Tuesday, November 1, 2016

RFArea REA Newsletter--November 2016

November 10th Meeting—West Wind at 11:00


Anne McAlpine, who has been guiding the River Falls Housing Authority for twenty years, will be our featured speaker at the November meeting.

October marks the 50-year anniversary of the RFHA.  The first RFHA board of commissioners was appointed in 1966.  In 1971, the first RFHA apartment building, Riverview Manor, was opened.  Today, there are more than 200 rental units in River Falls and Prescott open to people who are older, disabled, or low-income.

As Phil Pfuehler reports, “RFHA works with the city but is an independent entity.  The mayor continues to appoint the board of commissioners who oversee operations and McAlpine’s duties”  (River Falls Journal, 5 Oct. 2016).  Our own Marylin Plansky serves as a commissioner on the board.

The city, however, is not financially obligated to the housing authority.  Two-thirds of its revenue comes from rent paid by the tenants.  The rest comes from government subsidies, from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development and from the USDA’s Rural Development agency.  The Authority has seven full-time and two part-time employees.

McAlpine will give us a sense of the RFHA’s 50-year history, its current role in providing housing for area residents, and its future in our community.

Please plan to attend to learn about this very important asset in our community.

Need A Reminder When The Next Meeting Is Scheduled—or Other Information about RFAreaREA?


Remember that we have a blog, which you can always find at http://riverfallsareawrea.blogspot.com/.  The “Next Meeting” tab at the top will remind you of this year’s meeting schedule.  You can also find all the newsletters there along with bonus material—photos, news updates, and other information that might be interesting to you.

Links to information on our pensions are there now as is an article—with photos—of last month’s meeting with RFSD Superintendent Jamie Benson.  Check it out!

New RFAreaREA Officers Installed


Left to right:  Vice President Ruth Wood, President Roger Hulne, Legislative Chair Bonnie
Jones-Witthuhn, Secretary Gail Possley, and Treasurer Laura Zlogar
The new slate of officers were elected and installed at the October 13, 2016 meeting.  Some new faces and familiar ones will be serving our unit for the 2016-2018 period.

President Roger Hulne recently retired as Superintendent of the Prescott School District.  He began his teaching career as a history and social studies teacher and a coach in North Dakota.  He and his family moved to Wisconsin 24 years ago.  He spent 9 years in Shell Lake as a superintendent of schools.  He then spent the last 13 years of his career at the Prescott School District.  This is Roger’s second year as a member of RFAreaREA.

Vice President Ruth Wood retired from UW-River Falls, where she was a professor of English Education and literature.  In that position, she taught English Education techniques and supervised student teachers in both Wisconsin and Minnesota school districts.  Ruth also taught courses in international literature, American literature, and composition.  She now serves on the Pierce County Board and on several committees, including health, aging, and West CAP.  Ruth has been a member of RFAreaREA for five years.

Secretary Gail Possley comes from the Wisconsin Rapids area.  She began her education in a one-room schoolhouse where her mother had taught.  She received her undergraduate degree in speech therapy at UW-Stevens Point.  She later received a Master’s degree from UWSP and certification as a reading specialist.  Her career began in Johnsburg, IL and continued in Wisconsin Rapids.  Most of her career as a speech therapist and reading specialist was spent in the Pittsville School District, where she met her husband, Tom.  They have one son and two grandsons.  She loves community theater and hopes to find her place in some local groups.  She has been a member of WREA since 2008 and a member of RFAreaREA for two years.

Treasurer Laura Zlogar retired from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in 2012 where she taught English literature, American ethnic literature, humanities, and composition, and served as the chair of the English Department for six years, has been a member of RFArea REA for four years.  Her family moved from Michigan to California, yet she migrated back to the Midwest for graduate school at Marquette University in Milwaukee.  She has lived in River Falls since 1981.  Laura also serves as the newsletter editor.

Legislative Chair Bonnie Jones-Witthuhn is brand new retiree from the Prescott School District, where she taught English for fifteen years.  She spent twenty years before that as a United Church of Christ pastor.  And before that, she was a social worker.  She says she is now looking for her next career!  She is married to local veterinarian Richard Jones-Witthuhn; their daughter is in her second year of dental school at the University of Minnesota.  Bonnie just joined RFAreaREA this year.

