We have heard from a number of retired teachers that live out of state inquiring as to why they should join SFCRTA if they no longer live in Connecticut. When you retire, you no longer have a bargaining unit to negotiate and protect your pension and health care benefits. Several of SFCRTA board members attend a number of meetings in Hartford every month with our parent organization (ARTC) and other affiliates to ensure the financial security of our pension and health insurance benefits. We are the largest affiliate of retired teachers in the state of Connecticut and numbers do matter.
For those of you who have joined, we offer our thanks. You dues has enabled us to make donations to: the Henry Barnard Memorial Fund which helps retired teachers who are experiencing financial difficulty and the Glenn Moon Scholarship Fund which offering financial help to qualified high school seniors who are pursuing a teaching degree. In addition, we have provided four “Book Awards” to graduating students from our participating school districts.
The 25% reduction on our 2016 state income tax is included in the CT Resident Income Tax forms. You will find it on CT-1040, page 3, line 45. We will work hard to maintain the 50% reduction that has been promised for 2017.
Save the dates:
- Retired Teachers’ Lobby Day (ARTC, CEA-R, & AFT-R) is currently scheduled for March 29 10:00 a.m. at the State Capital. (If this should change, we will notify you via our webpage and email.)
- The SFCRTA Spring luncheon early May, 2017 at the Norwalk Inn. Date and speaker to be announced soon.
- SPOTLIGHT a chance for educators who are recently retired, planning to retire, or starting to consider retirement to explore next steps through the stories and experiences of others. Although people plan for their financial needs in retirement, planning for social and emotional needs is often deferred. For so many, being a teacher is their identity. What happens when you lose that part of who you are?
This conference aims to help educators address questions like, “What do you want to become?” “How do you transition to a new identity?” “How do you use the skills you already have?” “Will it be enough to just relax and enjoy life?” Learn from other retirees about how they’re using their skills and experiences in new and different ways.
WHEN: Thursday, May 4th from 4 – 5:30 PM
WHERE: Norwalk Community College
WHO: Southern Fairfield County area educators – retired, soon to be retired, thinking about retirement
This from Gloria Brown, President CEA-R: Many of you may have been reading or hearing about the underfunding of state pensions and the problem it is causing in our state budget. These stories are NOT about our teacher pensions but about state employees’ pensions. These are two different retirement systems. Our pensions are bonded and they continue to be protected.
If you have your dental insurance through the Teachers’ Retirement Board, you should have received you Cigna Dental cards by now. If you have not, please call Cigna at 1.800.Cigna24 or 1.800.244.6224.
Norwalk Grassroots Tennis and Education have volunteer tutoring opportunities available, especially in high school level subjects: Algebra, Geometry, English, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, French and Spanish. See our website (https://www.sfcrta.com) for details on this organization or contact: Michael J. Belletzkie, Education Coordinator, Norwalk Grassroots Tennis & Education, 203-939-1770 or email him at: mailto:Michael@ngtenniseducation.org.
The Alternative Route to Certification (ARC) Program is seeking Evaluators for their five-week Student Practicum. The ARC program has been helping adult learners with college degrees to enter the teaching profession in a non-traditional way for thirty years. They need retired teachers to visit schools four times during student placements to evaluate student growth, support the beginning teacher, and work with the cooperating teacher. A stipend of $500.00 is paid upon completion of the practicum. Mileage is also paid. Contact the
ARC Office (860) 947-1300 or visit: http://www.ctohe.org/ARC/
Enclosed is the membership renewal form for 2017. If you haven’t joined yet, please consider joining us and become a member of SFCRTA.
Remember: We are stronger together.
Respectfully,
Frank Cooper, President