RC 45 News

Dear Florida Retiree Leaders,
 
I am writing to you today to help organize and get our NYSUT RC43 Road Trip going. We are counting on all of you to help out by sending this email, complete with a link (to register) and an attachment (for the Workshop Agenda), to all of your members in your respective TRIF Units. This will serve as an invite to join us in June to help identify, recruit, re-energize and develop the skills needed to speak one on one with our NYSUT Team coming down to Florida from Albany. I will personally send this informational email to all RC43 members that I have emails for but I am sure that your lists are more inclusive.
 
Three (3) of these special events will be held throughout the state of Florida: Tampa (June 13th), The Villages (June 15th), and in Boca Raton (June 17th). We urge you to find the closest location to your area and sign up for a full day of information in regards to eveything NYSUT, including benefits and Florida demographics. Lunch and refreshments will be served at each venue.
 
If you are interested, simply click on the following link, and register by May 25th.   https://forms.office.com/r/TzVzqhv06L
 
We are all excited and look forward to meeting you at one of these planned events. Please scroll down to view the attached agenda for the meetings. As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me or any of our RC43 officers.
 
Thank you all for your continued leadership, help and comraderie.
 
Miriam Hanan
NYSUT RC43, 1st Vice President/Membership
8111 Muirhead Circle
Boynton Beach, FL 33472
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(516) 236-0276

Dear Fellow Retirees,

☘️ Winter is ending soon, at least I hope it is on its last vestige of it as I write this letter. We have a few warm days ahead so hopefully the snowbanks are dwindling as the daytime hours are increasing. It has been a busy time for our household as we have done some traveling. I highly recommend Hawaii to anyone who has not been, we traveled in January and other than some weird flight glitches, it was wonderful. We commended ourselves on our decision to spend more than one week there. We had so much to accomplish on our to-do list so the extra time was wonderful. While on the heavily populated island of Oahu my husband and I found ourselves showing our COVID-19 vaccination record as well as our license for access to most public spaces like restaurants and food courts. Check out https://epass.ny.gov/home  where Excelsior Pass Plus is available as a source for a digital record of your vaccinations. Hawaii had a similar program that made getting into the restaurants a little easier.

NYSUT’s Retiree Activist Handbook has been updated, please check it out online at https://www.nysut.org/members/retirees/retiree-handbook. You will find a lot of interesting information in the handbook. 

NYSUT is still celebrating the 30th anniversary of Retiree Councils which will carry on at the 2022 Representative Assembly. I have a lovely pin and a spring jacket that I will be wearing to the RA to show my support! RC #45 has three votes and we will vote conscientiously as we attend all committee meetings and general sessions. Diana Torta and I appreciate the ability to represent RC #45 and do not take this privilege lightly. It is important to note that Diana also represents us at the Committee of 100 meetings. Thank you for your involvement and perhaps consider becoming even more involved by contacting one of the officers or board members listed on the front of the newsletter. Our role as NYSUT Retirees is as important as ever in these challenging times. RC #45 works hard to meet your needs as well as look for ways to support our in-service sisters and brothers.

As I always mention, thank you to those of you who have already mailed your voluntary contributions.  If you have yet to do so, please consider sending your 2021 – 2022  voluntary contributions. As you now know, we do rely solely on your donations to support our efforts in keeping you informed and advocating on your behalf. No one representing the RC receives any monetary compensation for his/her work. Now that the Representative Assembly is back to an In-person convention, we will see our expenses on the rise.

Stay safe and healthy!!

In solidarity,  ~Vicki Darrow

President, NYSUT RC #45

Photo by Angela Bailey on Unsplash

Dear Fellow Retirees,

I hope you are all well and gearing up for a great holiday season, in whatever form you practice. My celebrations will be small again this year with close family and a few friends. I am really surprised at how much I have accumulated over the years to celebrate the holidays. What used to be important to display now sits as family history in a safe (and cluttered) space in my attic. Maybe this year will be the year I clean it out. There needs to be an app for us to put unwanted but still “good” holiday decorations out for adoption. Someone somewhere must need a Santa that sings a song and HOHO’s, a small artificial tree, two massive flamboyant cookie jars, an elf on a tricycle, huge stuffed bears, 36 Christmas blankets, and countless TEACHER ornaments. 

