prayer request

Patteee

the domino effect has begun! Budget cuts mean I more than likely will lose my job- how's that for over 10 years of seniority? Little language issue in the teaching contract that will be used against a few of us. Once the job goes, so does my health insurance, which is never good for someone who is recovering from cancer-and then losing the house will follow!

I have nothing in savings, no one to fall back on but myself- and there is no way to stop or slow down the avalanche that will follow

I am scared. Not sure what I am going to do.

dorookie

I am so sorry
OMG, that is just horrible, are you for sure you will lose your job? I think lisa42 is a teacher too, maybe she can shed some light on what options might be out there for you. I will keep you in my prayers. Please be strong, God will open another door, I just know it. Keep the faith..

God bless you
Beth

geotina

yikes
Sorry for your troubles. Here in Michigan some cities have in excess of 20% unemployment so we see first hand how bad the economy really is. Any chance you can jump on disability before the axe falls. Tina

Patteee

geotina said:

yikes
Sorry for your troubles. Here in Michigan some cities have in excess of 20% unemployment so we see first hand how bad the economy really is. Any chance you can jump on disability before the axe falls. Tina

I have no disability due to
I have no disability due to an HR oversight. (union says out of their area, attorney says nothing I can do about it.)

Fight for my love

Hi Patte,you are in my
Hi Patte,you are in my prayers.I hope you will be able to keep your job.Good luck with it.Take care.

Patteee

dorookie said:

I am so sorry
OMG, that is just horrible, are you for sure you will lose your job? I think lisa42 is a teacher too, maybe she can shed some light on what options might be out there for you. I will keep you in my prayers. Please be strong, God will open another door, I just know it. Keep the faith..

God bless you
Beth

yeah- the ax has not fallen
yeah- the ax has not fallen yet- but the writing is on the wall. Long story, absolutely not an issue involving me, but got caught up in a language issue in the teaching contract. There are 90 of us, all with a ton of seniority who will probably lose their jobs. We are the only district in the state of MN that has a contract like this and the F*ing district is taking us down with it. One of the easiest ways to balance a 2 million dollar shortfall- just take out your top teachers, save a ton of money. Of course, keep your administrators- including top bucks for 2 superintendents- my only saving grace is the contract will be voted on next week. I pray the union will reject it- if I am going out, I want to go with a bang.

geotina

Patteee said:

I have no disability due to
I have no disability due to an HR oversight. (union says out of their area, attorney says nothing I can do about it.)

Sorry
I was trying to come up with something. My job has gone from 5 days to 4 days and is now down to 3 days. Zero benefits, nada, so I truly feel for you. I have been with my employer (attorneys) since 1985. They are really good to me, I keep the books so I know the money is not coming in like it used to and we are not that busy. When George got sick this past March, they told me if I'm not at my desk they will know why and not to worry and then paid me for all my time off without question, not even making me use vacation time. Thank goodness George is still able to work even with the chemo and he has the health insurance otherwise we would be screwed royally. I know there are many opinions but personally, I sure hope we get national health insurance and they get it right. That would be one worry off my plate. I may sould like a b*&^h but read that contract word for word in case there is something (job) you can bump into. Wishing you the best - Tina

AnneCan

Hi Pattee,
I am sorry you
Hi Pattee,

I am sorry you are going through this. I hope what you are anticipating does not come to pass, & I am thinking about you.

Shayenne

AnneCan said:

Hi Pattee,
I am sorry you
Hi Pattee,

I am sorry you are going through this. I hope what you are anticipating does not come to pass, & I am thinking about you.

That Sucks!
This is so horrible for you. I would hope even a healthy employee who knows of your situation would even give up their job for you, so you could keep the benefits, one who was chosen to stay, and then said "Let Patti have the job" as they should know how hard it is to find an insurance group as well that will accept someone with a dx like yours. I really feel bad for you, but also feel hopefully that things will work itself out, would you be able to get Medicare or anything? I wish I was there to give you a hug!

You are always in my prayers, and I will keep you in them, and hope for the best for you!

