March 2011

I realized that I did not hype our program for March 17. First of all, wear green to ward of pinchers. People wearing orange will be suspected of treason to the Auld Sod. Our speaker will be Charlie Hunsicker, Director of Environment Projects for Manatee County. I have heard him speak about the new preserves in the county. He is well-informed and interesting.

March MCREA

March has come in "like a lion" with gusts of wind loaded down with oak tree and other pollen. Are you enjoying the watery eyes and sneezing as much as I am? Perhaps it will rain soon and wash some of the yellow stuff away.

Deborah Thomas and I went to the annual retirement workshop for Manatee County Educators this week. There didn't seem to be quite as many there as last year, but they had twice as many questions. Of course, they are all nervous about what the legislature and governor have in store for them when they meet in a couple of weeks. I sent you a list of addresses and phone numbers of the legislature. Here are their email addresses:
Rep. Greg Steube greg.steube@myfloridahouse.gov
Rep. Jim Boyd jim.boyd@myfloridahouse.gov
Sen. Michael Bennett bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov
Our input should count if "myfloridahouse" refers to us and not to them. We'll see. It is alarming to see what is happening in Wisconsin, and our governor seems pretty anxious to follow the lead of more radical voices since he chose not to accept the money for the bullet train and refuses to allow legislation to track sales of opiates. As Betty Davis put it, "Hang on to your seats, boys. We're in for a bumpy ride." If I don't have that right, forgive me.

I hope most of you will be at our March meeting on Thursday, the 17th, at 11:30, at Renaissance on 9th. We have two important items on our agenda: the election of new officers for 2011-2013 and a vote on raising MCREA dues.

The slate of officers which was presented at the Feb. meeting by the nominating committee foll
1st V.P. Judy Shostrom
2nd V.P. Susan Roe
Secretary David Bates
Treasurer Ron Schneider
(Deborah Thomas will become the new President since she served as 1st V.P. for two years. We will not vote on this office.)
Nominations from the floor will be accepted before the voting.

The next important item to be discussed and voted on in a secret ballot will be an increase in dues for next year. The MCREA board has discussed the increase and wishes to bring it to the membership for consideration. A rationale for this increase includes the following:

• Present dues are $45 dollars a year of which $30 are sent to FREA. Of the $15 that remain, $2 are designated for local scholarships and $3 are sent to FREF for state scholarships. That leaves us with $10 per member in our budget. Since lunches are $10 each and we host our speakers' lunches, and some members make reservations and do not show up, it is possible to see where some of our money goes. Yes, we do bill members who make reservations and do not arrive, but as in all bills, some are not paid.
• Due to increased costs of printing and postage, we cannot send out printed newletters often.
• We have traditionally donated to the Manatee County History Fair where we sponsor a prize. This year, after the presentation of Mary Glass of the Manatee Foundation about the grants awarded to individual teachers for their classrooms, we donated to the Foundation as well. We would like to continue this to help classroom teachers and their students.
• In past years, after presentations by the Manatee Players and Guide Dogs for the Blind, we were able to donate to those organizations. We are now in a position of not being able to this and so have not scheduled presentations from organizations which might expect donations.
• We are also severely limited in our ability to pay a presenter: for instance, the magician which you may remember who entertained us at our Oct. meeting in 2009.
• There has not been a dues increase in at least 15 years.
• We have been dipping into our contingency fund in the last few years in order to balance the budget.
• The Board's proposal is a $5 per person increase in dues. This would bring the yearly dues to $50.

We hope that you will be prepared to discuss this dues increase and to vote on it. Please try to be at the meeting.

On the subject of money, as of Jan. 31, donations to the MCREA Scholarship Fund from members totalled $1,743.13. With that amount, our ability to award scholarships to Manatee seniors will be severely curtailed.

Joan Sackett is one of our new members this year. She was a 4th grade teacher at Anna Maria School before retiring. She has two children who have followed in her footsteps and who teach at Central High and at Gullett Elementary. Joan enjoys gardening, socializing, traveling, and reading. Sounds like the perfect agenda to me.

Diana Buell was a reading teacher and coach at Bayshore El., Anna Maria El, and Nolan Middle. She enjoys her two granddaughters, Kyla and McKenna (love those names) and working in Christian outreach at her church.

Kathleen Burghart was a PK/VE teacher, a MS/HS teacher, a reading coach, and taught K4/ESOL in Morocco and Thailand. (She was also a master of educational initials?) Her grandmother was a teacher and the first house mother at the Univ. of Alabama. She was also the first cousin of John Barrymore. That makes Kathleen a cousin of Drew Barrymore. I think Drew should be impressed with Kathleen's accomplishments.

I hope to see you all at our March meeting,

Ellen