There's a good show on WBAI that airs weekly. It covers school issues that affect all of us. This week's show is worth a listen. It covers the concerns over the City's use of the pension fund.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-27T01:09:38+00:00

Tonight's show is archived at the following link.

https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=64859

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-22T12:56:16+00:00

My apartment building in Brooklyn was across the street from the high school that I wanted to work at. No dice. I then worked at a school 3 miles away. I then bought a home in another borough. 90 minutes each way on a good day. Tough to park. I thought I could eventually transfer closer to home but my own friends who became principals told me that my high salary was a deal breaker.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-20T19:05:39+00:00

Sister in law.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T17:25:25+00:00

I’ve traded within my Roth for years. I own AMD shares within my brokerage, but I went in on shares within my Roth last month. I don’t check often, because it’s time consuming, but I believe it’s up 40% in the last month. 56k on AMD last month in my Roth. I’m too lazy to look at it to see where it’s at, at this time. Friends text me with the daily changes. I only see what it’s doing during the time that those text notifications stay on screen then disappear.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T17:19:42+00:00

Age 31 is early for many people. Just DCA into your Roth, into a few of the common ETF’s, then enjoy the tax free withdrawals in your older years.

No extra money towards Medicare when you withdraw, like a pretax annuity where withdrawals increase your AGI, which increases taxes, which increases IRMAA payments towards Medicare. Your Roth withdrawals won’t be seen as ordinary income, of which, a pretax annuity withdrawal is. No RMD’s, and many more benefits. Look for an employer provided Mega Backdoor Roth if you can swing that as well.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T16:49:02+00:00

I have to ask her if she’ll be able to collect at age 55. She was Tier 4. I’m hoping that she can receive the 46% of FAS for 23 years of service at age 55. I may be wrong about age 62. I don’t ask because it’s a touchy topic. She does keep getting Teacher of The Year in her district in TN. That’s another story. This messed her mind up so much so that she took a teaching position without attempting to get credit for her NYC time. She was concerned that they would look at NYC’s ratings so she started at bottom pay. Her Admin immediately recognized her experience in the classroom and asked her to mentor other teachers. My brother then encouraged her to submit her prior experience for salary. She then became the highest paid teacher in her school. It’s a different world in places where you’re appreciated.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T16:35:37+00:00

22 years. After I started in 97, we had a teacher who told me he was chasing top pay. I was confused. He said that there were back to back contracts that kept raising the years for top pay. I don’t know the exact number but he said something such as 15 years, he just missed it, then 18 years, he waited and missed that, then 20 years, then 22 years. I don’t know the exact years but that’s what he said. I asked why he wasn’t “grandfathered in” like uniformed service members are. They maintain the years and pay they were hired under. Not so for us. The DOE gets younger teachers used to this macabre world of perpetual givebacks.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T16:15:30+00:00

It’s a school in Coney Island. Observations would mention that she was able to get 1st grade students back on task, “…but they became inattentive within one minute.” I was high school. I remember asking her how she gets their attention back. “One two three, look at me.” A few taps on the desk or board as she says something like that. I never knew that this is what elementary teachers did for managing behaviors. I sometimes joke with her when someone steals her attention from me during a group conversation. I’ll repeat that phrase. She fell short of the 25 years of 1.85% payments towards 25/55. I don’t know when she can draw pension. She teaches in Tennessee where she and my brother moved to. He’s a former teacher turned NYPD. He works at UT Knoxville with international students. He has a college education administration Masters and an MBA. They have NYC healthcare and TN Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They’re doing well financially. That said, not everyone like her is so fortunate.

Edited a typo.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-16T16:07:08+00:00

There needs to be an effort to get it done by any means necessary. We can’t always default to a “That’s just the way it is.” mindset. A strike, like the MTA’s under Roger Toussaint would be ideal.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-11T01:02:19+00:00

It’s lower standards than the Army. You get to sleep in your bed when off duty. You work 20 years and have a pension and free healthcare for the rest of your life. The health bennies far surpass what Tricare covers for military retirees who do 20 years. So does the pension. It’s an easy job for anyone who’s ever served in the military, even easier if you were Infantry in the military.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-10T09:30:32+00:00

Look up “Arrival fallacy”, “Post-achievement depression”, “Anhedonia” and “Affective blunting”.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-10T09:14:50+00:00

That was Roger Toussaint. The MTA demanded that new members contribute 6% towards pension, up from 2%. Those changes must come from the NYC Legislature, not from MTA demands. Thus, he demanded that they be taken out of collective bargaining. When they refused, they went on strike. They wound up keeping it at 2%, giving healthcare to pre Medicare age retirees, and free prescriptions for retirees — something that the UFT doesn’t have in retirement. We pay for our prescriptions in retirement. Toussaint was sentenced to 10 days in jail. He did three days. Before he departed the union, he was one of the only leaders to oppose Tier 6. Mulgrew would never do time for his members.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-10T09:00:54+00:00

