Because of a shortage of teachers in New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy last year signed a law allowing school districts to temporarily rehire retired teachers without their losing pensions or benefits. In Newark, the district is taking advantage of the program, rehiring 26 teachers who had retired. Newark teachers union president John Abeigon said the program is helping but that it’s a temporary fix for the bigger issue of teacher retention.
Dr. Yolanda Mendez, assistant superintendent for the office of human resource services for the Newark Board of Education, said the district normally loses 200 teachers annually to retirement and resignations, but that number almost doubled during the COVID-19 pandemic. “When we heard about the fact that the law had been approved and had passed, we were ecstatic, because we knew that we would definitely be able to take advantage of that,” she said.
