General Meeting
Staff Association
5/17/10 – 5:00 p.m.
Welcome – President Tom Pearson welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced Dr. Johnson.
Dr. Johnson spoke regarding the budget issues. He stated that we are in better shape than other districts. The Board has been given a challenge of no layoffs, but we will most likely have to make some sacrifices. We have 100 million dollars in stimulus monies to keep people employed through next year. Unfortunately, we have an 80 million dollar shortfall. Dr. Johnson is very proud of our organization. He does not recommend dropping 12 month employees to 11 months. We will have a tentative budget approved in July with the final budget approval in September.
Dr. Johnson recognized Dr. Pierce as our consultant but also as his friend. He stated that he also shared a close relationship with our new consultant, Dr. Ben Marlin.
Legislative Update – School District lobbyist Vern Pickup-Crawford provided an update for members on legislative issues. Of note was FRS retirement. Only changes made this year were reduction of interest rate paid on DROP accounts for those who enter DROP after June 30th this year from 6.5% to 3.0%. Existing DROP accounts are not affected. Also, employer (school board) contribution rates for FRS increase an average of 1.1%...that means about $12 million more for next year in PB County that comes out of state/local revenues. The legislation, HB5607, also calls for a legislative review of DROP for next year.
Vern told the group likely all options rumored this year will be on the table next year although the earliest any more changes can take effect would be July 1, 2011. Some of those include raising minimum retirement age from 62 to 65; minimum years of service from 30 to 33; averaging more than five top years for FRS benefit and/or not including accumulated annual leave as part of that calculation; phasing out DROP entirely; deleting retiree health insurance subsidy; changing retirement COLA from 3%/annually to equal US Consumer Price Index like social security; etc.
He urged members to be vigilant and follow legislative races this year to know what positions candidates have on education. For example, all Republican legislators in the PB County delegation voted for Senate Bill 6 while all Democratic members voted against it.
It was also agreed that his regular legislative updates, which are daily during the session, will now be posted on the Association's website.
Tom announced our new website: www.pbcsdsa.com. We are just getting started with the site; therefore items will be added as the year progresses.
Dr. Pierce - stated that he has been representing our association for the past six years. Joe Moore and Mike Burke have been very supportive to our Association. Vern Crawford represents both staff and principals; therefore, Dr. Marlin will be working with Vern to keep us updated as to the legislative updates. Our Association has been bringing representatives from the Staff Association to the Legislative sessions in Tallahassee each year. Six years ago when Dr. Pierce came onboard, the association membership was a little more than 200 members. The budget was somewhere between $18,000-$20,000. We now have in excess of 600 members and our budget is between $80,000-$90,000. Dr. Pierce said his final goodbye since he will be retiring and moving to Sarasota this summer.
Dr. Marlin – Dr. Pierce introduced Dr. Marlin who stated that he was glad to be back in Palm Beach County. He previously served as both Associate Superintendent and Interim Superintendent a few years ago. He looks forward to the upcoming year and will work with us and support us. Members may contact him at 561-866-4614.
Introduction of Staff Association Officers and Board Members –Tom recognized Board officers and introduced the new Board members for FY ’11. Motion was accepted and approved for all board members to remain for the upcoming year. Board members are elected each year. Officers are elected every two years. Please note the following for FY 11:
Officers:
Tom Pearson – President
Dianne Howard – Vice President
Tracey Fleming – Treasurer
Jayne Daversa - Secretary
Board Members:
Elaine Cittadino – Instructional-Administrative
Beth Gillespie – Instructional - Administrative
Alsia Mighty – Instructional – Non-Administrative
Tammy Ditmars – Instructional – Non-Administrative
Bito David – Non-Instructional - Administrative
Jim Kunard – Non-Instructional - Administrative
Doris Kinney – Non-Instructional – Non-Administrative
Joyce Goodlett – Non-Instructional – Non-Administrative
Changes to By-Laws – The revised draft of by-law changes were previously emailed to all members and eligible members this month. Tom explained that the reason for the revisions was to bring them up to date since it had been several years since they were last updated. Motion was accepted and approved to accept the revisions.
Recognition of Dr. Pierce - In recognition of Dr. Pierce’s dedication and commitment for serving as our consultant for the past six years, the Association donated $500 to the Education Foundation, in his name. Mary Kay Murray, Executive Director for the Education Foundation, accepted the check. She thanked the Association for the donation and stated that Dr. Pierce has always been very supportive of the Education Foundation and that he will be greatly missed!
Meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m. Tom invited all out to the courtyard for cake and beverages and a chance to say goodbye to Dr. Pierce.
 Dr. Ben Marlin addressing the group |
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 Mary Kay accepting donation check in Walter’s name |
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 Dr. Walter Pierce, Dr. Ben Marlin, Dr. Tom Pearson |
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 Dr. Walter Pierce, Dr. Ben Marlin, Dr. Tom Pearson |
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 Dr. Walter Pierce “handing over the reins” to Dr. Ben Marlin |
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