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The Texas Retired Teachers Association’s (TRTA) Executive Director, Tim Lee, will be hosting a Facebook Live event on Friday, March 27th, at 1 pm with special guest Brian Guthrie, the Executive Director of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS). 
 
They will be talking about the TRS pension trust fund and how the market fluctuations are impacting your retirement security. You won’t want to miss this conversation, as it will be a great way to stay informed on what’s going on with the TRS fund during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
You will be able to view the Facebook Live event on TRTA’s Facebook page. If you’re on Facebook, please be sure to like TRTA’s Facebook page. You don’t need to have a Facebook profile to watch the Facebook Live video. The video is available to everyone. Also, if you miss the live event, the video recording will be available in the videos section of TRTA’s Facebook page.
 
If you have questions that you’d like to see answered during the discussion, please submit them to info@trta.org no later than Friday, March 27 at 10 AM.
 
We look forward to seeing a big audience in the chat! We are planning to host a series of Facebook Live videos to help keep our members informed during this difficult time. Thank you for your membership to TRTA. If you aren’t already a member, please join us today!

Executive Summary:

• TRTA’s staff is working remotely.
• The staff is still available by phone during weekdays from 8 AM to 5 PM. 
• All local unit meetings are canceled through April 30.

Due to the growing impact of COVID-19, known as the coronavirus, in the Austin area, the Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) is following the Governor’s recommended public health best practices. TRTA canceled the 67th TRTA State Convention scheduled for April 6-8, 2020 in Corpus Christi over serious concerns regarding the well-being of our members and has asked all affiliated districts and local units to postpone any scheduled conferences or meetings until at least April 30.

Our staff’s primary concern is the presence of a medical office in the Trinity Office Building where TRTA is housed. One of TRTA’s tenants has an employee that tested positive for COVID-19 this week. Now, with cases multiplying in the Austin area at a rapid pace, we must extend caution to our TRTA staff members. Beginning Monday, March 23, TRTA staff will not be present at our downtown Austin office. However, our regular hours to answer phone calls will remain 8 AM to 5 PM from Monday to Friday. We are in the process of enabling all of our staff members with the ability to work remotely until this health crisis has passed.

As we make these preparations, members may experience a short delay in response times to phone calls and emails. TRTA staff members will be able to take phone calls and emails remotely by next week; however, some requests are not be able to be filled at this time, such as mailing printed materials to districts and local units that request them. This includes requests for bookplates and retirement education seminar packets.

As we continue to sort through the logistics of this change, we ask for your understanding and patience. The TRTA staff will do everything we can to continue providing exceptional service to our members. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at info@trta.org or leave us a message at 1.800. 880.1650.

Local and District Meetings Canceled Through April 30

The TRTA Board of Directors is imposing a hold on all TRTA affiliated meetings across the state through April 30. This precaution follows the guidelines set by the federal government.

This is a very fluid situation. We are all hearing updates about the progress of containment and treatment of the coronavirus. In the event, however, that you have a local meeting that you believe may need to be postponed and it is scheduled after our hold, we understand. Contact your district president and let them know if you’re canceling your meeting past April 30. If you’re a district president, please contact Brock Gregg, and let him know so that we may share this information with our Board or other interested members. If you have a district meeting that you decide should be canceled in May, you should also contact Gregg.

We should all be vigilant and work together to monitor the progress for containing COVID-19 in our communities. We can all play an active role by living our lives in a happy, healthy, and safe way. By regularly washing our hands, using hand sanitizer, and ensuring that we are getting proper medical care if we do not feel well, we can help ensure the well being of our fellow retirees. Another vital step in ensuring the virus doesn’t continue its spread is to avoid large crowds.

TRTA cares about its members and we want to do our part to keep everyone healthy. Therefore, we are asking that all districts and local units postpone their TRTA meetings through April 30 or until new information is available. If your meeting is scheduled between now and April 30, we ask that you please reschedule for a later date. If your meeting is scheduled for a date that is beyond the next April 30, we are not asking that your postpone it at this time, but may do so if it becomes necessary to ensure the well-being of TRTA members.

We are happy to help ensure this is not too detrimental to your local TRTA members. Please let us know how we may be able to assist.

The Texas Retired Teachers Association (TRTA) Board of Directors, in an abundance of caution, has made the critical decision to cancel this year’s convention in Corpus Christi, Texas. The decision was not made lightly and the most important consideration in making the decision is the health and well-being of our members.

During this time of uncertainty, TRTA feels this is the very best decision based on what we know about the coronavirus respiratory illness, the risk factors we are aware of, and the potential impact on our attendees and the organization. We also want to clarify that the convention will not be rescheduled this year.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the most affected group of people by the coronavirus, known as COVID-19, are “older adults” as well as those with underlying health conditions. The city of Corpus Christi, our hotel partners and vendor partners have been very helpful. However, there are simply too many risk factors outside of our control that would prevent our organization from ensuring member well-being at an event of this size at this time.

Convention Refunds and Hotel Reservation Cancellations

If you registered for convention, you will be receiving a full, automatic refund from our membership department. The refund will include your registration fee, as well as any meal tickets that you purchased. The refund will come in the same manner that you paid. Refunds are projected to go out within the next two weeks.

Additionally, our members will not be held liable for hotel room reservations by the Omni or the Holiday Inn. Both hotels will automatically cancel the reservations booked. If the hotel has your email, you may receive an email cancelling your reservation. If you do not receive an email, you may consider calling the hotel next week to confirm that your reservation has been canceled.

Convention Delegates Information

The 2020 Convention was scheduled to be the centerpiece for association business, including the election of officers for the TRTA Board of Directors. Elections will still occur. TRTA is presently reviewing several certified online vendors that work with nonprofit organizations on elections and we will have more details soon.

All members who were named as delegates by their local units for the TRTA convention will remain and be provided with a ballot. Bylaws amendments that were scheduled to be voted upon will be suspended, and may be subject to review at a later time. We will have more details about the online voting process after we secure a vendor.

If your unit has not yet submitted its convention delegates, please submit them to the TRTA membership department no later than March 23. For locals that have already submitted delegates, TRTA will use the delegates we have on file for the online election.

Training Materials

Resource guides and one-page summaries created by TRTA state committees for the purposes of training will be posted on our website (www.trta.org) under both the member resources page and committee pages by early April. TRTA will also send out an email once the guides and summaries have been posted.

Future Events

As mentioned earlier in this article, the state convention will not be rescheduled this year. TRTA district spring leadership development conferences are still scheduled to occur at this time. However, it’s possible that TRTA will advise postponement as we receive new information. We will keep our local units and districts updated as we learn more.

We want to thank everyone who helped put this event together, especially the members in District 2. Our members are the most important part of this organization, and their dedication and passion for putting on a convention is amazing.