Pension worries claim a good educator
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 13:41
- Written by Paul Gordon
Randy Simmons has pretty much had it with politics. As a result, a fine local educator is leaving the public school arena on Friday, the last day of classes in 2012 for District 150.
As much as he cares for the well being of students, enough so he didn't fight a job change two years that resulted in what some believed was a demotion, Simmons believes retiring now is his best chance of keeping his own future and that of his family secure.
(Photo by Paul Gordon) Randy Simmons listens at his last band a choir concert as principal of Von Steuben Middle School. He plans to retire on Dec. 21."I don't like what Gov. Quinn plans to do to our pensions. It's not going to be good. For my future and my family's security, I need to do this," Simmons told me Tuesday night, just before the winter concert of the bands and choir at Von Steuben Middle School in Peoria. I was there to watch my granddaughter and grandson perform and kind of blindsided Simmons when I started talking with him about his decision, but he graciously answered my questions.
It wasn't the first time media have questioned him. Simmons made headlines a couple years ago when District 150 transferred him to Von Steuben from Peoria High School, where he'd been principal for seven years and by all accounts was well respected and liked by the faculty, staff and students.
The transfer was necessary if District 150 was to receive a $6 million federal education improvement grant to help with the transition of closing Woodruff High School and merging it with Peoria Central. The reason for the stipulation that the Peoria Central administration be changed was never really made clear, but Simmons took the transfer without a gripe because he knew the district could do good things for the students with that grant.
When some students and parents started to protest the transfer, Simmons quelled them and said the transfer was the "fiscally responsible" thing to do. "I just want people to know I'm in favor of this," he told the Peoria Journal Star in March, 2011. "This is my seventh year here (at Central) and we've done dome really great things, but these kids need more. They need more help, more resources."
He still feels that way and said Tuesday that he worries about the kids and their future. He sees public schools needing money while losing quality educators because of funding problems and because of politics.
By the latter he was referring to the state pension problems and the belief Gov. Quinn and Democratic Party leaders will cut retirement benefits in January as they try to resolve the state fiscal woes through pension reform. Part of the reforms Quinn favors is requiring teachers to work until age 67 instead of being able to retire at 55.
Simmons is 55 now and can go ahead and retire under the existing pension benefits he has been paying into for more than 30 years. "I've had it with worrying about this and with all the politics involved. Some people think my decision to go now is because of a problem between me and the district or Dr. (Grenita) Lathan (District 150 superintendent). That simply isn't true. It's because I need to protect myself and my family and our future and I don't see any other choice," he said.
Simmons said he is fielding offers to stay in education in the private sector but for now, plans to take some time off and work on his golf game. "It really needs the work, too," he said, laughing.
When I was young I remember being told that working a job with a pension was about the best you could do for securing your retirement. Government pensions were the best, particularly federal pensions, part of what made civil service jobs such as that of a postal worker so desirable.
Whether it was poor planning from the start, careless monitoring later or whatever, that has changed. As a result, a lot of good people — teachers, administrators, mental health professionals — have left the public sector at a time we need them more than ever.
Can we afford to keep losing the good ones?
Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com