The officers will be joined by others assuming important leadership roles within our organization:


Evelyn Klein will continue in her role as Education Chair.   In this capacity, she reports on educational issues that are of interest to our unit’s members.   Evelyn retired from teaching English and German in the Hudson School District.  She is a writer of numerous books of poetry and is involved in a number of Twin Cities organizations, including the German-American Institute and the Minnesota Independent Scholars Forum.

Tom Possley serves as our Health Committee Chair.  He provides reports to the newsletter on health issues that affect our members, including legislation or policies being considered in Madison and Washington.  A longtime resident of Wisconsin Rapids and business education teacher in the Pittsville School District, Tom and his wife Gail moved to Roberts last year to be closer to their son and his family, who live in Minnesota.  He was a member of the Wisconsin Rapids WREA unit for many years before joining the RFAreaREA unit last year.



Tony Pedriana continues as the Chair of the Scholarship Committee.  In this capacity, he contacts area high schools to make them aware of the annual scholarships available from RFAreaREA to graduating seniors.  He provides them with the application information and forms, collects them, and leads the review of applications with other volunteer members.  Tony is a Milwaukee native who, with his wife, moved to River Falls several years ago to be nearer his daughter and grandchildren.  He was an elementary school principal in the Milwaukee public schools.  He has also published a book on teaching reading entitled Leaving Johnny Behind:  Overcoming Barriers to Literacy and Reclaiming At-Risk Readers.  He is currently researching and writing another project.  He also founded a local organization that promotes early childhood literacy through activities and book giveaways, Jump Start to Literacy.


The Membership Committee, chaired by Laura Zlogar, needs a few new people to help with membership activities.  We need
·       people to greet new members and to make them feel welcome;
·       people who are willing to write notes to people who have been invited to our meetings as potential new members and who have attended to let them know that they are welcome and to encourage them to join;
·       people who will write and call potential new members to invite them to meetings and to let them know what WREA is all about;
·       people will help with membership drive activities.
If you are one of those people, please let Roger or Laura know!

The Programming Committee will be chaired again by Ruth Wood.  Bernie Brohaugh and Marylin Plansky will also serve.  If you have ideas for upcoming programs, please let one of them know.

Liz Kreibich has agreed to continue to serve as chair of the Sunshine Committee.  In this role, she sends out cards to members who might be ailing and condolences to the families of members who have died.  We have many current and former members who are in residential care homes in River Falls, Spring Valley, and Ellsworth.  If anyone would like to help Liz out and perhaps volunteer to visit some of these folks, let Liz know.

The Bylaws Committee will meet this year to revise the local unit’s bylaws to be consistent with the new WREA bylaws.  Bernie Brohaugh, Roger Hulne, and Marylin Plansky will take on those duties.

Do we need one more committee?  WREA suggests that each unit have an Educational Outreach Committee—a group of people who will spearhead activities to support area educators.  Part of our mission as a unit is to make connections between retired and active educators.  This committee would send encouraging postcards to innovative teachers and principals who are engaged in creative teaching and learning (and perhaps even identify those who deserve a financial reward from our unit).  The committee would identify projects that would help area teachers and students (Collecting school supplies, hats, gloves, or other needed items?  Assembling gift bags at the start of the school year for teachers?  Distributing WREA pamphlets to schools within our district for prospective retirees?  Creating some sort of recognition for educators for Teacher Appreciation Week, May 1-5, 2017?)  Let Roger know if you would be interested in joining/leading such a committee.

Notes from the President

By Roger Hulne

I will be serving as President this year.  Bernie called and asked if I would serve.  I am in my second year of retirement and have much to learn about our organization. I look forward to working with you, while having some fun and interesting programs.

Let me tell you a little about myself.  I have been married for 44 years to Patricia; we have six children and four grandchildren.  I served as Superintendent at Prescott from 2002-2015.  I started as a teacher and coach in North Dakota in 1973. One of my goals is for us to know each other better through meetings and activities. 

When WEA invited me to ride the Union Bus to Madison during the turmoil of Act 10, I accompanied teachers from my district as we joined the thousands of others demonstrating in support of Wisconsin public education and teachers’ unions.  I was there to stand up for education in our great state even though no other school superintendents followed suit.   I remain committed to education and the teaching profession.

