Saturday, September 12, 2015

RFArea Newsletter August 2015

Admit it.  Even though you are retired, you still think about the year in terms of school terms—a new school year, first and second semesters, Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas vacation, Presidents’ Day, spring break, and summer!

It’s a new year for us, though no longer back to school (though a number of us still frequent schools in a variety of roles).  And we have lots of plans for RFArea REA for 2014-15.

The biggest change is that we are meeting on a new day—Thursdays—to make sure that as many of our members can attend our meetings as possible.  A number of our members indicated that Wednesdays conflicted with too many other obligations.  So, we are going to meet the second Thursday of every month at 11:00 a.m. during this year at the West Wind Supper Club.

Ruth Wood, our Program Director, has lined up an exciting calendar of events that promises to be interesting to all of our members.  Here is a tentative schedule of dates and topics for the year.  See below for an explanation of the “monologue.”

September 10, 2015
Glenn Potts:  Investing and Managing Money in Retirement
October 8, 2015
Business and social meeting; Get-to-know-you monologue
November 12, 2015
Minnesota historian Betty Bergland:  Norwegian immigration to the upper Midwest
December 10, 2015
Business and social meeting—and singing!
January 14, 2016
Travel Agent:  Opportunities and Adventures for Seniors
February 11, 2016
Business and social meeting; Get-to-know-you monologue
March 10, 2016
Master Gardener:  Getting ready for spring
April 14, 2016
Business and social meeting; Get-to-know-you monologue
May 12, 2016
Ruth Wood and Cheryl Maplethorpe:  Interviews with Successful River Falls area graduates
June 9, 2016
Winery tour and wine tasting



“MONOLOGUE” IDEAS FOR “SOCIAL” WREA MEETINGS 

In the spirit of “getting to know you,” we’re going to ask one or two members or guests at our bimonthly “social” meetings to share some of their life learning and experiences with us. With 10 minutes to speak and 4 for responding to listeners, you might talk on one or more of the following subjects or one of your own choosing.

1.   An experience that changed your life for the better. What you were like before that experience, how you became the great person you are since then. 
2.   A funny story involving students, family, or friends 
3.   What life has taught you about “nature vs. nurture.”
4.   Observations about a student, friend, family member you admire, what makes them admirable—and maybe a little thrown in about what makes them as human as the next person. 
5.   Something that’s bothered you for a long time, the solutions you’ve pondered for its resolution, and what you plan to do about it from here on out. 
6.   How you conquered a shortcoming, such as getting your golf handicap down, accepting the aging process, managing your messes . . . . This could involve both stories and strategies. 
7.   A self-assessment: what should we like/admire about you, what should we be leery about.
8.   A goal you’ve aimed at that you haven’t quite reached, why you wanted it, how you’re dealing with the incomplete process.

SCHOOL HAS STARTED, BUT WHERE ARE THE TEACHERS?

By Laura Zlogar


The county fairs have come and gone.  The dog days of summer have settled in.  Target has been offering back-to-school specials for months now.  Parents and children are anticipating the start of a new school year.  But where are the teachers?

The New York Times (Aug. 9, 2015) reports a nationwide teacher shortage, especially in places such as California and in the urban school districts of Louisville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Providence, R.I., and Charlotte, N.C.  The Times observes that at the height of the recession, from 2008-2012, California lost 82,000 jobs in schools and now needs more than 21,000 new teachers.  Charlotte was still trying to fill 200 teaching positions within days of the start of school.  In Wisconsin, districts across the state—from Middleton to Whitewater to Fond du Lac to La Crosse—are reporting teacher shortages. Schools across the state are facing similar, but perhaps smaller scale, challenges.

