Minutes of the CORE Annual Membership Meeting Thursday, September 14th, 2006

From Mary Ellen Angeletti, September 15, 2006

The CORE Advisory Board met at STRS on Thursday, September 14th, 2006 for its Annual Membership Meeting with registration from 9:30 to 10:00 in the Sublett Room on the 2nd floor. Present were Lloyd Knudsen substituting for Chuck Chapman who is ill, Nancy Boomhower, Nancy Hamant, Betty Bell, Chuck Angeletti, Dave Parshall, and Mary Ellen Angeletti. We had a good turnout of folks representing many different parts of the state. Mary Ellen Angeletti served as scribe.

The reading of the minutes from the last CORE meeting of August 17th, 2006 was first on the meeting agenda. Nancy Hamant moved and Chuck Angeletti seconded a motion to dispense with the reading of these minutes in an effort to accomplish our full meeting agenda. The motion passed unanimously.

Ratification of the proposed CORE constitution and by laws was next on the agenda. Following announcement of this agenda item, it was moved by Ralph Lloyd and seconded by Paul Boyer that “the proposed CORE constitution and bylaws, together, be adopted by the organization”. Betty Bell then called for an amendment to Mr. Lloyd’s motion. She stated that “the motion to adopt the proposed CORE constitution and bylaws, together, be limited to a discussion period of no longer than 45 minutes.” Nancy Hamant seconded the amendment to the motion. Following discussion, the amendment to Mr. Lloyd’s motion was voted on by the group and passed unanimously.

Ryan Holderman then gave an overview of the proposed CORE Constitution and by laws. Following Ryan’s synopsis of the document, a suggestion was offered regarding the term of office for the Advisory Board members. The Advisory Board voted at the August 17th CORE meeting to grandfather the Advisory Board members to serve until the CORE Annual Membership Meeting in September of 2007. The thinking was that this would give a degree of continuity to CORE’s leadership and make for a smoother transition to the constitutional rule.

Today’s suggestion was to limit the number of Board members retiring in Sept. of 2007 to perhaps half of the Board members. The suggestion was that three Board members retire in Sept. of 2007 and four Board members agree to serve one more year. The thinking was that such an arrangement would provide leadership and historical perspective to the new Advisory Board members. After lengthy discussion, a consensus was reached that this suggestion was a moot point until the Constitution and By laws were ratified and nominations for officers had taken place. Folks were reminded that the Constitution & By laws can be changed very easily by amendment.

Voting by secret ballot occurred next, ballots were collected, and counted by the scribe, Mary Ellen Angeletti, and one CORE member, Paul Boyer, who had been chosen by the CORE Advisory Board members. A break occurred during the counting of the votes at which time CORE folks were asked to update personal information forms. Following the break, it was announced by the scribe that the vote was unanimous in favor of ratifying the proposed CORE constitution and by laws.

Dr. Leone asked that the chair of the Advisory Board read an announcement of the resignation of Michael Billirakis from the STRS Board effective today. Details concerning how Mr. Billirakis’ position will be filled should be available on the STRS website.

At 11:15 we broke the meeting for lunch in order to be ready for our guest speaker at 11:45.

At noon, Dave Parshall introduced Mr. Tom Mooney, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers. Mr. Mooney opened his address to CORE by stressing the importance of health care and added that he was impressed with and encouraged by the efforts of the Health Care Advocates. He feels that we are more than half way through the process of convincing the legislature of the need for an increase in the funding for the purpose of health care. He made a general statement that most people realize that the idea of health savings accounts are not enough for much more than one major sickness during retirement.

These accounts are obviously NOT an answer to the problem of health care. The biggest impediment which he sees on the horizon for acceptance by the legislature is school boards. He does see the tenor of school boards changing however with the realization that delayed retirements may be even more costly to school boards. Another factor is that the leading sponsors currently in the legislature may change due to the 2007 election. He said that Governor Taft’s statewide voucher plan has hurt education.

Teachers receive less pay and there is massive turnover. He stated that there are 8,000 fewer teachers today than we had in 2002. He brought up a new issue concerning review of disability cases. He said that some teachers have been disability cases for 15 or 20 years and now suddenly they are no longer being considered by STRS as being disabled. He plans to investigate this problem. He feels strongly that STRS Board members should not vote on anything that is not in front of them.

Regarding the STRS budget, he said that he agrees that approval for “normal spending” is okay but that any NEW spending must be discussed in detail. During the question and answer period which followed Mr. Mooney’s remarks, someone asked him how we can better inform the active teachers as to what is going on. He admitted that OFT must do a better job especially in promoting that dental/vision insurance plans may well be in jeopardy on down the road.

He went on to say that Health Care is bankrupting our country and that all of our present health care programs are just band aids. He says we need universal health care. He also offered that social security needs to be rebuilt and bolstered so that one can actually live on it. Regarding Mike Billirakis’ vacant spot on the STRS Board, he said he would like to come together with us and other groups and explore common ground for a candidate. He said that the candidate does not necessarily have to be an OFT candidate but he feels that it is most important to make a diverse candidate choice.

He mentioned that he appreciated the work that CORE has done and the support that CORE showed for Mark Fredrick who was both a CORE and OFT endorsed candidate in the last STRS election. He volunteered that in the beginning OFT got into this election business because of OEA’s majority position on the STRS Board. He did not believe that this served us well.

