Colleagues,Before the February recess, we met with Interim Superintendent Dan Lowergard and presented to the District a strong proposal for a Retirement Incentive for eligible members of the RTA Bargaining Unit. Teachers who are at least 55 years old upon retirement, and have at least five years of service with the Teachers Retirement System, would qualify. Under our proposal, the incentive would be $50,000 amortized over five years ($10,000 per year for five consecutive years).This would be in addition to whatever payments to retiring teachers for their unused Absenteeism Reduction Plan (Section 60 of our Collective Bargaining Agreement). In our proposal, we listed the following advantages of adopting such a Retirement Incentive:- The RCSD would accrue significant and ongoing savings.- The reduced personnel costs would reduce the structural deficit in the District’s budget.- The Retirement Incentive would avert, or at least minimize, the looming layoffs of approximately 150...