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EARTA Elgin Area Retired Teachers Association / IRTA March / April 2018
w w w. e a r t a . o r g
The Jogger
Mark Your Calendar General Meeting, Friday, April 20, 2018
Elgin Country Club, 2575 Weld Rd., Elgin, IL 847-741-1716 11:30 A.M. - Social Time 12:00 noon - Luncheon
MENU
Pretzel Crusted Chicken, Roasted Red Potatoes, Caesar Salad, Rolls, Seasonal Vegetable, Dessert, Coffee or Tea. Cost: $25 Send $$ to Christine Moeller 805 Carol Ave. Elgin, IL 60123 by April 12, 2018
APRIL PROGRAM
The luncheon entertainment will be provided by two to three members (go figure) of the Jet Set Quartet Band. This will be all live music with full instrumentation. They sing and play genres such as pop, classic rock, country, oldies and rock & roll.
MINUTES OF THE EARTA
GENERAL MEETING
February 16, 2018
EARTA LUNCHEON AND
GENERAL MEETING was held at Randall Oaks
Golf Club in West Dundee. Social hour was at 11:30
and the luncheon was at 12:00. President, Barb
McGee, welcomed everyone and introduced herself as
EARTA’s new president. Barb recognized Bob
Kaplan, IRTA Area 2 Representative, as a guest.
Luncheon was served following the invocation by
Chaplain, Mick Williams. Before Mick’s invocation,
he expressed, as EARTA Chaplain, sadness over the
attack at the school in Florida and asked for prayers.
He repeated the message given by the sheriff of
Brower County, Florida, “If you know something, say
something.” OFFICERS’ REPORTS
President – Barb McGee introduced the new Vice
President, Christine Moeller. EARTA members
welcomed her. Barb issued an apology for the late
arrival (or no arrival) of the January/February
JOGGER. The post office is aware of the problem
and discussion with them is ongoing. Barb reminded
members to vote on Tuesday, March 20th
.
Recording Secretary – Kay Lincicome asked if
there were any additions/corrections to the written
minutes that were printed in the JOGGER. Hearing
none, the minutes were approved as written. The
minutes are on file.
Corresponding Secretary – Joyce Causey reminded
members to call or e-mail her with names of members
that are ill, hospitalized, or have passed. Joyce will
send out hand-made cards.
Treasurer – Jean Jederman reported that as of
February 1st, there is $106.83 in the checking
account, and $8984.03 in the savings account.
Report will be on file for audit. Jean shared a thank
you from IRTA thanking EARTA for the money
donation in memory of Marcia Wilkening. Jean
reported that EARTA received a thank you from
IRTA for our contribution of $200 toward the ETA
Scholarship bowling.
Social/Charity – Coral Reinert announced EARTA
events. She reported that the Supper Club met at
Hooper’s Bar and Grill on February 12th
. The group
met at 4:00 to help David Brown prepare the new
Directories for mailing. The next Supper Club will
meet at Hooper’s on March 12th
at 5:30. The Epicurean
Adventure will meet on February 20th
at Crazy Crab in
Streamwood. Please contact Karen Patterson or Irene
Wedemeyer for more information. There will be a
TOUR on April 8th
to see SHEN YUN at the Paramount
in Aurora. The group will depart at 11:30.
Transportation, show, and dinner are included in the
price of $149. Dinner will be at Gen Hoe in Geneva.
Please contact Coral Reinert for
reservations/information.
Legislation – Cliff Olson David Wedemeyer reported
that the budget zeros out health care. It looks like more
money is going into the Education budget than is
happening. An agenda item in Springfield is possibly
shifting the pension situation to local school districts.
IEA announced that they are endorsing J. B. Pritzker
for Illinois governor in the primary election.
Membership – David Brown announced that the new
Directories are being distributed/mailed. If there are any
problems, please let David know.
New Members (Pre-Retirement) – Cindy Lange,
Irene Wedemeyer Irene announced that the 2018 Pre-
Retirement meeting will be on April 5th
at the Colonial
Café for the Ice Cream Sundae Bar. If anyone knows of
someone who is retiring from teaching in the EARTA
area, please invite them to this informational gathering.
The committee does send out e-mails to the individual
schools in hopes of informing all retirees of this
meeting. If anyone has a contact for other districts in
our area, please let Irene know.
New Business The next EARTA Luncheon and
General Meeting will be at the Elgin Country Club on
April 20th
. Cost will be $25. Please send reservations to
Christine Moeller.