Speaking of the teacher ornaments, I am grateful for those demonstrations of affection my students held for me. When I was an inservice teacher they were placed all over my office and classroom, with who gave them to me and the year they were given. It was always a special walk down memory lane to get them out. Now my tree is filled with Best Mimi, grandkids’ handprints and homemade ornaments. While remembered fondly, my past life and mementos remain tucked away. My new roles have taken over all of the space in my home and heart.

I would like to thank our readers for the many comments we have received. Your feedback and notes of appreciation were greatly appreciated. Please continue to let us know what you like about the newsletter, a fun book you have enjoyed, a special memory from your inservice days or a great vacation you have had.

NYSUT’s Retiree Activist Handbook has been updated, please check it out online at https://www.nysut.org/members/retirees/retiree-handbook. (You’ll be prompted to login at NYSUT’s website to view the handbook at this link) You will find a lot of interesting information in the handbook. 

As I always mention, thank you to those of you who have already mailed your voluntary contributions and if you have yet to do so, please consider sending your 2021 – 2022  voluntary contributions. As you now know, we do rely solely on your donations to support our efforts in keeping you informed and advocating on your behalf. No one representing the RC receives any monetary compensation for his/her work.

Stay safe and healthy!!

In solidarity,  Vicki Darrow

President, NYSUT RC #45

Dear Fellow Retirees,

I would first like to welcome our new retirees to NYSUT’s RC #45. We serve 53 NYSUT Locals and our representation on your behalf depends on you communicating your needs and wants as NYSUT Retirees to our elected officers and board. Tom Gath works as our newsletter and website editor and maintains a list of members and email addresses through our website. This allows us to increase communication to you, for your benefit. The emails you receive would be about one per month and relevant to you. To encourage more members to create accounts on our website (nysut-rc45.org), we have decided to hold a monthly drawing of new subscribers for a gift card awarded each month to the lucky winner selected at random. The first drawing will be in September for all members who have signed up to date.

Last spring I received a letter from a member of RC#45 who asked a question regarding the manner in which our COLA is computed. According to the New York State Teachers Retirement System website, https://www.nystrs.org/Retirees/Cost-of-Living-Adjustment, this year eligible retirees received an extra $21 monthly beginning with the September 30 pension payment under New York’s legislated cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). The 1.4% COLA for 2021-22 is applied to the first $18,000 of the maximum retirement benefit. It is based on the first $18,000 of our yearly pension and by law, the COLA can be no less than 1% and no more than 3% annually and is applied only to the first $18,000 of the retirement benefit. This latest COLA brings the cumulative maximum monthly increase since COLA legislation was enacted in 2001 to $399. It has been suggested that a new value be used to compute the COLA that is more in line with current pensions. This is a topic that we will be researching and speaking with other RC’s about. Our intention is to sponsor a resolution at the 2022 NYSUT Representative Assembly requesting that NYSUT encourage legislators revisit the value used to compute COLA.

I spent my summer enjoying family in New York as well as South Carolina. I also welcomed a new grandson from my daughter and her husband. His name is Munroe Curtis DuBois. He is already training us and we can’t wait to get to know (and spoil) him. One of my major undertakings this summer was to use up ALL of my postcards. You know the ones you buy intending to send while on vacation but never do? Well, I did it!! I wrote short notes to many friends both near and far, retired and still teaching, and relatives too. The feedback was rewarding and I found out they were greatly appreciated. Who knew people would get so much joy out of a silly handwritten note?
As I always mention, thank you to those of you who have already mailed your voluntary contributions and if you have yet to do so, please consider sending your 2021 – 2022 voluntary contributions. As you now know, we do rely solely on your donations to support our efforts in keeping you informed and advocating on your behalf. No one representing the RC receives any monetary compensation for his/her work.
We have a rigorous schedule of meetings this year with five newsletters coming your way. We hope to have your input with the newsletters, please consider contacting us with your thoughts, stories of adventure, good books you have read, favorite recipes or just a HELLO!!
Stay safe and healthy!!
In solidarity, Vicki Darrow
President, NYSUT RC #45