Finding good teachers for America’s children is not just a temporary problem.  College students simply aren’t interested in becoming teachers.  According to the NY Times, students entering teacher education programs in California dropped by more than 55% from 2008 to 2012.  Nationally, teacher preparation programs found a 30% drop in enrollment from 2010-2014.  UW-Milwaukee’s School of Education reports (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 17 Aug. 2015) that its enrollment has dropped from 2,135 in 2010 to 1,516 in 2014, a 29% reduction.   The supply of newly trained teachers is rapidly declining, which is especially worrisome as more teachers reach retirement age.
Districts are already finding that the pool of qualified candidates is not deep.  The Journal Sentinel article cites the Portage school district as an example:  whereas a job posting for an elementary teacher used to draw more than 150 applicants, now it attracts perhaps 50.  For more specialized positions, such as TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) or Technology, there are no applicants at all.  The newspaper quotes Marquette Dean of the College of Education Bill Henk:  “Some principals have reported that they couldn’t find the English and social studies teacher they sought . . . , and normally that pool has an abundant supply of candidates.” 

In a very unscientific survey of my former students who are teaching around the area, it is clear that Wisconsin school districts are facing real challenges.  District-hopping is an increasingly common occurrence.  A teacher in northern Wisconsin sees teachers from his district leaving for the larger Superior school district because Superior’s teachers are moving across the state line to Duluth—where they find better working conditions and pay supported by its teachers union

Teachers are now “free agents,” able to move wherever they can get the best compensation and benefits.  The Journal Sentinel also reports that such quick moves from one district to another used to be prohibited or at least limited by union contracts but “when the Legislature passed Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 law curtailing public-sector union bargaining, those restrictions went away.”

A Hudson teacher has seen a few of her colleagues move from Hudson to Minnesota, but not as many as in smaller districts.  As she notes, because of Hudson’s rich tax base, it can afford to pay its teachers a competitive wage whereas smaller districts cannot.

A teacher from St. Croix Central school district reports stability in her school at the present time but in a much smaller district in nearby Granton, finding well-qualified teachers is increasingly difficult.

Some exploitive trends in local hiring are disturbing.  Several area districts are offering student teachers “internships” paying $3500-$4000 to teach full time without a mentor teacher, with all the responsibilities of a full-time teacher but without the benefits.  The second is using long-term substitutes rather than hiring full-time teachers.  Certainly, schools often need to replace a teacher temporarily, but districts are hiring young teachers, assigning them full-time responsibilities without commensurate compensation.

One new teacher reports that he was hired as a long-term sub at an 85% position only to be informed during his second week that he would need to stay an additional hour every day to meet the needs of his ESL students, bringing his job to the equivalent of 100% (without the pay).  He was also assigned duties as the Gifted and Talented Coordinator mid-term without any increase in pay.  During this time, this teacher received no health care or retirement benefits. 

While the accelerated rate of retirements certainly accounts for some of the shortages reported by my former students, many factors contribute to the decline in the number of teachers in our area and around the country.  Certainly, the governor’s prohibition of public-sector unions undermined any sense of job security that teachers had.  But other causes are at work here also.

What young person would want to enter teaching at this point?  With the increase in standardized testing and teachers’ job security and compensation being based upon their students’ performance on math and reading scores, teachers no longer have the freedom to function as the professionals they are but are forced to teach to the test.  (An interesting lawsuit is underway right now regarding this matter, calling into question the whole notion of “value-added measurement.”  See “Master Teacher Suing New York State over ‘Ineffective’ Rating Is Going to Court,” Washington Post, 9 Aug. 2015.)

Why would someone want to become a teacher when teachers are now the scapegoat for every social ill in this country? Diana Hess, professor curriculum and instruction at UW-Madison, remarks:  “Teachers are getting a lot of criticism—not just in Wisconsin, but across the nation.  And there’s been a lot of rhetoric against teachers and teaching.  I think that for a lot of young people, they think, ‘Well, why would I want to do that?’”  Dan Rosmiller, director of government relations for the Wisconsin Association of School Boards states, “There’s agreement that interest in teaching has been declining for a decade or so, but has dropped more in the past three years” (Erin Richards, “School Districts Scramble to Find Teachers for Open Positions,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 17 Aug. 2015).

Those teachers who have jobs and are sticking with them—at least for now—are finding a revolving door of administrators (all intent on using a current job as a step to the next one), classroom budgets cut drastically (which often translates to teachers using their own diminished paychecks to supplement materials no longer supplied by the districts), prep periods eliminated, responsibilities increased, and stress intensifying.  Is it any wonder that 40% of those who do enter teaching leave the profession within five years?

