James Carr: The monstrosity on Broad Street that's eating up our money needs to be dismantled.

From James Carr

October 14, 2023

STRS DOES NOT NEED:

• A large security force. It's a retirement firm, not a bank.

• A PR team. If their actions alienate the membership, no amount of BS is going to make us happy.

• A fancy workplace. Their job is to provide basic services to teachers. They need a basic workplace, nothing more.

• A large crew of custodians. Move to a smaller facility and get by with a minimal custodial staff, just like schools do.

• A large crew of expensive investors. If they can't beat an S&P index fund, what's the point?

• Assistants serving other assistants. Does anyone even know what these multiple layers of assistants do?

• A concierge workforce. Sharpen your own pencils. Clean up your own coffee spills. Screw in your own light bulbs. If you don't know how, ask a teacher, they do it all the time.

I hope the reform Board members are making a list of things that need to be done. The monstrosity on Broad Street that's eating up our money needs to be dismantled. It won't be easy, a lot of entrenched people who are heavily invested in maintaining the status quo are going to cry and moan. Do it anyway.