Tom Curtis educates an educator
Hello Carol,
Yes, my rehab is far ahead of last year's hip replacement. I now will have two pain free hips that will hopefully last me for the rest of my life. Time will certainly tell. Thank you for your note and concern. These little messages from those of you out there that read our emails are so greatly appreciated. Obviously, we have no idea just how many people we reach. We know it is in the thousands and could be as high as the hundred thousands, but that cannot be determined by us.
My Thanksgiving weekend was very enjoyable, but so has my entire retirement with the exception of the broken promises from the STRS and a few surgeries that I have endured very well. One of children and her family came to visit on Thanksgiving and we enjoyed their company as always. I trust your holiday was one filled with family and friends as well.
Those of us actively involved will continue to work to bring change to the STRS, so that all current retirees and future retirees have the benefits they were promised and are entitled to, due to the contributions they made or will make throughout their entire career.
We, the membership did nothing wrong, but place our faith and trust in fiduciaries that failed their fiduciary responsibility, according to the Ohio Revised Code section 3307.15. It is our hope that can be corrected, provided we are successful in placing other members on the board that have the background and desire to add value to the board, rather then being taken advantage of by employees looking to fill their pockets with our funds.
This has happened due to board members' ignorance of the business practices that the STRS follows while managing our funds. We, the membership, have been successful in replacing most of those self-serving board members with ones dedicated to following 3307.15, but we have a few more to go.
This spring we hope to elect Thomas Hall, an economics professor at Miami University. He has knowledge and skills that will be beneficial to the board. We are constantly looking for individuals that can bring value to our board.
The OEA has actually been a huge detriment to our retirement fund. They are solely responsible for controlling the board for many years. Their past and present executive committee members on the board simply were out maneuvered by a bunch of greedy employees. The cost of our STRS employees is huge, due to them compared to the other four retirement systems in this state.
We will need to be ever vigilant of our retirement system from this point forward. Thinking the union most of us supported throughout our careers would have allowed this type of situation to exist is unthinkable, yet the OEA holds the blame for not providing the necessary oversight that allowed the abuse of our funds to come about. Their own people joined right in with the abuses, but the OEA has never accepted one ounce of blame and did nothing to bring the many changes made to date to fruition.
The OEA is a fossil and beyond it's useful time as it exists now. It is simply a highly expensive parasite on the back of today's educator.
Take care,please feel free to pass my messages along to other educators.
Tom Curtis
P.S. Please feel free to pass my messages along to other educators in hope they will become educated about what happened at the STRS and will support those attempting to correct this terrible mess.
From: CarolSent: Monday, November 28, 2005 6:45 AMHi Mr. Curtis!Glad you are still providing information to us concerning STRS situations. That means that you are on the mend. Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and were able to be with family and friends. Carol
posted by Kathie Bracy at 8:50 PM
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