Several issues affecting public education concern me.  According to Senator Vinehout, the last state budget directed more than $645 million of state taxpayer funds for private and charter schools.  Under current policy, private schools may take state funds to subsidize students currently attending their schools and have none of the testing requirements of public schools. While private schools are a choice parents make, they should not receive funds at the expense of public schools.

I hope to see you all at the next meeting on November 10th.

CONSUMER SAFETY TIPS FOR SENIORS


A Summary from the WREA Convention

Sandy Chalmers of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection provided important information on how we can protect ourselves and our technology from fraud. 

She identified current trends being reported to her department:  identity theft, imposter scams, and telephone calls violating the “do not call” list.

We are currently experiencing a proliferation of telemarketing calls—from government imposters claiming to be the IRS or Medicare, from supposed debt collectors, from people claiming that you have won a prize or a sweepstakes even if you never entered.  All of this has been made possible by new voiceover technology that has made it cheap to call the U.S. from anywhere in the world.  This technology also manipulates caller ID to make it appear that these calls are local when they could be coming from India, Russia, or elsewhere in the world.  New scam technology allows the caller not to even leave a message (because it takes too much time).  The U.S. government is in negotiations with Google, Microsoft, and others to help mitigate the problem.  Most phones—even relatively inexpensive ones—have capabilities of blocking numbers.  Read your guidebook to see how it works.

Another favorite scam right now is one claiming to be from a software technical support person.  The caller will claim to be Microsoft Technical Support, for instance, and will tell you, “You have a problem with your computer.”  DO NOT provide the caller with any personal information, user ID, passwords, or credit card information.  The scam installs malicious software on your computer to capture keystrokes that can then be used to access your banking, credit cards, and other confidential information.

Some consumers pride themselves in “outsmarting” the scammer in longer conversation.  Consumer Protection tells us not to engage with these people.  Your phone number will then be sold to other scammers as a possible live wire.  When the call tells you to “Press # to speak to someone or to remove your number from the call list,” don’t do it!  You have just made yourself a mark by doing so.

Ms. Chalmers provided a list of common scams:

·     Healthcare fraud/Medicare fraud.  The caller will often say, “I just want to verify the information on the back of your card”—which is your Social Security number.  Do not give out that information.
·     Discount “Lifeline” or prescription drugs.  The caller will offer you a $19.95 discount card, which is absolutely worthless.
·     Anti-aging creams and lotions.  Again, a scam to be avoided.
·     Timeshare sales and discounts.  The caller asks for upfront payment to sell your Florida timeshare, for instance.  One consumer lost $100,000 in this scam.
·     Business work-at-home scams.  These require big investments from the consumer that never result in any income generation.
·     Charitable donations (many occurred after the Orlando shootings, the Baton Rouge floods, Haiti hurricanes) or Go Fund Me pages.  Do not respond ever to a phone call asking for charitable contributions.  If the charity is legitimate, ask for its phone number or its webpage so that you can investigate further.  Go with well recognized charities.  Avoid pop-up charities.
·     Grandchild scam.  The caller claims to be your grandson or granddaughter in jail or in the hospital.  Or the caller could be a person posing as a police officer or a doctor.  The caller asks for several thousand dollars to be wired immediately.  Because wire transfers cannot be traced, the person cannot be identified and your money cannot be retrieved.  Calls often get more and more threatening. 
·     Magazine subscriptions, dating services or a romantic offer, transient crews offering roofing, driveway repair, or other home repairs—all are scams!

What to do?  Hang up on robocallers; spot imposters; talk to someone before doing anything.  Do not trust Caller ID.  Do not wire money.  Don’t pay up front for any promise.

Further, monitor your bills and financial statements to make sure that everything charged to you is actually goods and services you have received.  Check your credit report periodically.  By law, you are allowed to check it 3 times per year.  Use only annualcreditreport.com.  Other services will cost you. 
If your credit cards have been stolen, you can freeze your credit security at the three agencies listed on this website.  Each freeze costs $10.

Other important tips:  Don’t carry your Medicare card with you in your wallet!  Photocopy it, block out all the digits, and show that.  You will not be denied service.  If a hospital or doctor’s office needs to see the original, you can bring it later.  But don’t carry it around with you. 

