Debbie Rudy-Lack: Letter to Bob Stein

From Debbie Rudy-Lack, January 19, 2011
Subject: Fwd: Quote from Duke & Jane Snider's letter....

Mr. Stein,

I recently read a response letter that you wrote to Duke & Jane Snider, dated January 16, 2011, regarding their concerns with the reduction of the COLA for retirees. One sentence in your response to the Sniders really struck me and I felt a need to address it. The quote is as follows:

"I also know we would be dealing with a more sympathetic executive and legislature if educators and other public employees had been more attentive and active".

-- Bob Stein, STRS Bd member

As a retired teacher of 32 years, I take exception to this statement, Mr. Stein. For 32 years, I paid my dues to OEA, believing that they were supporting me, a public educator. Every time there was an election for seats on the STRS Board, I received letters for candidates that OEA endorsed, and thus believed would best represent the pension system for teachers- whether they were already retired or still in the classroom. I voted for those individuals believing that those candidates were going to do their jobs, because OEA, the union that represented me and my colleagues, said that they were qualified to do the job.

Was I naive in believing that to be the case? As I write this letter to you, I most certainly believe I was. But at the time, I was busy with my teaching career. I was going to work everyday and doing all of the things that I was supposed to do in my classroom, building and district, in the hopes that OEA supported me, and that together, STRS and OEA were looking out for me and the future of my retirement.

Unfortunately, the OEA and the STRS Board Members at that time weren't doing what they were supposed to do. Little did I know that OEA-endorsed Board members were "living large" on the pension monies of retirees, both present and future. Little did I know that OEA endorsed STRS Board members were building a very expensive facility and decorating it with expensive works of art. Little did I know that OEA endorsed STRS Board members were approving bonuses for investors that were making salaries that teachers could only dream about, just for doing the job for which they were hired. Little did I know a lot of things about STRS at that time....or the OEA, for that matter.

To say that if I, a public educator, had been more attentive and active is a slap in the face to all the public educators that you represent. We were all busy doing what we were hired to do: teach in a public school. It's unfortunate that the OEA and STRS Board members during that time weren't doing what they were suppose to do. That being to represent teachers and protect the pensions of the teachers of the state of Ohio.

Debbie Rudy-Lack retired Ohio educator