Lawmakers turn to retired teachers as remote learning returns to some schools
An Assembly panel unanimously advanced a measure Monday that would allow retired teachers and some professional educational staff to temporarily return to work without impacting the status of their pensions.
The panel’s action comes as school districts nationwide are facing a return to remote learning because of staffing issues related to COVID-19 infections. A surge in coronavirus cases has led the state’s two biggest school districts, Newark and Jersey City, to return to remote instruction following their winter breaks.
“School districts are facing a pretty serious staffing shortage crisis right now,” said Jonathan Pushman, director of government relations for the New Jersey School Boards Association, which supported the bill. “It’s only been exacerbated by COVID, and all the folks on this meeting right now are becoming more and more acutely aware of that.
The bill would allow retired teachers to collect their pension while taking a salary. Pushman and the bill’s other supporters said it would provide districts with a stop-gap solution to staffing shortages that predate the pandemic but have been exacerbated by COVID-19.
Read more: https://newjerseymonitor.com/2022/01/03/lawmakers-turn-to-retired-teachers-as-remote-learning-returns-to-some-schools/