In creating online accounts and passwords, don’t use your mother’s name, her birthplace, or yours as passwords.  These are usually security questions.

Finally, report all frauds to law enforcement so that patterns can be traced and perpetrators can be arrested.  A recent ring headed in Wisconsin and working out of Canada was recently closed down.  Another large outfit in India that had bilked Americans out of millions of dollars has been shut down.

Consumer Protection contact numbers:  (800) 422-7128, FAX (608) 224-4677, 2811 Agriculture Drive, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911, DATCPHotline@wisconsin.gov, datcp@wiscons 

MINUTES FOR SEPTEMBER 13, 2016 MEETING

Submitted by Gail Possley, Secretary

Bernie Brohaugh opened the business meeting at 11:00 a.m.

We welcomed three new members:  Mary Foster (UW-River Falls), Bonnie Jones-Witthuhn (Prescott SD), and Patricia Hulne (educational consulting).  We also welcomed visitor Gretchen Krahn (St. Croix Central).

Laura Zlogar shared notes from the WREA State Convention, which was held in Wisconsin Rapids on Sept. 27-28, 2016. There were two power point presentations about the pension fund.  There was also discussion regarding health insurance for the new retirees between the ages of 55 & 65. Dues are due: $10 local and $50 state; associate member dues are $5 local and $35 state.

Treasurer’s report – is available in the newsletter.

Legislative Chair’s report - With regard to the Wis. Retirement System and per The Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel in SE Wis. retirement promises were made but no funds were set aside, which supports claims that promises were either exaggerated or failed to materialize with regard to Act 10.  Here are more statistics regarding the effect (or lack) of Act 10.

The number of public school teachers in Wisconsin fell from 61,059 in 2008 to 59,512 in 2014. But the decline began in 2009, two years before the passage of Act 10, and has slowed since 2011. The number of teachers fell by about 2.2% in the first year after Act 10 but has ticked up slightly since.
Act 10 was responsible for a $150 per-pupil cut in district spending on salaries and a cut of up to $600 on benefits, when compared with other states.
There was little difference in the demographic makeup of Wisconsin's teaching workforce in the years before and after the passage of Act 10, when compared with other states. The average age, for example, fell from about 44 to 43. And it remains predominantly white and female. However, there was a 0.3% increase in Hispanic teachers and identical decline in those who identified as white.
There is no evidence to suggest that Act 10 significantly increased student-teacher ratios, when compared with other states. However, there is evidence to suggest it reduced the ratio of students to administrators.
The report found no statistically significant difference in the effect of Act 10 on schools in urban, rural or suburban communities.

 Committee reports were presented which included mentioning open enrollment for health coverage; discussion regarding the WREA Scholarships with the decision to continue to offer scholarships to education majors; suggestions for future programs; proposing monetary donations instead of baked items for the spring bake sale; special interest activities; suggestions for volunteering.  The Sunshine Committee will once again be chaired by Liz Kreibich.  We will need to find someone to replace Don Leake to collect volunteer hours.

New Officers were installed and they were Roger Hulne (President), Ruth Wood (Vice President), Gail Possley (Secretary), Laura Zlogar (Treasurer), and Bonnie Jones-Witthuhn (Legislative Chairperson).

The business meeting ended at 11:30 a.m. 

READERS’ THEATER


For the members’ enjoyment an original play, Celebration Of The Spirit, written by Bernie Brohaugh, was presented.  Cast members included the author, Ruth Wood, Gail Possley, Bill Montgomery, Bonnie Jones-Witthuhn, Dave Peters, and Nancy Peters.

    
      

      

                                                                                                                                                                       

LEGISLATIVE REPORT

By Bonnie Jones-Witthuhn, Legislative Chair

In a time of auto correct spelling and auto self-drive cars we might think our pension is also on “auto correct,” if there is a problem.  It is not.  In a time of tight budgets and the needs of state agencies, our pension is a pot of gold at the end of the state budget rainbow of needs.  Some might assume what a high school teaching colleague asked, “They can’t take away our unions, can they?” and they did.  Act 10 forever changed public unions in Wisconsin in spite of our many trips to Madison to protest.  It happened.  Our vision of a secure pension future depends on all of us being the drivers of decisions about the Wisconsin Retirement System.  We are secure, now, but we must always be alert.

