Dave Speas speaks out on unity

Bring us together

"If anyone can unite us, it is Dave Speas! And I BELIEVE HE CAN! He is doing it the right way by becoming part of the solution by promoting change within the structure. One day, ORTA will be US (the concerned membership changing the face of the organization) thanks to Dave Speas beginning this journey which can lead him to being ORTA President. More of us need be as committed as Dave in getting elected to open positions, working within their RTA's and thus bringing change. It is a time consuming endeavor but just as we changed the face of the STRS Board, we can change the face of ORTA Central. Many RTA's want unity and we need to work for collaboration of more. Thank you, DAVE! "-- Molly Janczyk

"I ask all retirees to join in the goal of finding common ground so we can all work together for us and all those who will retire in the future. A teacher's legacy should be putting teamwork in place to get the job done to better society. I believe we all worked to get our students to find a common place to live and work together. We should do the same now." -- Dave Speas

From Dave:

Uniting means outreached hands from all the players. I am not the only person who feels this way and we have to understand that no one really wants negative feelings about each other be it this problem or other players.

It is very important that all the organizations working for the betterment of retirees be able to work together on the issues. A fractured constituency for them cannot get the job done in a close and heated election, legislative change, or local issues like charter schools.

No group is made up of people who all believe in the same approach or which are the more important issues but in the end we all have to decide to work for what the majority decides. I am hopeful that in times of absolute disagreement we can agree to disagree but stay friends, as we all do in our daily lives, and work like crazy together for the betterment of retirees.

In the end, we will be turning our organizations over to others and they will have to work with what we leave them. It is my contention that teachers, of all people, should be able to find common ground so we can leave a network of organizations statewide that can make the positive things happen.

No organization, person, group, or leader should be bigger than the goal of uniting for the betterment of retirees. That is what I have felt from the beginning and will continue to work for until I no longer can do so.

I ask all retirees to join in the goal of finding common ground so we can all work together for us and all those who will retire in the future. A teacher's legacy should be putting teamwork in place to get the job done to better society. I believe we all worked to get our students to find a common place to live and work together. We should do the same now.

11/08/05