Blaine County Retired Educators met September 11 at the Noble House in Watonga. It was the first meeting of the new school year. Darla Brooks gave the invocation and Ann Swaim led the Pledge of Allegiance.
After a delicious lunch prepared by the Noble House staff and served to 18 members and one guest, Sabra Tucker, Oklahoma Retired Educators Association Executive Director, gave an informative presentation concerning the OREA and the state Legislature. She explained that there were several bills that had been written but never made it to the floor for a vote. The reasoning behind that ws enough money had been spent on education this year, but Sabra noted that the money it would take to fund this amount to OREA recipients would cost nothing to the state treasury and only a small portion to the OREA fund.
She also explained that OREA has a new program for travel and there are four trips planned. She discussed the videos that are available to schools and what some of them were about. They were. She said, quite costly. After her presentation concluded, there was time for questions.
After the presentation, local president Jan Stinson opened the business meeting and the new officers and committees were announced.
The next meeting will be held at 11:30 October 9 at the Noble House in Watonga. All retired education members are invited to join, including not only teachers but also office assistants, lunch room workers, bus drivers, maintenance persons and anyone who worked in education and has retired.