Adjournment President, Barb McGee, adjourned the
business meeting.
Program David Wedemeyer introduced our program
speaker, Richard Johnson, president of the Elgin
Teachers Association. Richard taught history and law at
Bartlett High School prior to assuming his current
position. Richard completed a law degree two years ago
and is a licensed attorney. Richard presented an insight
into what is happening in U-46 and current legislation
affecting schools, salaries, and pensions. He began his
presentation with the words, “Thank you for all you
do…. teachers are hardworking and very caring.” He
gave special thanks for 2 of his Elgin teachers that were
in the audience. He stated that he felt it was so
important to have been educated in the Elgin School
District. He appreciated teaching in Elgin and loved the
work. He assured us that our pensions are protected by
the constitution. He highlighted needs for funding. He
stressed the need to VOTE! He stated that we need to
use our voices by voting at the ballot box. He
announced that he is running for Democratic State
Representative in the Illinois House for the 56th
District. He feels diversity of voice is needed in
Legislation. He ended with “Education is always #1”.
Respectively submitted
Kay Lincicome, Recording Secretary
COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
Thank you for your contributions to the Crisis at the February luncheon. They were very appreciative of the donations. If you are involved in a group or know of a particular need for a certain organization, please contact me at clange50@sbcglobal or call me at 847-695-1822 to provide me with contact information. Cindy Lange
We will be looking for donations of: Plastic Bags: grocery, sandwich, quart and gallon zip lock Paper Products: toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissues Cleaning Products: toilet bowl cleaner, bleach, He powder laundry detergent Any of the other items listed in previous Joggers are always appreciated! Greatest Needs Nonperishable Food, Diapers – Babies: sizes 4, 5 & 6 & wipes Diapers – Adult: all sizes Deodorant for men & women Toothpaste, toothbrushes Feminine Hygiene Pads - Regular and Super Mini bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash Big bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash Sandwich, quart & gallon size zip loc & fold bags Toilet bowl cleaner, bleach,
HE powder laundry detergent Toilet paper, paper towels, facial tissue Basic Office Supplies: copy paper, envelopes, pens, highlighters, notepads, paperclips, tape Plastic or reusable grocery bags for our food pantry The Community Crisis Center is a non-profit social service agency providing services to individuals & families in Kane and NW Suburban Cook Counties who are dealing with economic crisis, domestic violence or sexual assault. Contact 847-742-4088 for more information or visit www.crisiscenter.org Current Volunteer Needs – sorting & stockiHospital Advocacy – Interpreters – Donations – Donations for Shelter T
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Treasurer’s Report
As of March 1, 2018
Savings: $8484.03
Checking: $2742.71
***************************
Get out and VOTE on
Tuesday, March 20th!!!!
Pre-Retirement Reception
April 5!
On April 5, we’ll be hosting our annual get-together for all those lucky teachers who will be retiring this June. We’ll meet at the Colonial Café (600 South McLean Blvd., Elgin) on Thursday, April 5 from 3:30 – 5:30 for a
Make-Your-Own-Ice-Cream -Sundae-
Bar
Please, be sure to contact any retiring teachers you may know and urge them to attend. Better yet, invite them to be your guest and, that way, you can have some ice cream, too! And, if you know of any retired teachers who have not yet joined EARTA, please invite them. All members are welcome to join us and chat/answer questions/enjoy ice cream. Please, RSVP by April 2 to Cindy Lange (847-695-1822) or [email protected].
Needed: A Legislative Chairperson to serve on the EARTA Board of Directors. Volunteers should contact Barb McGee or any Board member. Below is a brief description of the position.
Legislation: The Chairperson is
the contact individual for the State level organization (IRTA). IRTA provides frequent updates
to EARTA from their Springfield watchdogs.Using this information, our Legislative Chair synthesizes and summarizes it to provide oral and written reports to the Board and membership with relevant information about the state of politics and its effects on the retirees. With a working understanding of the local and State political climate (and occasionally the National, as well), the chair helps our membership to decide their personal role on issues affecting their lives. Traditionally this chair provides the voice of the EARTA telephone contacts.
LEGISLATIVE REPORT
Warning: this is not a Cliff
Olson report, but here goes …
IRTA supported legislation have been moved
out of their committees. Senate Bill 3045
allows retirees to substitute teach up to 120
days or 600 hours (up from 100 and 500) in
a school year without impacting retirement
status. Teacher shortage, thus ensuring
more qualified teachers in the classroom.
