Lloyd Knudsen's speech to the STRS Board, November 16, 2006

My name is Lloyd Knudsen. I was a 30-year teacher in the Woodridge Schools of Summit County. I would like to offer our board appointee candidates a “benefit recipient’s” view of the STRS team you are about to join. Some people might call your joining the STRS Board at this time the equivalent of entering a hornet’s nest. I’ll just call it the STRS BEE HIVE.

In a bee hive there is a queen bee and many worker bees. In the STRS bee hive we also have a queen bee, but only ten worker bees.

The most obvious job of the STRS queen is to run the monthly meetings. Discussions are expected to be civil in tone. The queen sometimes has to admonish members who forget that. In fact, one member who was repeatedly “uncivil” was admonished by the queen IN THE PRESS.

The queen also schedules the board’s business. Don’t be surprised when much of the important board business (such as rehiring the Executive Director) is done behind closed doors or when nobody is there to witness it. Not to worry -- it’s a regular board practice.

Also, the queen is in charge of rules. Here is the most important rule. When you travel on STRS board business (and you will travel) you will go to nice places; stay in nice hotels; and eat first-class meals. Here’s the important rule. You can spend ALL OF OUR MONEY you want. STRS will pay for everything! You might even have an STRS credit card to use. But do not, I repeat do not accept freebies from our vendor/suppliers. Spending OUR money is expected. Accepting their money is unethical. Several former board members (including the man you are replacing) have been convicted of ethics violations because they forgot this rule.

Our ten STRS worker bees are divided into three distinct groups. The first group is the “intrusives”. These two members ask a lot of questions and always want to know why. Why did you do this? Why did you spend that? You need to listen carefully to their arguments. Others on this board feel they try to intentionally confuse issues with unwanted facts and logic.

A second worker group is our four appointed “expert” bees. We have three financial experts and one government/education expert. We need a government expert on our board because who has more experience than the government at taking someone else’s money and treating it and spending it like it’s their own.

Financial experts can add value to a board. But when a financial expert calls other board members “micro-managers” and criticizes them for “wasting our time” with their questions, he is letting that “expert” tag go to his head. Our experts need to stimulate discussion, not stifle it. We need experts with both the intellect to advise others, and the heart to understand the benefit recipients they are serving.

Our final worker group is comprised of a retired teacher and two active teachers. They too ask questions at the monthly meetings; not intrusive, micro-managing type questions but civil, non-argumentative type questions. One member even did extensive research on how to be an effective board member. I could have saved him some time. There is a simple, straight-forward approach to being an effective board member and it works like this. When considering an issue or an action; each board member should ask himself, “Is it legal? Is it ethical? Is it appropriate?” Meaning “Is it in the best interests of the STRS benefit recipients?” I will say in their defense this group does come to every STRS Board meeting prepared. They all bring with them their STRS rubber stamp.

So, let me conclude by summarizing your options when joining our STRS bee hive. The board already has a queen, and it’s not you; it already has four experts and you are not one of them. So, you can either join forces with the two intrusives or the three rubber stampers. The choice is yours.

As you begin your board service you will not have to declare your intentions. Your actions and votes in the coming months will tell us (the benefit recipients) which group you chose to join. Best of luck. And thanks for listening.