Region 10

John Stocks addresses the audience at the Joint State Conference in Eau Claire.

Our first Joint state conference with Minnesota occurred at the Best Western Plus Conference Center in Eau Claire on Tuesday, November 19 and it was a big success. Over 70 retired educators from both states attended and participated in multiple lively and engaging sessions.

This unique one-day conference featured John Stocks as our Keynote Speaker. Stocks is the immediate past Executive Director for NEA and now is serving as Special Assistant to the NEA Executive Director focusing his work on the 2020 Presidential Election.

Stocks spoke about the critical importance of Wisconsin in the upcoming presidential election and gave us ideas of how we can help elect a pro-public education president. In addition, he warned the audience how social media is driving the election’s narrative with false and misleading ads and postings.

In addition to John Stocks, NEA-Retired President Sarah Borgman welcomed us and reinforced our power as retired educators. Break-out sessions on Identity Theft, Traveling, a special moderated forum of both states’ leaders, and a special upbeat and fun session by Sarah Borgman were also part of the day.

There was a delicious lunch and time to Mix and Mingle with colleagues and friends from our neighboring state. At the end of the conference there were Door Prizes awarded, also.

Minnesota leadership expressed an interest in hosting a similar conference in their state next year. We look forward to more collaborative work with them!

President Ginny Bosse: gbosse@live.com

Vice President Tom Zigan; tomzigan@aol.com

Secretary/Treasurer Carol Krogmann; ckrogmann@wi.rr.com

Membership Coordinator Mary Jarvis; mejar@aol.com

At-Large Representative Marlene Ott; solidarity.ott@gmail.com

cluster 1: William “Bill” Stuessel, Director; wstuessel@yahoo.com

Janice Kienbaum, Alternate; finetree@charter.net

cluster 2: Karen Lach, Director; krnlach@gmail.com

Lucy Nefstead, Alternate; lvnefstead@gmail.com

cluster 3: Julie Hannon, Director; juliemariehannon@gmail.com

Kim Jordan, Director; skjordan1010@gmail.com

Deb Dassow, Alternate; debdassow@gmail.com

Kathi Taylor, Alternate; kathit1944@gmail.com

cluster 4: Ron Sunne, Director; ronsunne50@gmail.com

Vicki Burke, Alternate; veronicaburke@centurytel.net

cluster 5: Jim Brancel, Director; jbrancel@hotmail.com

cluster 6: Barb Grabow, Director; barbjg2143@gmail.com

Christy Anderson, Alternate; christylanderson15@gmail.com

cluster 7: Carol Bender, Director; no email

Linda Riesen, Director; riesvon@aol.com

Arthur Fiet, Director; arthurf399@aol.com

Joe Hanser, Alternate; joehanser@msn.com

WEAC Governance Liaison Kim Schroeder; SchroederK@weac.org

WCOA Liaison Allen Knop; ajknop@yahoo.com

Wisconsin must demonstrate that we value our teachers, Governor Evers writes

October 16, 2019

In a column released Wednesday, Governor Tony Evers says Wisconsin must do better in demonstrating that it values its teachers. “We must … recognize that part of supporting our kids in the classroom means supporting the educators who teach our kids,” Evers writes. “Wisconsin pays our public school teachers less than the national average, which makes it harder to recruit and retain talented educators. According to recently-released data, Wisconsin has fallen to 33rd in the nation for average teacher pay. Teacher salaries in our state are some of the lowest in the Midwest. Teachers moving across the border to Illinois or Michigan can see pay bumps of $10,000 or more. That’s just not good enough, folks. As we continue to fight for the resources our schools need to invest in our kids, we must do everything in our power to ensure that educators know the work they do is valued and that they mean something to our kids and the people of our state.”