IEA-Retired Update

From the Chair

IEA-Retired Update

Janet Kilgus, Chairperson

January-February 2017

Membership – We have several new retired membership promotional pieces. Please contact Kim Riley at if you would like some for your spring retirees. IEA-Retired and Pre-Retired membership payments are now able to be made via credit card by going to and scrolling down to Join the IEA-Retired Program and clicking on Join Pre-Retired or Join Retired. You can also access the current membership form at this site, as well. Retired Chapter Presidents have received materials in preparation for spring retired membership recruitment.
Awards – IEA-Retired administers 3 IEA awards - the Mary Lou and Keith Hauge Retiree Award and the Bob Haisman Teacher and Student of the Year Awards. Recipients will be selected at the February 16-17 Retired Council meeting and will be announced at the IEA Board meeting February 17-18.
The IEA-Retired Council has submitted a proposed bylaw amendment for consideration at the RA to add a guaranteed ESP to the Retired Council. Cost of this additional Council member, if approved, will be absorbed by the retired budget with no dues impact on the active members. We encourage your support to adding this much-needed guaranteed voice on our Council.
At our December Council meeting we finalized a revision of our IEA-Retired Mission Statement and adopted a new IEA-Retired Vision Statement and Goals. Additionally, we adopted Action Steps to monitor the implementation and timeliness of these statements and goals as they apply to statewide and retired chapter work and activities. You can find these documents on the retired section of the IEA website.
Scholarship – Contributions to the Mary Lou and Keith Hauge Scholarship are always welcome. An updated form is on the website. Last year IEA-Retired funded six $1000 scholarships to IEA student members. Several retired members have recently added the Hauge Scholarship to their wills. Contact IEA Business Services for needed legal details.
We have been awarded two NEA-Retired Grants, each for $3727.50. They are for funding to support a Deep Listening/Interviewing Workshop to help train our new IEA-Retired Local President’s Outreach Task Force, held October 20, and to help fund our Legislative Action Committee – Next Steps. The Legislative Action Committee, Chaired by Diane Chapman, met on February 3, so an updated plan is in place for informing, engaging and activating our retired members on political issues and calls to action.
IEA-Retired has been asked to make a presentation in a break-out session at the NEA-Retired Organizing Conference in Dallas in late March on our NEA-grant-funded Local Presidents’ Outreach Task Force.
The Retired (One) Conference Planning Committee will be meeting in February.
We had retired volunteers at the fall IEA Student Conference assisting where needed and connecting with our mentees and will be doing so at the spring conference in Springfield.
IEA-Retired Local Presidents’ Outreach Task Force – I am excited to report that we have 37 retired members assisting IEA with this very important outreach and support to 740 of our active local presidents. (20 contacts each) Working with the IEA Presidents’ Support Team, a training was held in Bloomington on October 20 on Deep Listening, IEA Local Presidents’ Supports, logistics of recording data to report back, and more. Chaired by Sharon Pierscionek, committee members started their calls to local presidents before the end of October and are submitting their call reports by mid-January for follow-up by the Presidents’ Support Team and staff as needed.
Mentor Program – The retired mentoring program for the 2016-17 year has 70 retired mentors paired up with almost 80 student members. Gayla Dial is our Mentor Program Coordinator for IEA-Retired. Be sure to follow the Mentor Program Facebook page at and Like us as well as Twitter at Linda Walcher is the administrator of these accounts.
Illinois Alliance of Retired Americans – IEA is a sustaining member of IARA and with this membership, IEA gets a Vice President position on their Executive Board. I am filling that position and representing IEA and IEA-Retired at these meetings in Chicago every other month.
We continue to have an IEA-Retired representative at TRS Board meetings so that we can report back to our members first-hand about decisions that are made affecting them and their pensions.
OUR FOUR BEST GO-TO RESOURCES FOR RETIRED LEADERS AND MEMBERS-

IEA-Retired Insider – Our own IEA-Retired Insider goes to all retired members whose home email address is on file with IEA.
IEA website – The Legislative tab - Pensions has information as it becomes available. The IEA-Retired website on the IEA website using the drop down Our Members – Retired also provides access to many resources. Or go directly to it by using
IEA-Retired Resource Notebook
Contact Kim Riley or Janet Kilgus

We will be happy to come to your regions to explain retired membership and what the retired program does. Just be in touch with me to set a date and work out the details.

Please see our website, which is regularly updated, at .

As always, contact us if you have questions or needs as it relates to IEA-Retired.

Remember, retired members are ready, experienced, and free to provide association support while active members are at work.

Janet Kilgus

IEA-Retired Chair

815-692-2172 or cell 815-848-4842

Kim Riley

IEA-Retired Para-Professional Staff

309-662-5359