Hugsss!
~Donna

Patteee

Shayenne said:

That Sucks!
This is so horrible for you. I would hope even a healthy employee who knows of your situation would even give up their job for you, so you could keep the benefits, one who was chosen to stay, and then said "Let Patti have the job" as they should know how hard it is to find an insurance group as well that will accept someone with a dx like yours. I really feel bad for you, but also feel hopefully that things will work itself out, would you be able to get Medicare or anything? I wish I was there to give you a hug!

You are always in my prayers, and I will keep you in them, and hope for the best for you!

Hugsss!
~Donna

thanks

thanks

Bear23

Patteee said:

thanks

thanks

So sorry
So sorry to hear about this. I too work for a school as an ed tech, with teacher cert. I carry the health insurance for the family and worry about the time that I could be cut. The writing is on the wall here in Maine. I just hope that because I work in special ed that I will still have work. I, also, do not know what I will do if I cannot work or if I get cut. I will keep you in my prayers. Have you talked personally with your union?

Bear

Patteee

Bear23 said:

So sorry
So sorry to hear about this. I too work for a school as an ed tech, with teacher cert. I carry the health insurance for the family and worry about the time that I could be cut. The writing is on the wall here in Maine. I just hope that because I work in special ed that I will still have work. I, also, do not know what I will do if I cannot work or if I get cut. I will keep you in my prayers. Have you talked personally with your union?

Bear

union is the one who broke
union is the one who broke the news to all of us. The district refusing to change language in the contract, 90 of us are affected. You look at all who is affected and it is easy to see why they won't change- these are top notch teachers and we all have our head in a noose due to a contract issue that came up years ago and since then the district has refused to budge on it. They even tested the waters last summer with laying off 2 teachers, both had more seniority than a heck of a lot of teachers, but both let go due to this language issue. The union fought it, state person came in to hear the complaint, and they sided with the district. There is nothing we can do.

HollyID

What a horrible thing to have happen....
Prayers are definitely being sent your way!

christinecarl

Hi
I am very sorry that you have to deal with this, I am in MN too and hope that you are able to find employment

Annabelle41415

Awful
That is terrible. I am praying that all works out for you. This economy is just getting worse and worse and an employer seems will do anything to cut jobs. I'm sorry for your situation.

Kim

just4Brooks

Good thing we got Obama and free health Care.. YA RIGHT!!!
That's all I got to say!!

lisa42

ugh!
Hi Pattee,

I was a teacher for many years until I got my stage IV diagnosis 2-1/2 yrs ago. I'm in California and here teachers don't put into Social Security, but into CalSTRS, which is California State TEacher's Retirement System. I am getting disability through STRS. Basically, this means I now will not have a retirement plan, as they drain what's in your retirement account first, then I continue beyond that getting monthly checks as long as I qualify. Qualifying means that your doctor has to write a letter and fill out a form justifying the fact that you're unable to work. I'm assuming that other states also have a similar retirement program. If your school district has been taking money out of your check each month and putting it into your teacher's state retirement system, then you should be able to get what they call "retirement disability". If you didn't put in to social security as I didn't, then you can't get social security disability. I did put into Medicare, however, so I should be able to get that someday. I'm going to try to find out soon if I can qualify for Medicare sooner (I'm just 43). With soc. sec. disability, you can get Medicare early before retirement age after you've been on the disability for 2 yrs. I'll have been on the STRS retirement disability for 2 yrs this coming March. Even though it's not soc. sec. disability, it is a state government system, so I'm going to see if I still qualify for Medicare.

I'm telling you all this in hopes that maybe you'll discover that there is something there for you, after all. That is so lousy what your district is planning on doing to you and others. I went through getting pink slipped twice in the past far after I had tenure. I never actually lost my job, but the district does that every year to teachers, who end up not knowing if they have their job back again or not until August or September each year.

I will pray for you. So far as health insurance, I am currently paying into the plan through COBRA. It would be available to you too but, of course, it could be quite expensive. As of Jan 1st, prices went up and the district changed ins. companies- we had Aetna & I know have Health Net HMO. It's costing me $1494 a month for my family of five. My husband's work only contributes $150 towards the plan and since they're a small company, it's even more- it would cost us over $1500 a month and that would be for Blue Cross, which I'm told might not be as good as what I have.
It's a lot of money, but if you only need it for yourself, it wouldn't be as much as I said above- Health Net's cost for one person for my district is $457/month.