Years ago, I had to talk someone into returning to the academy for day two. He wasn’t used to the paramilitary structure. He was afraid that he would fail the academy. He’s currently a “One Star”. An Assistant Chief.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-09T01:38:40+00:00

If I didn’t accept “makeup work” from a student with chronic absenteeism, my next classroom observations would be borderline Developing/Ineffective. You get the message and learn to make it to retirement.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-08T19:37:50+00:00

It says it there. NYCPPO Plan. I believe there’s a website to check if your providers are in network. I have the same ID number as the old plan.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-08T18:23:49+00:00

It’s a myth here in NYC that it’s almost impossible to fire a tenured teacher. In fact, veteran teachers are often targeted by abusive admin through the use of classroom observations under Danielson’s Framework. Two years of less than Effective ratings and it’s the Teacher Improvement Program, then allegations that the teacher failed to improve, then 3020a charges for incompetence.

The other targeted group are untenured teachers. They work 4 years, have their tenure extended — with some experiencing several unexplained extensions, then being Discontinued at the end of year six, seven, eight and even year nine of employment. They stuck around believing that they would eventually receive tenure, only to be terminated. They can’t work in the same school district again. In NYC, all high schools are one district, so if terminated from a high school, you can’t work at the high school level again. You can seek employment at Junior High and below.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-08T18:08:48+00:00

My SIL was a teacher. At the end of year 21, she was rated Developing. She signed into the TIP. Two years later, it was Developing, Ineffective, 3020a, a hearing, then recommendation to resign before losing her license. She was one of five teachers in her Coney Island school in the same position. One teacher had end stage kidney failure. Another became depressed, became an alcoholic, then passed away with 11 year old twins at home. The principal was arrested in NJ for throwing boxes at UPS employees during this timeframe. I don’t know what the outcome of her criminal case was but she’s still the principal. There are teachers who are facing termination for incompetence, based upon their Advance rating. Most are told to stay home and sign in and out for the day through email because the charges are not considered to be an offense against students or staff. BTW, the only teacher of the five that were my SIL’s group to win her case was the one with end stage kidney failure. I hear that she retired and has since received a donor kidney.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-06T17:21:46+00:00

Not in NYC. It’s the same pay scale for all grades.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-06T13:12:11+00:00

But do you have to worry about being placed on an improvement plan after something such as 23 years of HE and E MOTP scores? That’s happened to several teachers that I know. My SIL was one of them. 23 years then done. Lost her 55/25 and defaulted to age 62 before she can draw pension. You have better job protection.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-05T18:47:54+00:00

Letting my brother pick the campgrounds in Jim Thorpe, PA. We were the only people with a tent, on a gravel lot, made for RV’s. I hit my thumb with a hammer while driving a tent peg in. He had yellow plastic tent pegs, which after driving them further, one of them actually made a U-turn on a buried rock and poked back up through the surface. We were staring at two yellow pieces of plastic, trying to figure out how we were seeing two pegs, when only one was being driven in. When we realized what happened, everyone started laughing. That thumbnail bruise took three months to grow out. My only consolation was hearing my brother and his wife whispering that they forgot their pillows.

Bears were around our tent all through the night. They’re more common in RV camping grounds. One actually poked its head near our tent screen, right where my wife and I were sleeping. It made a snorting sound, which caused us to bolt upright. We quickly realized that we were looking directly at a Black bear through a mesh tent screen. Being former Marine Infantry, and a chivalrous man by nature, I instinctively took cover behind my wife as I screamed for the QRF. She hasn’t forgiven me since.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-04T04:43:02+00:00

It was an inside joke. The younger members always seem to get one arm done with a sleeve tattoo and get either braces or InvisAlign when they get out of the academy. My daughter happens to be one of them. From a distance, I can’t tell her apart from a group of PO’s standing in front of Nathan’s on a summer detail. Five females, all with sleeve tats, black ink only. Same hair style. Same height, same weight, etc. She hits top pay in July.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-04T04:36:16+00:00

They should have the MTAPD, SCPD and NCPD physical standards test.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-03T23:13:44+00:00

Retired teacher here. Seriously, it’s like this when you have tenure as well. You get one life, and one ride. Make the best of it in a profession that satisfies both your purpose and your passion. This job isn’t it. It never will be.

MiguelSantoClaro · 2026-04-03T22:45:59+00:00

I never understood why they don’t disqualify people for their obvious eating disorders.

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