For those of us who spent our professional lives in the classroom, we are sad to see what has happened to our profession, to our colleagues, and to the children and young people subject to these changes.

EDITORIAL: WHO NEEDS EDUCATION?                                  

By Bernie Brohaugh, President                  


Some adults never have never grown up.  They’d rather waste their money on fun and games than invest it in institutions and programs like public schools and universities that would do them and future generations more good.  Like the majority of legislators in Madison who recently voted to squander more than $250 million taxpayer dollars on a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Stadium backers were mostly Republicans, including, predictably, our own Sheila Harsdorf, though a  Surprisingly, a small handful of Republicans voted against the appropriations bill.  This group included Dean Knudson, who must be commended for his stand, though it may well be the only issue he has ever defied his party on, despite a host of wrong-headed proposals he has voted on since he got to Madison.
number of Democrats joined the majority as well.

The official appropriation is $250 million, but “hidden subsidies,” including twenty years of interest payments, will bump up the figure another $250 million.  Still, Governor Walker thinks it’s a bargain.  Supposedly, taxes on businesses benefitting from the Bucks and income taxes paid by Bucks owners, players, and other employees in the franchise will more than offset whatever the cost to taxpayers may be. 

Yet, professional economists are not so sure.  85% of them oppose subsidizing professional sports teams.  They say the return on the investment, if any, is substantially less than could have been earned from other enterprises. Economists generally agree that a subsidy to a professional sports franchise is largely money down the drain-- that the only ones to benefit significantly are the franchise owners.   If our legislators have done their homework, they know this. But they also know something else—something the rest of us don’t know:  “Real estate mogul Jon Hammes, who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and causes, is a prominent member of the investor group that owns Milwaukee’s NBA team. Last week CNN reported that he also will serve as the Walker campaign’s national finance co-chairman. Days after that appointment, Walker’s Republican allies in the Wisconsin state Senate backed the governor’s proposal to spend public funds on a new arena for the Bucks”  (Neil deMause, Field of Schemes post, 16 July 2015).

So the Bucks get the bucks regardless of a poor winning percentage and an even poorer attendance record.  And the UW System budget is cut once again.

I have long maintained that anyone who runs for any elective office should be required to prove that he or she can read, write, and reason objectively.  It now appears that proof of maturity is also in order.
       


THE WISCONSIN RETIREMENT SYSTEM REMAINS HEALTHY, BUT THREATS CONTINUE

By Jane Harred, Legislative Chair

As you know if you’ve read the latest issue of WREA’s “Red Apple Express,” the numbers for the Wisconsin Retirement System still look good.  WRS’s preliminary returns as of 31 July were 2.8% for the Core Fund, meeting its benchmark, and 3.7% for the Variable Trust Fund, coming very close to its benchmark of 3.8%.

But this is no time to be complacent.  Threats to the health of WRS continue, some of them highlighted in stories to which the recent “Red Apple Express” provides links.  These threats include ever smaller numbers of people in the retirement system as well as the governor’s attempt two years ago to offer new state employees 401ks instead of contributions to WRS, undermining the financial support of the trust fund, as do the smaller numbers.

Another recent threat came in a motion, attached by the Joint Finance Committee to the recently passed state budget, to change the composition of the Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems (JSCRS), the board that oversees the WRS.  While an outcry from constituents got the motion’s language removed from the budget, that doesn’t mean these attempts to weaken and privatize WRS won’t continue.

The motion proposed changes in JSCRS’s board that would have eliminated the requirement that the minority party be represented among the members of JSCRS.  It would also have eliminated the requirement that a citizen not enrolled in WRS be a member of JSCRS, eliminated the requirement that an experienced actuary be on JSCRS, and eliminated the requirement that the secretary of ETF or his/her designee be on JSCRS, replacing these members with partisan legislators.  The motion was introduced late at night with no public hearing or debate.

I had an interesting exchange with a member of Dean Knudson’s staff when I sent an email objecting to the motion’s proposed changes.