Best wishes to you- I'd call your union rep at the state level- you might even be able to take legal action against the district- maybe not for the layoff if it's actually in the contract, but possibly for their "oversight" in not getting disability for you. If you aren't proactive, no one will reach out and do anything for you- you've got to investigate yourself, unfortunately. There's got to be an attorney's group who works with issues for teachers, health insurance, etc. Good luck!

Lisa

Patteee

lisa42 said:

ugh!
Hi Pattee,

I was a teacher for many years until I got my stage IV diagnosis 2-1/2 yrs ago. I'm in California and here teachers don't put into Social Security, but into CalSTRS, which is California State TEacher's Retirement System. I am getting disability through STRS. Basically, this means I now will not have a retirement plan, as they drain what's in your retirement account first, then I continue beyond that getting monthly checks as long as I qualify. Qualifying means that your doctor has to write a letter and fill out a form justifying the fact that you're unable to work. I'm assuming that other states also have a similar retirement program. If your school district has been taking money out of your check each month and putting it into your teacher's state retirement system, then you should be able to get what they call "retirement disability". If you didn't put in to social security as I didn't, then you can't get social security disability. I did put into Medicare, however, so I should be able to get that someday. I'm going to try to find out soon if I can qualify for Medicare sooner (I'm just 43). With soc. sec. disability, you can get Medicare early before retirement age after you've been on the disability for 2 yrs. I'll have been on the STRS retirement disability for 2 yrs this coming March. Even though it's not soc. sec. disability, it is a state government system, so I'm going to see if I still qualify for Medicare.

I'm telling you all this in hopes that maybe you'll discover that there is something there for you, after all. That is so lousy what your district is planning on doing to you and others. I went through getting pink slipped twice in the past far after I had tenure. I never actually lost my job, but the district does that every year to teachers, who end up not knowing if they have their job back again or not until August or September each year.

I will pray for you. So far as health insurance, I am currently paying into the plan through COBRA. It would be available to you too but, of course, it could be quite expensive. As of Jan 1st, prices went up and the district changed ins. companies- we had Aetna & I know have Health Net HMO. It's costing me $1494 a month for my family of five. My husband's work only contributes $150 towards the plan and since they're a small company, it's even more- it would cost us over $1500 a month and that would be for Blue Cross, which I'm told might not be as good as what I have.
It's a lot of money, but if you only need it for yourself, it wouldn't be as much as I said above- Health Net's cost for one person for my district is $457/month.

Best wishes to you- I'd call your union rep at the state level- you might even be able to take legal action against the district- maybe not for the layoff if it's actually in the contract, but possibly for their "oversight" in not getting disability for you. If you aren't proactive, no one will reach out and do anything for you- you've got to investigate yourself, unfortunately. There's got to be an attorney's group who works with issues for teachers, health insurance, etc. Good luck!

Lisa

thanks lisa
I wont be able
thanks lisa
I wont be able to afford insurance
have already taken disability issue to state union and there is nothing they can do

jillpls

it's just not fair
I' am so sorry you have to deal with this. It's great that you can even work but to have to lose your job to contract issues is just not right. I worked for a school under classified and it was required to have disability insurance. But the teacher union voted against the requirement so I know some teachers who do not have disability insurance and are battling cancer. I wish I had good in site to offer but I don't. I can only keep you in prayers remind you that God offers hope. Jill

PamPam2

Patteee said:

thanks lisa
I wont be able
thanks lisa
I wont be able to afford insurance
have already taken disability issue to state union and there is nothing they can do

disability
Hi Patteee
You could try for the state social security disability, or even SSI, it is not a lot of money, but it helps, and if you qualify for this you will also qualify for medicaid. This is what I had to do, as I had been a state employee for years, and wound up with nothing to fall back on, and no social security built up either. Thank goodness for the medicaid, it has paid for everything, all my surgery, tests, chemo, and scripts. I hope things will work out for you.
Pam

tootsie1

Oh, no.
I don't really have any good answers, but I am SO sorry this has happened to you. I hope it turns out to be a scary thing that doesn't come true. We will pray for that! If it does come to pass, can you speak to your doctors and see if they have any suggestions? Perhaps someone in the business office can give you some suggestions.

Please let us know what happens, and I hope someone will have better answers than I do.

I'll be praying for you, dear.

*hugs*
Gail