Minutes of the Feb. 18, 2010 CORE Meeting

From CORE, February 24, 2010

On Feb. 18, 2010 at 12:10 p.m. President Dave Parshall called to order the Feb. CORE Meeting, which was held in the Sublett Room of the STRS Building in Columbus. Mary Ellen Angeletti moved to approve the January minutes; Kathie Bracy seconded. The eleven retirees in attendance then approved the minutes. Since Herman Fisher, treasurer, was unable to get to this meeting, there was no treasurer’s report this month.

President Dave mentioned that we need to put our position statement – our media letter about the STRS pension – on the CORE website. Mary Ellen moved to post the media letter; Marie Fetters seconded it. The motion passed.

The president led a brief discussion about the article in the Feb. 18th Columbus Dispatch pertaining to the state’s pension systems. Members also expressed concern about the anti-teacher sentiment letters that have appeared in various newspapers across the state.

Parshall informed the group that the meeting with Mr. Mike Nehf and a handful of CORE representatives went well. One outshoot of that meeting was a suggestion that Mr. Nehf presented related to helping the lower-pension recipients. He suggested that CORE members might come up with ideas for possible solutions that would keep that group from being harmed as we seek remedies for our pension’s future.

President Dave reiterated the fact that new officers and trustees should think about stepping forward by this fall. However, CORE might be ready to take a new direction. Having various members attend the regular STRS meetings and conducting a standard CORE meeting every few months may be options to pursue. Members are urged to contemplate these alternatives, as well as offer other points.

The next item of business was a discussion of the STRS Board’s upcoming election’s candidates. Liz Ebbing moved that CORE donate up to $2,000 to Jim Stoll’s campaign to help with mailing costs. Marie seconded the motion and the group approved it.

Dale Price, a current mathematics teacher in Toledo, introduced himself to the audience. Price is running for an active teacher spot on the STRS Board. In his opinion, the current board seems to have knee-jerk reactions to some of the financial problems; he contends that there needs to be more “thinking down the road.” He also stressed our moral requirement to all the educators who taught before us. He stated we have an obligation to somehow help them. Several ideas about our COLA were also discussed with Dale.

Before the meeting closed, CORE approved supporting Dale Price as a candidate. The meeting was adjourned at 1:20.

Respectfully submitted,
Marie M. Fetters
CORE secretary