A second bill, Senate Bill 3046, will allow TRS
annuitants who opted out of TRIP to opt
back in during benefits choice periods.
Both bills are sponsored by Sen. Andy
Manar.
IRTA will be monitoring the state funding of
TRIP as the Governor zeroed out any
funding in his budget address. The
Governor also proposed shifting $490
million in state pension costs to local
school districts. In addition, he proposed a
list of K-12 programs to eliminate,
including
After School Programs, Advance
Placement and National Board Certified
Teachers.
The Sun-Times had an interesting editorial on
March 7th: The 401(k) retirement plan has
been getting great press this election
season. Don’t bank on it. (My summery
follows.) Big government pension funds
have the clout to push fund managers to
improve investments, fire underperforming
managers, cut back on overpaid fund
executives, and demand reforms: individual
401(k) owner can’t do that. The state would
still have upfront funding obligations, a
pension debt that will not have gone away
and rising pension costs because fewer new
employees would be paying into the funds.
401(k)s hurt the economy because they
encourage people to retire early in
booming times – just when the economy
needs more workers, and people keep
working in bad times – when more job
openings are needed. The editorial
encourages Illinois to resist going to
401(k)s for state retirees.
Finally, in light of the Florida school shooting,
legislation is on the Governor’s desk
requiring gun dealers to be licensed by the
state. Other bills passed by the House
include raising the minimum age from 18
to 21 to buy assault rifles, banning bump
stock and other modifications and one
requiring
a 72-hour cooling off period on assault
rifle sales.
…David Wedemeyer `
VERY IMPORTANT: Please continue to let Joyce Causey (Corresponding Secretary), know when there is an illness or death among our membership. Also, let Jean Jederman or David Brown know about deaths.
*********************************************************
You have received your 2018 EARTA directory. Didn’t get one? Check with David Brown: (847) 697-6391 or [email protected]. Did you check for changes or errors that need to be corrected? Example: Your phone # or e-mail address. Have you noticed that the green cover is the same color as the cover on your “Jogger” newsletter? For your calendar, did you notice the General Meeting dates on page 3? What other information is on the first 6 pages? What is on pages 54 through 61? *********************************************************
EARTA Constitution/Bylaws Amended
At its January, 2018 meeting, the Board of
Directors amended the EARTA
Constitution/Bylaws by removing the position
of Historian, Article IX, Section 1 (6), from the
Board of Directors.
We have functioned without a Historian for
several years now, and have had several
discussions over that period of time about the
duties/need for this position. While scrapbooks
and notebooks might still be important for
individuals, organizations’ needs have changed.
In today’s world, most information is stored
electronically. Our EARTA website currently
serves that function.
SOCIAL EVENTS:
Supper Club: We are looking forward to meeting again on Monday, April 9th, at Hooper’s Bar and Grill
at 5:30 P.M. to welcome in more daylight for driving because of the time change! If you haven’t joined
us before, please mark your calendar to attend and see what you’ve been missing!
Epicurean Adventure: As previously announced, we’ll meet on Thursday, March 22 at Livia (207 S. 3rd
St.,
Geneva). Then on Wednesday, April 25, we’ll be partaking in the delicious offerings at The M Supper Club in
Crystal Lake (394 W. Virginia St.). And, we’ve also scheduled Monday, May 21 to savor the culinary delights at the
Turf Room (off the corner of Randall and Orchard in North Aurora). As always, we’ll gather at 6pm and have
individual checks. Feel free to bring a friend, spouse, neighbor, your mail carrier……..the more the merrier! Please
RSVP either Karen Patterson..847-742-5433 [email protected] ORIrene Wedemeyer..847-697-5434
Tour Information: Can you believe it’s almost APRIL 8, 2018, and time to attend the 1:00 P.M.
production of SHEN YUN at the Paramount Theatre with dinner following at Gen Hoe in Geneva? We
will meet at the Country Inn Suites, 2220 Point Blvd, Elgin, at 11:15 – 11:30 A.M. and return
approximately 6:30 – 7:00 P.M. Call me, Coral Reinert, at 847-742-4330, if you have any questions.
Another Available Tour: Mary Long, Tour Director, from The Triumph Bank has a tour to Maryland
and Delaware planned for June 16th through June 22nd. She is looking for a few interested travelers to
join the group. If interested, please call me, Coral Reinert, at 847-742-4330 and I will give you more
information.
