NEOEA-Retired Organizing Committee

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The NEOEA-Retired Organizing Committee promotes the welfare of retired members of the North Eastern Ohio Education Association (NEOEA) by identifying particular concerns of retired members as topics for training workshops and social opportunities, by serving as a link between northeastern Ohio retired members and those in other districts, and by fostering communication within OEA-Retired. Also see the the OEA-R page on the OEA Website and the NEA-R page on the NEA website. Join our NEOEA Facebook group.

Our goal is to provide you a resource to locate people and resources to assist you and keep you informed.  Please consider volunteering to serve on one of our Sub-Committees.  NEOEA-OEA-Retired members may use the Contact Us page to update their contact information or request Spring Conference information.  We need your input to help the website evolve to better assist you.   Submit your comments, questions, or contact updates on our Contact Us page.

Slide Into Success: Powering Up with PowerPoint

Monday, April 22, 2024   5 PM – 6 PM

Slide Into Success: Powering Up with PowerPoint

Join us to improve your PowerPoint skills.

OEA Retired is hosting an online PowerPoint training for beginners.  PowerPoint is a powerful and versatile tool that allows you to create presentations for any purpose. go beyond the bullet points and learn innovative techniques.  Facilitated by Rachel Grabowski, OEA Organizer.

https://ohea.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0uc-iprjouGNODJ9XxUwcErKNW-smaTrJk#/registration

ZOOM with Freedom Fighter Charles Black!

Tuesday, April 23rd at 7pm

The OEA-Retired Racial and Social
Justice Committee is excited to host a
Zoom talk with the civil rights activist,
historian and actor, Charles Black.
Let’s listen to the stories of the past so
we can make plans to win education
justice for our students, schools, and
communities. Come listen to his story
of how he stood with Dr. King and other
foot soldiers to make change happen
then and listen to how we can make
change happen now!

https://www.ohea.org/cms/assets/uploads/2024/02/OEAR-Racial-Social-Justice-BookStudy-Charles-Black-Flyer.pdf

March 2024 NEOEA-R Newsletter

Download the NEOEA-R March 2024 Newsletter

In the NEOEA-R March 2024 Issue:
  • March 26, 2024 NEOEA-R Retired Spring Conference 
  • OEA Fund Bowing Tournaments
  • April 25, 2024 OEA-R Spring Conference
  • Zoom with Freedom Fighter Charles Black
  • KSEA Mentorship
  • OEA-R Report
  • Vote for NEOEA Retired Delegates to NEA RA
  • May 21, 2024 Holden Arboretum Tour
  • NEOEA Legislative Receptions
  • Understanding GPO/WEP Replay
  • CIFF International Film Festival
  • Affiliate Conferences
  • Discounts
  • NEOEA Calendar

Go to the Newsletters page for past issues.

OEA Fund Bowling Tournaments

Please join North Eastern OEA Members and their families from across the NEOEA Area for a fun evenings of bowling and camaraderie.

The events will include complimentary food and beverages, and bowlers and spectators alike will be entered to win prizes throughout the evening. Three inaugural events have been planned at various locations throughout the NEOEA District.

When: Saturday, March 23rd 2024

Where: Westside Bowl

2617 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown, OH 44509

Time: Doors Open at 1:30 PM. Bowling Begins at 2:00 PM

More information and registration: https://oeafund.info/neoeamahbowling 

 

When: Saturday, April 6th, 2024

Where: Nautical Bowling Lanes

184 Miller Road., Avon Lake, OH 44012

Time: Doors Open at 1:30 PM. Bowling Begins at 2:00 PM

More information and registration: https://oeafund.info/neoeafirebowling

 

When: Saturday, April 13th 2024

Where: Spins Bowl – Independence

5619 Brecksville Rd., Independence OH, 44131

Time: Doors Open at 1:30 PM. Bowling Begins at 2:00 PM

More information and registration: https://oeafund.info/neoeaclebowling

Holden Arboretum

Tuesday, May 21, 2024     11:00 AM

Based on responses from our Activities Survey, we are planning a strictly fun event for our members and friends as we visit the Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, which is a captivating way to enjoy the great outdoors.

Whether you want to experience a rotating roster of seasonal activities or retread
your favorite attractions, we’re excited to be your destination to learn, explore,
and grow.

