In observance of Veterans Day on November 11, she read a special poem honoring veterans and thanked those in the audience who had served their country in the military. Many members wore patriotic colors in honor of the day, including one that carried the message: Home of the Free BECAUSE of the Brave.
Veterans were among the special honored guests at the November 9 meeting
of the St. Tammany Retired School Employees Association. Group
President Roxanne Lagarde is shown at left with Kathy and Leroy James
during the Veterans Day program. James, 92, is a veteran of World War II
and a former Madisonville area school principal.
Lyn Monteleone, first vice president, reported that new members were signing up regularly, making this a record-breaking year with the highest number of new members joining so far. The association holds several meetings each year, including the all-important legislative meeting in January, which delves into topics of interest to retirees such as pending legislation on retirement benefits and insurance.
This year's hot topic is the push for a new Constitutional convention, which STRSEA Legislative Chairman Jack Loup warned could be an effort to divert funds away from teacher pensions into other uses. He has been keeping up with legislative issues for years, and his concerns include declining revenues for MFP funding of the schools, as well continuing state efforts to merge, change, or reduce pension funds in an order to save money.
He asked all those present to write letters to their U.S. Senators to ask them to repeal two unfair laws that penalize teachers who also collect social security based on jobs they had before they became educators. Social security benefits are often unfairly reduced to those teachers and their surviving spouses because they are also members of the state teacher retirement program.
Jessica Ponze with the Community Wellness Center at St. Tammany Parish Hospital gave a "healthy cooking" demonstration, making (and handing out samples of ) potato salad made with cauliflower and Greek yogurt instead of potatoes and mayonnaise.
Reports were given by Tom Lusignan on the upcoming applications for this year's Educational Grant given by the organization and Ron Barthet on the printing and distribution of the new Membership Directory for 2017-2019.
A number of door prizes were given away, along with cash prizes donated by the St. Tammany Federal Credit Union. Among the exhibitors taking part in the health fair were Humana, St. Tammany Parish Hospital, Walgreens, Silver Sneakers, Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, the Sleep Disorders Center, and the Ochsner Health Network.
Here are some photographs from the event held at the David C. Treen Instructional Technology Center in Mandeville on November 9th.
President Roxanne Lagarde (standing at right) saluted the Veterans of the armed forces, in particular Leroy James, former principal of Madisonville Elementary School, seated at left.
A "healthy cooking demonstration" was offered by Jessica Ponze with the St. Tammany Parish Hospital Community Wellness Center.
Jack Loup gave the legislative report.
New membership directories were distributed to those present.
It was a red, white, and blue Veterans Day program
The St. Tammany Federal Credit Union gave out several prizes and gave out information on new checking account incentives.
Health Information Providers
Walgreens
T-shirts and Polo Shirts were on sale to raise funds for the Educational Grant Scholarship
