Teacher Rick

I saw Teacher Rick at a family outing at my Uncle Ed’s a couple of weekends ago. Teacher Rick was my civics teacher in 11th grade. It was 25 years ago. I haven’t seen him since I graduate. It was incredible to think it was that long ago.

This is a memory post but it’s also a political post…warning you again.

Teacher Rick retired from teaching four years ago. He was 55 years old. He said he retired because Pennsylvania has one of the most generous retirement packages for teachers in the nation. He is retired at 80% of salary with no social security or medicare payroll taxes taken out of his pension. Yes, that is almost 100% of what he was making when he was teaching. He frankly doesn’t need to teach.

Teacher Rick is a lifelong Democrat. My friend Lisa said she used to call him Ricky Republican to needle him. However, he said that it was Governor Ridge, ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, a Republican, who signed this legislation for the teacher’s union before he left the state to become President Bush’s Secretary of Homeland Defense.

The moral of the story? Never bite the hand that feeds you. Oh, and if you want to teach, do it in Pennsylvania.

Posted on Gayle’s Monday Memories. Have you seen any of your old teacher lately?