The Highlights Tram Tours provide guests of all ages and mobility levels a chance to discover selected gardens and collections, and learn a little history at the same time. Our tour will begin at 11:00 a.m., and afterwards we’ll have lunch together at an outdoor picnic pavilion.

The $30 fee includes park admission, tram tour, and box lunch.

http://neoea-r.ohea.us/files/2024/02/HoldenTour.pdf

Explore the park all day, if you’d like. The gates open at 9:00 a.m. and close at
5:00 p.m.

https://holdenfg.org/holden-arboretum/plan-your-visit/

What is PEP? Public Education Partners

HOW TO BE A GRASSROOTS PUBLIC ED ADVOCATE

Through citizen advocacy, we must make PUBLIC EDUCATION a nonpartisan focus of every election – local, state, and national.

Below are some ideas, including suggestions from our friends at the Wisconsin Public Education Network.

Start a local school district grassroots advocacy group to focus on supporting students, teachers, and education professionals in your public schools. Counteract those faux grassroots groups being organized and resourced by those who do not support public education.

Establish relationships with people who are already actively engaged, such as people who have worked on school levy campaigns and those who work with foundations or run referendum efforts. Invite them to join you, then brainstorm to identify your shared concerns, goals, and ideas for working together.

Build relationships with the people elected to represent your community and schools. Knowing where candidates stand on issues that impact our public schools is essential to electing strong supporters of our students. Hold our elected officials accountable for votes that benefit our students and public schools once elected.

Connect with local leaders, parent groups, educators, community members, and business owners who support local schools. Assist them in hosting a series of community discussions of education ideology, issues, and policies for the opportunity to talk about what matters to all of us: making sure that every child in the community can attend an excellent school and knowing that strong schools are the heart of strong communities.

Get involved with your local school board. Attend meetings, and consider sharing your opinions, suggestions, and ideas in the time allotted for public comments. Find out if your school district has joined the Vouchers Hurt Ohio lawsuit against the state for the private/parochial school voucher program, and if not, strongly encourage its participation.

Know who is running for election to your school board. There is a national strategy, orchestrated and funded by several school-privatization organizations, to recruit and train extreme candidates to take over school boards. One example is the Leadership Institute, which teaches people how to run for their local school board, even if they do not have children enrolled in the public schools, in order “to stop the teaching of CRT before it destroys the fabric of our nation.” A group called How Things Work at the Ohio Statehouse has put together a regularly updated list of extremist candidates to avoid and a document that explains how one can identify extremist candidates.

Get to know your state school board members, as well as your legislators, and make sure they know you. Write, call, attend listening sessions, and share your concerns, ideas, and values. Decision-makers and lawmakers need to hear from us. Often.

Let State School Board members know that you support their efforts to block the governor’s unconstitutional takeover of the mostly-elected state school board.

Here are a few things you can do to stay informed and in touch with Ohio Legislators:

  1. Follow and respond to them on social media
  2. Add their office numbers to your phone contacts
  3. Call and ask to be added to their mailing lists
  4. Watch for announcements of constituent coffees or office hours
  5. Invite legislators to community events
  6. Use your expertise to testify in-person or send written testimony to give opinions about proposed policies.
  7. Write letters to the editor as a fast, free, and effective way to reach your entire community to let them know why you support your local public schools. Here are some tips for writing LTEs: Effective letters are short (250 words or less) and to the point, and they connect the larger issue or concern to your community’s needs. Make it personal by sharing your story or perspective, and appeal to values you share with members of your community. Stay focused, and include a suggested action or information on how to support education advocacy efforts in your letter. If your letter is appropriate across Ohio, feel free to submit it to multiple newspapers.

TRUSTED EDU-WRITERS/ORGANIZATIONS TO FOLLOW:

Alfie Kohn

Bust-ED Pencils

Cloaking Inequity

Defending the Early Years

Deutsch29

Diane Ravitch

Fairtest

Gadfly on the Wall

Have You Heard

In the Public Interest

Mr. Fitz

Nancy Bailey’s Education Website

National Education Policy Center (NEPC)

Network for Public Education (NPE)

Peter Greene- Curmudgucation and Forbes

Public Schools Advocate at The Progressive

Radical Scholarship

Teacher in a Strange Land

The Jose Vilson

The Merrow Report

Tultican

*Complete List with Links

 NOTABLE OHIO EDU-WRITERS:

Sign up for daily emails from Bill Phillis, Ohio Coalition for Equity & Adequacy of School Funding.

