District 30 of the RTO/ERO represents the retired teachers living in the County of Northumberland. This website is designed to share information about events and happenings of interest to retired teachers in the local area and to provide contact information for the District 30 executive and their various committees. It will also provide links that may be of interest to District 30 members and to retired teachers visiting our area.

Important Information for all Northumberland Retirees

I have recently been informed that there is an issue regarding possible exposure to chrysotile asbestos among our board's past teachers. Because of this a special information meeting has been set up on January 17, 2012 by the EFTO and Occasional Teachers' locals. For complete information please click HERE.

Important Message from the Members of the Provincial Executive

We thank the authors of this position paper, “Funding of the Charitable Foundation” for the opportunity to add to the discussion. It is healthy indeed to outline some of the important RTO/ERO issues in the form of a Position Paper for further discussion. What we are concerned about is that not all of the pertinent information is contained in this particular discussion paper.

The following comments reflect the position of the RTO/ERO Provincial Executive.

We appreciate that the authors of this discussion paper want to summarize the proceedings to date, but this paper does not do this. They neglected to mention that on three occasions attempts were made at Senate to restrict the use of District funds to support donations to the Charitable Foundation. The most recent was at the October 26/27, 2010 Senate Meeting. Please refer to the minutes of that meeting (pg.15) where a motion was brought forward. That motion was:

Moved by David Shanoff and Seconded by: Roy Harvey

That the RTO/ERO Constitution be amended to prevent members’ fees and benefit premiums, or any portion thereof, being directed to the RTO/ERO Charitable Foundation.

This motion was soundly defeated.

At the October 2011 Fall Senate the following motion was postponed definitely to the Spring 2012 Senate following a discussion about legal and accounting concerns. Those concerns now have been resolved.

That no membership fees be given to the Foundation by the Provincial Office or Districts.

This hardly supports the argument that many felt it was the wish of the Senate not to support the Foundation with District funds.

The conference call referred to in the Position Paper was well attended. During that call the only thing heard from the District Presidents was solid support for the Foundation and the launch of the funding campaign. Many creative ideas were exchanged. Had there been any negative concerns they surely would have surfaced. As noted, our legal counsel and auditors see no impediment with Districts allocating District funds to support the Foundation.

This position paper argues that District Funds and how they are used to support charities should be determined by someone other than Districts themselves. It states that Districts should only support local charities. What constitutes these local charities as mentioned in the paper? Is it expected that Senate will make the determination for all Districts? We firmly believe in the right of Districts to determine their own use of District funds.

A Notice of Motion is just that. It states that someone or District will bring forward a motion for consideration by the assembly. Until such time as that motion is dealt with there is no obligation to do anything.

We take exception with the recommendation presented in the paper. This Provincial Executive and the Directors of the Foundation are doing the work assigned to them by the Senate. We do not recommend that Districts refrain from what they are doing. If a District doesn’t want to support the Foundation with District funds it doesn’t have to do so. We also resent the implication that our integrity as an Executive and the Board of the Foundation is in question

The Foundation was created by RTO/ERO and we should be working as one to provide the utmost support for it. Our Foundation is an extension of RTO/ERO. The management of the Foundation rests with the Board of Directors all of whom are RTO/ERO members as stipulated in our Constitution. All the Directors (except for the Executive Director) are duly elected by the members of the RTO/ERO Senate to serve on their behalf as Foundation Directors. We should be working together in the best way possible. We believe that we should get on with the job and make this work for all of RTO/ERO.

This represents our official position on this matter.

Jim Sparrow

RTO/ERO Provincial President

Joanne Murphy

RTO/ERO Past-President

Leo Normandeau
RTO/ERO First Vice-President
Norbert Boudreau
RTO/ERO Second Vice-President
Margaret Clarke
RTO/ERO Executive Member
June Szeman
RTO/ERO Executive Member
Harold Brathwaite
RTO/ERO Executive Director

Application for consideration for a Provincial Service to Others Grant

There have recently been some changes in the way applications for this local service award are to be made. The first of which requires that a special form be completed and forwarded to a member of the District 30 Executive for consideration. This form is available by clicking here. The properly completed form MUST be received by District 30 before January 15, 2012.

E-Mail List

District 30 has recently established an e-mail list for members who would like to be updated about district events and/or urgent issues via email. If you would like to be included and are a member of District 30, please email the webmaster with your name, street address, and email address and you will be added to the list.

Dist. 30 Communications

To email the Webmaster, click on the folding envelope. Remove (remove-) from the address line and then send mail.

At the Fall 2008 Meeting

At our Fall, 2008 General Meeting we honoured all the Past Presidents of District 30. Those who were present are shown in the photograph above. Back row, from the left: Morris Tait, Marty Halloran, Dave Patterson, Tom Wilson, Fraser Carr, John Jackson, Claude Thompson, Cyril Peister, Bob Moorcroft. Front row: Ethyl Wright, Kay Durnford, Connie Poole, Fay Farmer, Mary Buchanan, Barbara Moorcroft.

Changes in Rural Addresses

Canada Post now requires those who live in rural areas to have a fire number (or 911) as part of one's address. This has resulted in changes to street addresses and postal codes of many RTO/ERO members.
Dianne Vezeau, Administrative Assistant, Database, would appreciate being informed of these changed addresses, as it would reduce the number of Renaissance magazines returned due to improper or incorrect address labels. We want to ensure that all members receive their magazines on time. (This also affects the delivery of your copy of the Applepress because we use RTO-ERO's database for our mailing lists. - Editor)
If your home area has changed to the 911 addressing system, please report the changes to Dianne at the Provincial Office, by calling her at 416-962-9463/1-800-361-9888, ext. 223, or email dvezeau@rto-ero.org

Some Important Home Security Information

RTO/ERO has published an important document about ensuring that your home is as secure as possible. You can read and/or download this file by clicking on it in our Forms page.

Travel Advisory for RTO/ERO Plan Participants

This is the time of year that many of our members begin to travel to warmer destinations. Participants in the RTO/ERO Extended Health Plan enjoy the benefits of the best Out of Province/Canada health insurance available. Members and their dependents each have up to $1M of coverage for medical emergencies for each trip of up to 62 days. RTO/ERO members should be aware of a disturbing trend that is beginning to occur with some U.S. medical facilities. When a member's claim is approved by World Access Canada (WAC), they (WAC) guarantee payment with the health care provider. WAC has agreements with many providers to discount the charges. Some U.S. providers are now seeking payment of the difference between the original bill and the discounted payment through collection agencies. Any RTO/ERO member who is contacted by a collection agency in a situation such as this should contact WAC immediately. Members are advised to not pay any bills and to let WAC handle the matter.

Members should also be aware that their 62 day countdown starts when they leave Ontario -- even if they spend some time in another province before leaving Canada.

RTO Health Services Committee