In response to my concerns, the staffer assured me that the proposed changes would essentially change nothing because the motion’s language “does not reflect a change in policy or a change in the way WRS is run” and that “the committee has no power regarding the management of WRS.”  I wrote back, asking why, if nothing essentially would change, the motion was introduced by the JFC at all.

The staffer responded, saying that the rationale for the change was that “having elected officials that are accountable to voters on the committee was better than having appointed bureaucrats approving bills.”  This response did nothing to allay my concerns and raised new ones, which I expressed in another email to the staffer.  If the JFC was concerned with accountability, I wondered first of all, why introduce the motion late at night with no public announcement and no public hearing?

I also asked how, if the members of JSCRS can “approve bills,” we could be assured that those bills would not substantially change the management or character of WRS, particularly if the committee was made up entirely of legislators from a single political party.



MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL TIME

It’s that time of year again—time to renew your membership to RFArea REA and to WREA.  Annual local dues are $10 per year.  Annual state dues are $50.   The membership year runs from October 1st to June 30th.

You can mail both your local and state dues to Treasurer Laura Zlogar at 729 River Ridge Ct., River Falls, WI 54022.  If you would prefer to renew your state membership online, you can do so at www.wrea.net.  Or you can bring your dues to our first unit meeting on Sept. 10th.

As Jane Harred points out above, the Wisconsin Retirement System is currently healthy and is considered one of the most admired public retirement funds in the country.  However, this is no time to be complacent, especially in light of the recent midnight-hour maneuvers that some politicians have tried to make that would, no doubt, undermine the system and our pensions. 

WREA keeps watch on legislation that might harm WRS.  WREA alerts its members to threats to the system so that we can raise our voices and let legislators know exactly what we think about their actions and impending legislation.

WREA also offers us a number of benefits such as access to low-cost health, dental, and vision insurance; free hearing screenings; and discounts on hotels, restaurants, rental cars, and travel.  The full list can be found at https://www.wrea.net/benefits/index.asp.

Our local unit supports the efforts of WREA, provides scholarships to local high school students 
headed to college, offers a variety of programs on topics of interest to all of us, and provides us with a social network for former teachers, administrators, and support staff.

JUNE 2015 PICNIC—AND NEW PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR

Our plan for an afternoon picnic followed by a Fighting Fish baseball game didn’t quite go as planned.  After a morning rain, the cool afternoon made us glad that we were inside the Hoffman Park shelter.  A few diehard members did show up for a nice time spent sharing food and conversation—Bernie and Karen Brohaugh, Jane and Larry Harred, Doug Johnson, Jean Loudon (who brought a friend), Margarita Hendrickson, and Laura Zlogar.

Although the rain had stopped, the bleachers were wet, the sun was not shining, so all of us opted not to attend the game.  So much for what seemed like a good idea.
After some discussion, the Executive Board decided that the picnic is just not a draw for our membership despite its appeal for other WREA units.

We are going to give one more idea a try.  Next June, we have planned a WINERY TOUR AND TASTING!  We haven’t yet chosen the specific winery we are going to visit, so if you have a favorite in the vicinity, please let Ruth Wood know.  Here is a list of some of the wineries close by. 

Northern Vineyards Winery, 223 Main St. N, Stillwater, MN
St. Croix Vineyards, 6428 Manning Avenue, Stillwater, MN
Belle Vinez Vineyard and Winery, W10887 875th Avenue, River Falls, WI            
Sixty-Five Vines Winery, 1105 Coulee Trail, Roberts, WI
Cracked Barrel Winery, 570 Coulee Trail, Hudson, WI
Vino in the Valley Winery, W3816 450th Ave., Maiden Rock, WI
Cottage Winery and Vineyard, N7391 County Road F, Menomonie, WI
Chateau St. Croix Winery, 1998 Highway 87, St. Croix Falls, WI
Falconer Vineyards, Red Wing, MN
Maiden Rock Winery and Cidery, Stockholm, WI
Danzinger Vineyards, Alma, WI
Seven Hawks Vineyards, Fountain Valley, WI
                           Villa Bellezza, 1420 3rd St., Pepin, WI

We haven’t yet chosen the specific winery we are going to visit, so if you have a favorite in the vicinity, please let Ruth Wood know. 




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