He also said that we may not agree with Board members’ votes (Chapman and Flannagan are OFT members of the STRS Board) but that they are working hard and OFT is NOT telling them how to vote. Someone asked him about the problem CORE occasionally has regarding free and open access to schools during STRS elections. He says that the problem stems from the exclusivity of unions as bargaining agents for school systems.

Since CORE is not a rival and not a bargaining unit for any school systems, we should have no problem with access to schools. He suggested that we might seek clearance through the superintendent who would then inform school principals of our right to access. In discussing broader coalitions with other organizations in support of a consensus candidate for the STRS Board, Mr. Mooney liked the suggestion that we seek the support of the CEA (Columbus Education Association) which is a local teacher's union which tends to be independent in their thinking.

Mr. Mooney’s general theme seemed to be working together for common interests and broader coalitions. Someone asked him to share his thoughts on how we can get the STRS Board members to act realistically. In other words, how can we encourage them to stop being rubber stamps and to analyze each matter before them for the benefit of all teachers. His suggestion was for CORE to encourage more dialogue among STRS Board members, to attend STRS meetings, to give constructive speeches, and to pursue personal dialogue with Board members and staff. CORE extended thanks to Mr. Mooney for his visit with us and invited him to return whenever it is convenient for his schedule.

Molly Jancyzk moved and Nancy Boomhower seconded a motion to adjourn for the 1:00 STRS Board meeting including the Public Speaks portion and then to return to the Sublett Rm. to continue completion of the CORE agenda. The vote was unanimous.

Following the Public Speaks portion of the STRS Board meeting, the CORE meeting reconvened.

The procedure for nominations of officers for CORE as referred to in the CORE constitution and by laws was passed out to all members and the steps are listed below:

1. The CORE Advisory Board instructed that all nominations for officers are to be sent to the CORE scribe by October 1st, 2006.
2. The scribe was instructed to post the nominations on the CORE website, via the CORE Email Alert, and via CORE email chains as soon as possible but no later than October 5th.
3. Voting will then occur at the CORE October 19th meeting with installation of officers immediately following the counting of ballots.
4. Those elected will assume the duties of their office.
5. From this point on, the Constitution and By laws dictate the schedule of elections. Nominations should be sent to the CORE scribe, Mary Ellen Angeletti:
1. By email to: angeletti@wowway.com
2. By U.S. mail to: 879 Mission Hills Lane, Columbus, OH 43235-1265

Dave Parshall reported the balance of the CORE financial fund.

Next Dave made an update on the CORE website, reminding folks that the CORE constitution and by laws may be printed from the website.

Next Dave reported that CORE’s legal status is that we are listed as a non-profit with the state. We have no federal status, and we pay no taxes. We must file a 990 form every five years with the state.

The CORE focus for 2006-2007 was discussed next. It was decided by a consensus of the group that we would focus on the following objectives in the order of importance below:

1. Health Care
2. the unfunded liability (55 years)
3. monitor the Executive Director and the STRS Board
4. electing qualified candidates for the STRS Board elections coming up
5. working collaboratively with all groups A discussion followed regarding ways CORE can achieve more representation in all areas of the state.

Molly Jancyzk referred to the lists of contacts she has developed in almost all 88 counties of the state. She offered these contacts for CORE use. We discussed that it would be helpful for sending the CORE Email Alerts if we had one contact in each county for John Curry to send to. Ideally then this one contact in each county could then send to all of the Retired Teacher Associations in the county but there is a problem as some counties have hundreds of RTAs. This was the extent of the discussion concerning planning for the STRS elections of 2006-2007. Certainly this will have to be discussed at more length in upcoming CORE meetings.

Old business dealt with whether CORE should have dues or not. This became a moot issue as soon as the CORE constitution and by laws was ratified. The constitution speaks to donations only. We did anticipate one problem associated with this decision that being our yellow CORE pamphlets incorrectly refer to dues of $5.00. It was suggested that we simply explain that CORE no longer has the $5.00 dues but anyone who wants to designate their contribution of $5.00 as dues may certainly do so. We now encourage donations.

Under new business, the question of how to share the CORE financial fund balance with members who are unable to attend the meetings was to suggest that they email Dave Parshall directly at DParshall@insight.rr.com . If members do not have email, they may call him at 614-939-0354. The question of how to share meeting minutes with members who are unable to attend the meetings was to suggest that they send a self-addressed and stamped envelope for mailing of the minutes to the scribe at Mary E. Angeletti, 879 Mission Hills Lane, Columbus, OH 43235-1265. These may be sent on a monthly basis or 12 for the year. The question of how CORE can accommodate active teacher attendance at CORE meetings was not addressed and must be included as OLD BUSINESS in the next CORE meeting in October.

Pam Jones moved and Ryan Holderman seconded that the meeting be adjourned. The vote was unanimous. The meeting adjourned at 3:30.

The next CORE meeting will occur on Thursday, October 19th at 10:00 a.m. at STRS. At the time of the writing of these minutes, it was not yet decided if we will request the use of the Sublett Room again as our meeting place or if we will meet in our usual cafeteria room behind the Sublett Rm. The Advisory Board will make a decision on this and after obtaining approval from STRS, we will advise you via the CORE website, Kathie Bracy’s blog, the CORE Email Alert, and other CORE email chains.