Tom Curtis to Paul Boyer: Shabby treatment for Dennis and John by other STRS Board members and other issues

From Tom Curtis
December 29, 2005

Hello Paul,

Thank you once again for your continued support. I hope my anger was not as apparent, as it has been in my past correspondence to Damon. I attempted to only state facts and not get to personal, as I have in the past. I simply intend to keep the pressure on all of them. They must never again get a feeling that they can do as they please and be unnoticed.

In my opinion, we still have many changes that have been discussed, but no change has taken place to date. I think that is Damon’s fault in some respects, but maybe not. I am referring to things such as the 37-1/2 hour workweek and payments to those who would adopt a child. I believe these two issues still stand unchanged, but I have not confirmed such.

I am saddened to say, but after attending all but one board meeting, since Dennis came on the board, I find Dennis is treated just as poorly by most of the other board members, as has been John Lazares over the past year. Some make every attempt to silence him and have offered no apologies when they are dead wrong for having done such. I will address this issue when I present my 3-minute speech this coming month, along with the non-responsiveness of many board members. It clearly appears that most board members do not want our input and this is becoming an issue with me. They are there to represent us, how can they possibly do such when they are unwilling to correspond with us. If they are not willing to do such, then they have no business being on the board. Paul, am I wrong or slightly off track in thinking this way?

Bob Brown is pathetic as chairman of the board. He has no right being such, as he fiddles around and cannot put his comments together and then often does not even complete what he started to say. I believe he loses his thought. This is very disturbing to me. He has little real knowledge of board policies and procedures, which is to be expected, as he has less then two years on the board. But, when he calls another board member out of order, when he is not out of order, this is a real problem. Further, he has made no apology for doing such. This is dead wrong! Again, this why I have stated that Mike Billirakis is the logical and rightful person to be the board chair and John Lazares should have been the co-chair. They are the only two that qualify as elected board members and had time on the board prior to the election of such. Bob Brown and Conni Ramser were appointed to the board, by the prior board, they were not elected by the membership and as such, should not qualify for the positions they hold. I want a legal opinion on this and I believe Petro’s office is the one that must make that decision. I will soon file a complaint with the State Attorney General’s office. It is time to find out just what SB 133 mandates.

The strong OEA leadership influence still lingers and we must snuff that out, as those people have an attitude that they are in charge, no matter what. They do not listen to anyone else; they rarely respond to correspondence to them; and when they do, they are always right.

I have little faith that Damon either can or will attempt to do much to bring about change. We were all told long ago by those that work under him at Worthington that he was a staff builder. He is definitely not a guy that rocks the boat. In my opinion, he is just treading water until his contract expires. My only fear is that he may decide he wants to be considered for another contract and this board just might be silly enough to grant him one. Maybe this is a question you might ask him at some point. He may respond more openly to you then me, as to whether he desires to continue as the executive director at the end of his contract in February 2007.

Take care,

Tom Curtis

From: Paul Boyer
To: Thomas Curtis
Sent: Thursday, December 29, 2005
Subject: letter

Wow, Tom, you must have had typist's cramp or whatever it might be called after typing that long letter to Damon which I read on Kathie's blog. It took eight pages to print it out. I have been having some trouble with my eyes if I try to read too much from the screen so I print out longer letters.

I am going to write to Damon and tell him that I agree with all that you have said.

Have a Happy New Year.

Paul