
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.
Its been kind of a running joke in my house the last two years that the first words out of my mouth when I would meet someone were, "Hi, I'm James Fraasch and I am on your Mt Lebanon School Board". And honestly, in some respects this is true. I do this because I have always been proud to be on the board and more than that, I have been proud of the trust that was given to me by the community when they voted me into office in 2007. Being a board member is not a responsibility I take lightly. Heck, I even changed jobs in 2008 to allow me more time for school board related activities. Every board member spends far too many nights away from kids and family while attending committee meetings, high school meetings, community forums, and regular and discussion meetings to not take this position seriously.
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.
Over the course of the last few weeks leading up to last night's meeting I have received phone calls and emails from just about every member of the board. These phone calls and emails always were invariably about how each of these individual members wanted to build trust amongst board members, how they wanted to reach across the divide, how they wanted to bring honesty and integrity to the board, and how they wanted to get the community to trust the board. There were literally dozens of emails and phone calls and hours and hours of conversation regarding these topics.
I ask you with all sincerity whether after watching that meeting you felt any of the ideas mentioned in the above paragraph actually were reflected in the meeting. Watch the meeting and see for yourself who and what is causing the divide.
I woke early this morning hoping that I would feel different about the meeting than I did six hours ago. But I don't. I am embarrassed that the meeting last night is a reflection on all of Mt Lebanon and that I was a member of a team that had individuals leave their room a mess.
The behavior displayed last night by your board is not what the voters of Mt Lebanon expect from their elected leaders.
James
