Minutes of the January 14, 2010 CORE Meeting

From Marie Fetters, January 21, 2010
The Concerned Ohio Retired Educators (CORE) held the first meeting of the year on Jan. 14, 2010 in the Sublett Room at the STRS Building. President Dave Parshall opened the meeting at 11:45, welcoming the 12 members who were present. After the reading of the minutes by Marie Fetters, secretary, the minutes were approved by the group.

Treasurer Herman Fisher reported that the funds in the treasury were sound. Even though we are financially okay for now, larger membership is still wanted and needed. (There will undoubtedly be expenses in the group’s future as we endeavor to get our messages out to retirees and current teachers.)

President Dave told the membership that the position statement committee was slated to meet on Friday, the 15th. He stressed the need to begin getting our message out as soon as possible in order to counter the negative retiree pension coverage in the news lately. The committee will construct a paper which will re-direct attention from teachers’ retirements to their own. The final result will be sent via e-mail to CORE members so that they may use the facts and disseminate correct information to local papers, legislators, and the public.

Discussion about our use of the word ‘benefit” followed. Since “benefits” has the connotation of something free or taxed, “deferred compensation “ is a more accurate and explanatory phrase to use. (As Lou DiOrio has stated more than once, it’s his mission to change that wording since we all did contribute to our own pension system.)

Much more lively discussion followed, stressing our need to quickly finalize our position statement. The consensus of those who were present was that retirees and current teachers need to read it when it’s completed. We all need to be well-informed and active. Also, many members realized that we should not be attacking STRS; we need to be on the same side, working to help correct the misinformation, which is currently circulating about our STRS pension.

President Dave informed the group of his intention to step down as president in September. Not wanting to spring it on membership in the fall, he wanted members to have time to consider who would be willing to serve as the next CORE president. The meeting adjourned at 12:50 in order for people to go back upstairs to attend the remainder of the STRS Board Meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Marie M. Fetters