I am also guilty of not paying attention, so my breadth of knowledge is limited in scope but hopefully will grow over the coming months. 

Gleanings for this month:                    
·       Wisconsin Retirement System is a fully funded pension
·       WRS is the 9th largest U.S. public pension fund
·       WRS is to be “free of political management”
·       Wisconsin state budget for 2017-2019 is forming
·       Walker instructed zero increase for all agency budgets
·       Walker has also proposed at least $850 million dollars in some new projects
·       We must be alert--always

NEWS HEADLINES OF NOTE

By Laura Zlogar

The test scores of Wisconsin public school students—fourth, eighth, and twelfth grades—in language arts, math, science, and social science have been published this month.  These results are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP test.  An interactive map that shows the scores of every district in the state can be found at http://www.wisinfo.com/usat/student_scores/.   One disturbing result shown in these scores is that Wisconsin has the worst black-white science achievement gap standing in the country (27 Oct. 2016 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).

--The UW System is reporting a $2 billion backlog in needed repairs to campus buildings due to the years of budget cuts.  Chancellors are asking the Board of Regents to allow each campus more autonomy in managing construction and repair projects (WXOW.com 26 Oct. 2016).

--Wisconsin’s infringement on voting rights is a topic of national discussion.  Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot:  The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America and contributor to The Nation has been following events in our state—from the woman in Eau Claire who has been voting all of her life since age 18 who now cannot vote because her birth records from India cannot be produced to DMV employees who are turning away voters applying for Voter IDs despite having proper documentation.  He also reports that the Green Bay City Clerk opposed an early-voting site at UW-Green Bay because, as she wrote, “I have heard it said that students lean more toward the democrats…. I have spoken with our Chief of Staff and others at City Hall and they agree that budget-wise this isn’t going to happen. Do I have an argument about it being more of a benefit to the democrats?” (http://billmoyers.com/story/city-clerk-opposed-early-voting-site-uw-green-bay-students-lean-toward-democrats/)


--According to Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee’s teen birth rate has dropped to a historic low—65% since 2006, a steeper decline than the national 54%.  The lower birth rate translates into fewer school dropouts.  WPR reports that “The decrease in birth rate can be attributed to increased education, a public awareness strategy aimed at teaching teens about how becoming pregnant can negatively affect youth and encouraging parents to talk to their children about sex and pregnancy.”  http://www.wpr.org/milwaukees-teen-birth-rate-drops-historic-low

HEALTH COMMITTEE REPORT

By Tom Possley, Health Committee Chair


It has been revealed that 203,000 Wisconsinites have health insurance plans not up to the ACA standards. Most states have banned these, but not in Wisconsin. This practice hurts the ACA because of the loss of these customers.

The Benefit Services Group says that if Wisconsin goes with self-funding in their state health insurance, it would be a mistake. Self-funding would also create disruption and instability in the market and increase costs for the state.

When it comes to the health of its residents, the state of Minnesota is faring better than Wisconsin, according to a study in the latest issue of WMJ. On average, Minnesota has lower premature death rates, better self-reported quality of life, and better birth outcomes.


DECEMBER’S HOLIDAY PROGRAM

As usual, we will have a holiday program at our regular meeting on December 8th.  We are asking that you think about your own holiday memories and be ready to share them with the group.  The coldest Christmas you remember?  The craziest?  The most touching?  Are there holiday rituals that you learned as a child from a parent or grandparent that you are passing down to your own children and grandchildren?  Are there foods that bring you right back to a moment in time?  We want to hear your stories!

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL REMINDER—One more time!


It is once again time to renew your membership to WREA and to RFArea REA.  Membership runs from October to September of every year.  Annual dues are $50 for WREA membership and $10 for RFArea REA membership (for people who receive WRS/ETF pensions).  For associate members (spouses, friends of Wisconsin education), dues are $35 for WREA and $5 for our local unit.  Some of you have already renewed your membership online or for multiple years but have not paid local dues.  Some still need to pay both state and local dues.  If you aren’t sure, you can contact Laura Zlogar at laura.w.zlogar@gmail.com or 715-425-0468.