When the Lawrence Township public school district opens its doors in September, there will be many new faces in the school buildings but not all of them will belong to students.
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
When the Lawrence Township public school district opens its doors in September, there will be many new faces in the school buildings but not all of them will belong to students.
That’s because 22 employees have turned in their retirement papers, according to Rebecca Gold, the school district’s director of personnel. Those employees ranging from administrators, teachers and support staff to custodians have accumulated a combined 445 years of experience.
The retirees come from all of the schools with the exception of the Eldridge Park Elementary School and from the administrative offices.
At 22 retirements this year, the number of retirees is about average, Ms. Gold said. It has fluctuated from as many as 21 retirees in the 2010-11 school year to as few as 13 for the 2011-12 school year. There were 19 at the end of the 2009-10 school year.
”There is no definitive answer for why they retire,” Ms. Gold said. “It’s a personal decision. It’s at the time they choose, for a variety of reasons. There may be family obligations, illness, or just saying it’s time to move on to something else. It’s the next chapter in their life.”
”There are uniquely personal reasons,” she said. “It’s almost like they come to a decision. It’s never easy, but when they turn in that letter of retirement, it seems to lift a load. For every single person, there is a different reason.”
Ms. Gold said changes in state law that affected pensions may have had an impact in earlier years, but “everybody has accepted it. I don’t see that anymore. There are no more retirements because of economic reasons. People are making decisions more like they did for the past 50 years.”
On the flip side, filling the vacancies has not been difficult, Ms. Gold said. There is a “great” field of potential hires, she said. There are many new graduates who want to go into teaching, she said, adding that the pool of prospective employees is excellent.
”Right now, most of the positions are filled for September. There are some late retirees and we have to fill those positions. But having the ability to hire earlier in the year gives us the ability to get into the hiring pool early,” Ms. Gold said.
Last fall, the Lawrence Township Board of Education voted to move the annual school board election from April to November. The move also eliminated a public vote on the tax levy to support the school district budget. If the voters reject the tax levy question, the budget is defeated and it is sent to the municipal governing body for action.
”If the budget is defeated, we have to wait for Township Council to work with the school board to approve a budget,” Ms. Gold said. That causes a delay in the hiring process, because the school board does not know how much money the governing body may cut.