Thomas d’Esperies, Editor-in-Chief
19 March, 2024
Last Wednesday, March 6th, about 100 members of the Port Chester Teachers Association braved the rain and staged a walk in protest of the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS), specifically to fix Tier 6.
“A Tier 6 teacher cannot retire and collect a pension without heavy penalties until they’re 63” explains the High School’s association Vice President Aaron Glazer, an 11th grade English Teacher. A Tier 6 teacher can retire at 55 with 30 years of teaching but would only collect 26.4% of their final salary. They would also be forced to pay thousands in penalties. This is vastly worse than Tier 4, which a majority of Port Chester teachers are, who can collect 60% of their final salary, penalty free.
There are six tiers in the TRS with the most common in Port Chester being Tiers 4 and 6. Your tier depends on when you joined the system; Tier 4 are any teachers who joined from September first, 1983 to December 1st, 2009. A Tier 6 teacher joined TRS on or after April first, 2012. Fixing Tier 6 is about “justice and dignity in retirement” according to FixTier6.org, the main voice for this campaign.
Harrison School Teachers join PC teachers in protest.
Port Chester teachers were joined by their counterparts from Harrison, White Plains, and Blind Brook. Additionally, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Aurelia Henriquez, PC Mayor Luis Marino, and County Executive George Latimer all came to show their support to the cause.
Though the protest was bombarded with rain, it lasted just over an hour. It began with speeches from Union President Chris Kazim and Superintendent Henriquez. Mayor Marino said a few words before handing the mic to other Village officials. Latimer and a representative from NYS Teachers’ Association riled up the crowd as the speeches concluded with PC’s own Jeffery Kravitz.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer pledges his support to fix Tier 6.
The group of protesters then walked through the main lobby before congregating around the flagpole. Kazim riled up the crowd one last time and thanked everyone for coming out and showing their support, shouting out each official and school district by name.
When asked, Kazim stated the protest was an “outstanding success.” He hopes that our PC teachers can inspire others and lead the “charge for change.” Mayor Marino shared a similar sentiment reinforcing the importance of “correcting this issue” for our teachers. Marino continued, saying that “it will not only affect the teachers” but the village itself. Mayor Marino is also a CSA (Council of School Supervisors & Administrators) and jokingly said “I’m a CSA Member… How can I not support?”
Multiple teachers present declined interviews, one anonymous teacher stated that school administrators had instructed teachers not to interact with any press present. When asked, Glazer commented that it was “important for the messaging to be consistent to achieve a similar goal.”
Dr. Henriquez remarked on how proud she was of the PC teachers and “to be a part of this.” Apart from administration and village support, a number of students came to stand with their educators.
PCHS Seniors Ava Osorio, Jaina Gonzalez, and Damian Dominguez hold a support sign at the March 6th protest.
The turnout and support of not just teachers, but administrators, students, and officials stress the importance of this issue. If people from across the county show up in the pouring rain to protest, they cannot be ignored.