Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/135412
the commitment continues. . . DSEA-Retired holds 2013 Annual Meeting - by Rich Phillips, president, DSEA-Retired he Delaware State Education Association-Retired organization held its 2013 Annual Fellowship Breakfast and Annual Meeting at the Modern Maturity Center in Dover on Wednesday, April 17. This year's agenda included the usual reports from committees and the president. For additional details, you can read all the reports on our website at www.dsea-r.org. Our guests this year included Jeff Taschner, DSEA executive director, and Kristen Boehmer, System Benefit Human Resource specialist from the Office of Pensions. Kristen presented pension information to those active members of DSEA who are considering retirement. Jeff Taschner spoke about the progress that DSEA-Retired has made over the past few years, and how closely DSEA and DSEARetired are working together. We also welcomed some other very important retired members who serve your group in several ways. Jim Testerman, former DSEA president, is currently a Kent County Representative on the DSEA-Retired Board, Legislative chair and member of the state's Pension Advisory Board. Earlene Gillan-Smith, also a former DSEA president, is a member of our Legislative Committee. Jim Harrison is our representative on the Pension Advisory Board. T $550 Lifetime membership available President Phillips reported on many changes in DSEA-Retired. Among them is the return of Lifetime Membership dues in DSEA-Retired which will begin on September 1, 2013. We are in the process of preparing information and registration forms for both active and retired DSEA members. The cost of the Lifetime Membership will be $550 - a onetime payment, which means that you will never pay another dime for your membership. If you are interested in receiving information about Lifetime Membership, please contact Debbie Weaver (debbie.weaver@dsea.org) www.dsea.org If you're interested in running for an office, please contact Rich Phillips. Each committee chair presented a report, all of which can be found on our website under Annual Meeting 2013. Our amazing members Alan Hendel, an active member of BEA and DSEA, retired from the Brandywine School District, (above left). Delores Price, Sussex County representative on the Board, follows along as Jim Testerman gives a legislative update (top right). Doris Collins (bottom right) helps Janice Hyland (red sweater), a new associate member who retired here recently from New Jersey where she was an active NJEA member. or myself (retengteach05@comcast. net). Once the information is prepared, we'll make sure you receive it. In memoriam One of the traditions that we keep each year at the Annual Meeting is recognizing those members that we lost over the past year. We light a candle and observe a moment of silence in their memory This year . they included the following: • James C. Bordley, Capital School District • Regina A. Casey, Brandywine School District • Vera R. Chalfant, Christina School District • Susan A. Durham, Capital School District • Frank Hunnicutt, Cape Henlopen School District • Edith L. K. Langford • Vernon Meier, Christina School District • Rena N. Newell, Lake Forest School District • Joyce Peaco, Brandywine School District • Daniel L. Ridout, Red Clay School District • Bessie S. Wilson, Capital School District We also asked members to keep in mind the students and educators who lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and those who were injured or lost their lives in the Boston Marathon attack. Dues going down! When Treasurer Shirley Redmond presented the 2013-2014 budget for membership approval, she announced that the dues for the upcoming year will be reduced by $15, $65 instead of $80. The Budget Committee thoroughly investigated the budget and realized that we've been doing such a great job of keeping expenses under control that we were able to offer the reduced dues. Governance elected The Election Committee announced the Board of Directors for 2013-2014. • President – Rich Phillips • Treasurer – Shirley Redmond (2014) • Secretary – position open; 1 possible associate member may be elected by the Board • County Representatives: Kent – Cyndi Angermeier (2015) and Jim Testerman (2014) New Castle – Barbara Jacobs (2015) and Carol Wright (2014) Sussex – Norman Poole (2015) and Delores Price (2014) Ed Redmond, the DSEA-Retired webmaster, demonstrated what was on the website, where to find information and also how it changes weekly If you haven't checked out . the DSEA-Retired website, check it out – www.dsea-r.org. Barbara Bordley reported that the current number of Association members is as follows: Annual Payers / Cash - 166 Annual Payers / Pension - 227 Retired-Life Members - 727 TOTAL ACTIVE RETIRED 1120 Pre-Retired 29 Associate 2 TOTAL DSEA-R MEMBERS 1151 Several retired members were recognized through certificates of appreciation. • Barbara Bordley • Ernestine Collins • Jim Harrison • Ethel Higgins • Jenny Lloyd • Dorothy Mack • Dave Taylor Again, for complete reports and details, check the DSEA-Retired website at www.dsea-r.org under Annual Meeting 2013. Old favorites to return next year They include the Pre-Retirement Workshops, Annual Picnic (scheduled for Wednesday, September 11th at Pizzadili Winery), workshops and others. Some new ideas are in the works for the future, so read our future articles in the DSEA Action! or talk to us at the upcoming DSEA Member Benefit Fairs in the fall for information about those. We know that we'll be having PreRetirement Workshops again next year; our last one in Georgetown was attended by over 130 members and guests. This is the largest workshop we've ever held. May/June 2013 DSEA ACTION! 15