Jan Resseger posts columns Tuesdays and Thursdays

Steve Dyer

David Pepper

NOTABLE OHIO EDUCATION ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS:

OEA, OFT, PEP, Honesty for Ohio Education, Vouchers Hurt Ohio, League of Women Voters, Ohio PTA, and more

 As education historian Diane Ravitch says, “We are many. There is power in our numbers. Together we will save PUBLIC EDUCATION.”

 Dr. Ravitch also stated that retired educators have the knowledge and expertise to become the most powerfully effective advocates for public education. I agree. We know what is supposed to be happening in our schools. We have seen atrocious legislation and mandates negatively affecting public school children and their families. We are mad, and we’re not going to take it anymore. Let’s get political!

Jeanne Melvin

Public Education Partners

https://www.facebook.com/OhioPEP

https://twitter.com/OhioPEP

https://www.instagram.com/publicedpartners/

https://publiceducationpartners.org/

Resource Documents

What is Public Education Partners

Get Political

Identifying Extremist School Board Candidates

Retired Spring Conference

Registration is open for the Tuesday, March 26 NEOEA-R Spring Conference which will be held at the NEOEA Conference Center in Mayfield Heights from 9:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Presenters include:

Jeanne MelvinPublic Education
Partners (PEP): The leading volunteer
advocacy group for public education in
Ohio.

Dale BraunEdward Jones: Basic
information on investing to supplement
retirement and build wealth, meeting
needs for retirement, future expenses, and
other goals.

Tamla ColeSTRS: Updates, changes,
and trends.

Jeff WensingOEA Vice President: Get
the latest information on the legislative
front.

Space is limited and registration will close on March 15 or when we reach capacity.

The conference flyer which has additional details and a registration form is available at the link:

https://neoea.org/files/RetiredSpringConf2024.pdf

Understanding the Impact of GPO/WEP Webinar Replay

OEA presented an educational Webinar regarding two provisions in the Social Security Act that were created with the intent of equally treating workers who pay Social Security taxes throughout their careers and those who do not pay Social Security taxes on all of their earnings. The provisions—the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and the Government Pension Offset (GPO)—have caused nearly 2 million American workers to be denied benefits because they chose to enter public service. We need our police, firefighters and educators, but they are being penalized for the very service they provide. To date, public employees in 15 states are affected by WEP and GPO. Ohio is one of the states impacted.

The Webinar Recording and slides Slides are now available.

January 2024 NEOEA-R Newsletter

Download the January 2024 edition of NEOEA-R

In the NEOEA-R January 2024 Issue:

  • Understanding the Impact of GPO/WEP
  • OEA-R Advisory Council Elections
  • Retired Delegates to the NEA Representative Assembly
  • OEA-R Racial and Social Justice Committee Book Study
  • NEOEA MegaConference
  • NEOEA Spring Conference
  • OEA-R Spring Conference
  • OEA Legislative Watch
  • NEOEA/OEA-R RA Delegates and RA Report
  • Activities Survey
  • OEA Retirement Systems Update
  • Read Across America
  • Discounts
  • NEOEA Calendar

Go to the Newsletters page for past issues.

March and April 2024 Conferences

Save the Dates for the following Conferences in March and April.

Saturday, March 9, 2024

The name says it all—Megaconference—and it will feature twelve simultaneous breakouts in three one-hour time slots. Topics offered fall into the following three themes: leadership development, personal development, and professional development. Mark your calendar for Saturday, March 9, 2024!  Detailed information is at the NEOEA Megaconference site.

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

NEOEA-R Spring Conference

This year’s Conference will be held at the NEOEA Conference Center in Mayfield Heights and will feature presentations from STRS Member Education, OEA Legislative Update by an Officer, a Public Education Advocate and a Financial Planner followed by lunch.  More information and Registration Form:  https://neoea.org/files/RetiredSpringConf2024.pdf

Thursday, April 25, 2024

OEA-R Spring Conference

The 2024 Conference will be held at the Dayton International Peace Museum from 10:00AM-3:00PM

Founded in 2004, The International Peace Museum raises awareness of nonviolent strategies for achieving peace now and in the future.  Individual and docent led tour,
Art Project, Lunch,  Networking

https://oea-r.ohea.us/files/2024/03/OEAR-2024-Spring-Conferernce-flyer.pdf