Suzanne Laird to STRS board: Why aren’t teachers welcomed to the table, welcomed to the Taj?

Suzanne Laird's speech to STRS board

December 11, 2025

My name is Suzanne Laird.

I taught for more than 30 years in Ohio public schools and retired with a “guaranteed” 3 percent COLA. Thus far, I have been denied more than one hundred thousand dollars. I represent myself and thousands of others like me.

Good Morning, Members of MY Board:

(You may start your timer now.)

It occurs to me that we have so many new people in this room, many aren’t aware why we stakeholders feel it necessary to trek down here, month after month. I have only been attending 10 years; there are some seated behind me who have been attending for more than 20. The corruption back then was front page news, now, it is more insidious. Witnessing some of the testimony in court the past several months, it is apparent we have staff members concocting anonymous letters, slandering Board members who are merely asking for better investment returns, and colluding with ORSC bird-brains to reduce the number of teacher representatives on our own pension board.

Our voices should be welcomed here. Those of you new to our Board are likely unaware of how the staff have made it increasingly difficult to attend. During Covid, STRS claimed they did not know how to transmit a live feed, until we pointed out that every teacher in Ohio managed to figure out Zoom. They claimed they could not reopen to visitors until we reminded them all Ohio schools had reopened. When we were allowed back, they refused to let us sit in our own cafeteria, so we packed lunches and ate off our own laps. Now, they took down the glass wall, only to put up a body scanner and bring in bomb-sniffing dogs— all at our expense! We will endure these indignities; it will not deter us.

Our viewpoints should be welcomed. We have consistently provided solutions to the overstaffing issues, investment problems, and cost overruns. The few positive changes have all occurred after stakeholders suggested, sometimes repeatedly, a viable solution.

Our presence should be welcomed. Stakeholders who provide most of the revenue of a company are usually invited to the holiday party. My invitation must have been lost in the mail. Never fear: just let me know the date and I’ll bring my potluck dish! After a sniff, though, the dogs may not leave much for you.

I’m serious: why aren’t teachers welcomed to the table, welcomed to the Taj? 

Marvin Stotz to STRS board: What are the fees?

Marvin Stotz's speech to STRS board

December 11, 2025

Cathy Steinhauser to STRS board: There’s a certain mindset about who should get raises…pensioners should each year because that is what you do as a fiduciary. The rest of STRS gets taken care of afterwards!

Cathy Steinhauser's speech to STRS board

December 11, 2025

Cathy Steinhauser – 35 yrs., satellite teacher of Family & Consumer Sciences through Pickaway/Ross CTC for Circleville City Schools.

There must be something that is preventing the senior staff here along with the AG representatives & lawyers in understanding certain words like the definition of FIDUCIARY, which I’ve given over 30 times in over 4 years.  STRS staff were hired to take care of the pensioners first.  You exist because of the teacher’s hard work for 30-35 yrs and STRS got messed up along the way at no fault of the pensioners. People employed here got greedy because they forgot THEIR fiduciary duty.  We pensioners who speak spend a lot of time preparing our speeches as well as the travel time to and from Columbus not to mention the amount of time sitting and listening to the topics of discussion the Board engages in. The content of our speeches determines what’s still happening at STRS that has yet to be given serious attention to as asked by us pensioners and those issues that are currently unresolved by our court system.  What’s been done by suing 2 board members, who only wanted to help our pension grow because a staff lawyer wanted STRS to maintain the status quo, which isn’t working for pensioners. You weren’t protecting pensioners, you were protecting yourselves, the motive is deeper…maybe conspiracy-like.  

I attended the first day of trial on October 27, 2025.  It was an extremely long day. I thought Mr. Steen did well as well as the other current best fiduciary board member. I appreciated Mr. Steen calling out one, but not by name, a reporter/journalist, if you can call her that, and correcting the amount of $250M that was to be a ballpark figure as an investment starter and morphed into being $65B instead! How ridiculous, these men would never suggest in passive investing of approximately 75% of our pension!! Why?? Because they know their fiduciary duty. 

They are the best example of integrity and fiduciary responsibility pensioners know. I find it interesting that said reporter looked over to us retired teachers, after Mr. Steen made his statement, and at the same time I looked at her and gave her my best teacher stink eye!  She immediately looked away because she knows she’s the one being referred to. I’m appalled at her blatant lying in the media print and even after this trial ended, she continued to write her story using the same numbers she wrote in all her other articles in the past about this. Her journalistic integrity is sorely lacking. She doesn’t apparently check her information before writing to make sure it’s correct. How she can look at herself in the mirror every day and continue her misinformation is beyond me!

I will repeat my definition of a FIDUCIARY once again. “A person who acts on behalf of another person or persons, putting their client’s interests ahead of their own, with a duty to preserve good faith and trust. Being a fiduciary requires being bound both LEGALLY AND ETHICALLY to act in others' best interests” *The Merriam-Webster Dictionary  

There’s a certain mindset about who should get raises…pensioners should each year because that is what you do as a fiduciary. The rest of STRS gets taken care of afterwards!