METUCHEN — Although Ken Graf, a social studies teacher at Edgar Middle School, is retiring in June after 42 years, the longtime district coach is not quite ready to sit on the bench.
But state pension laws dictate that he may have to do just that. As it stands, Graf will not be able to continue in September as a boys soccer coach at Metuchen High School. The state Department of the Treasury Division of Pension and Benefits mandates that he cannot do any work in the district for 180 days after his retirement. To do so would cause Graf’s retirement benefits to be adversely affected, he said.
“One of my questions was, ‘How can you tell me I can’t coach when all the 42 years of coaching, none of it went into the pension?’ ” he said.
Others are asking the same question. After Graf spoke with the state agency to no avail, he reached out to Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and Sen. Peter Barnes (both D-Middlesex), who are working to pass amendments to the state pension law that would allow Graf to go on coaching without penalty.
“They felt completely that this was going to be passed,” Graf said.
Neither Diegnan nor Barnes was immediately available for comment on the matter.
If the amendments pass the Assembly and Senate, they would then have to be approved by Gov. Chris Christie.
In the meantime, Graf and a number of his supporters were set to drop off petitions urging a change in the legislation to Christie’s office on June 4. School staff, along with a number of borough businesses, circulated the petitions.
“The kids are very upset,” Graf said, adding that although he told students not to get involved, they insisted on starting petitions of their own.
Graf said that although he is retiring, his passion for working with kids hasn’t waned. So much does he want to go on coaching that he even offered to volunteer his services to the district, but was told that, too, would be a problem.
“It’s almost like a plague on me, that I can’t go back in my own district,” he said.
In some states, the waiting period is shorter for retired faculty members who want to go back to serving their districts, he said, with some as short as 30 days.
And Graf pointed out that if he coached baseball, which starts in spring, it wouldn’t be an issue, because the 180 days would have passed by then. But for Graf and others whose sports kick off in fall or winter, the law creates an issue.
“That, in itself, is discriminatory,” he said.
Graf isn’t the only soon-to-retire teacher faced with this problem. He said another educator set to retire has offered his painting services to the district for 35 years, but will no longer be able to do so after he retires.
After more than four decades in the Metuchen School District, Graf was ready to step out of the classroom and into the nursery to care for his baby grandson as his daughter returns to her own teaching position.
For now, however, he plans to continue fighting for his right to go on serving as a soccer coach, and for other retirees like him.