By Lea Kahn
When the Lawrence Township Public School District opens the schoolhouse doors in the fall, there will be many new faces in the classrooms and not all of them will belong to new students.
Although the last day of school is still three weeks away, 21 employees have turned in their retirement papers, said Rebecca Gold, the school district’s director of personnel. That number includes 17 classroom teachers, guidance counselors and Child Study Team members, plus two administrators, a secretary and an aide.
The majority of the retirees are teachers who work in the K-8 schools one from the Ben Franklin Elementary School, two from the Slackwood Elementary School and three apiece from the Eldridge Park School, the Lawrence Intermediate School and the Lawrence Middle School. Lawrence High School is losing three teachers, plus another who divides her time between the middle school and the high school.
The elementary grades were especially hard hit by retirements this year, Ms. Gold said, but it won’t be hard to fill the vacancies. There is a “tremendous” pool of applicants to fill the openings, she said, adding that she expects to receive 700 to 1,000 applications for the vacancies.
While many of last year’s 19 retirements likely were motivated by fear of pension reform, Ms. Gold said, she does not know how much impact the political rhetoric in Trenton has had on this year’s batch of retirements. Some teachers would have retired anyway, regardless of the talk at the Statehouse, she said.
”There is no trend,” Ms. Gold said. “The reasons (for retirement) are varied. There are personal reasons. People have reached 25 years and they say, ‘I want to do something else.’ ‘My husband/wife has retired, and I want to see my children and grandchildren.’”
While many retirees are happy with their decision, it becomes a difficult issue emotionally for others, Ms. Gold said. It is “extremely difficult” for some teachers to walk away from the classroom where they have spent their careers teaching children and helping parents and colleagues, she said.
There is an immediate reward in teaching and a long-term reward, she said. The immediate reward is when a young child grasps a concept, and the long-term reward is watching that child who is now a 12th-grader smile as he or she graduates from high school, she said.
”Teachers interact with students, and every one of our teachers makes a difference in the lives of a child and their family. But to know that come September, you won’t be in a classroom is going to be very difficult (for some staff). But what you won’t miss is that 4 a.m. call (for a snow day),” Ms. Gold said with a smile.

