As more educators approach retirement age, many schools are struggling to keep enough talented teachers and ad-ministrators educating their growing student population. In seeking solutions, some districts are turning to the retirees themselves to fill the gaps.
Approaches to hiring retirees differ widely among school districts. Some former teachers and administrators act as mentors to the new generation entering the field. Others serve as substitute teachers, helping to fill shortages on a temporary basis. Still others work in district administrative offices, using their school-based knowledge to aid central office staff.
Welcoming back retirees appears to be a strategy that's working. The schools and central offices get the benefit of experienced, knowledgeable staff, and the retirees have opportunities to exercise their talents by contributing to students' education while gaining extra income.
Training retirees to serve as mentors is an especially popular approach. In Prince George's County, Md., the Mentor Teacher Program taps into retired principals' and teachers' expertise by having them support novice teachers. The 32 retiree mentors in the program work part-time to support up to 15 teachers each. The former educators want to continue to share their knowledge and skills, says Antoinette Kellaher, coordinating super-visor for staff development in Prince George's County. The mentoring program provides an opportunity for experienced educators to "impart that lasting legacy" to the next generation of teachers, she says.
Sharing Knowledge, Skills
What the retirees get out of the deal naturally depends on the individual educator. Judith A. Azzara, a retired principal from Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, finds her role as a mentor administrator extremely rewarding. "I really feel like I'm using my gifts," Azzara says of her mentoring work.
She is part of the county's Pathways to Leadership: Principals' Mentoring program, which includes about 20 retirees. Each mentor works with up to three new administrators at a time. The program matches retired principals with new ones who have similar school characteristics or challenges.
Azzara's years of experience have helped her support newer principals weathering high-stress situations, such as lawsuits over the placement of students with disabilities. When such legal issues stir up intense emotions, she advises principals not to take the criticism personally. Most educators are in the profession because they care and want to make a difference, Azzara notes. "When you care, you can almost care to obsession," she admits. "We can help put things in perspective."
Fairfax County started the program after calculating a potential swell of retiring educators that pointed to a need for succession planning. The county's mentoring program not only helps support the new administrators but also ensures that the retiree mentors are well trained for their roles. When Azzara signed on, she attended a workshop for mentors. To keep her skills current and her advice on target, she now participates in the same professional development workshops that active principals attend.
Prince George's County also provides continual training for its mentors who work with new teachers. As the former administrators become mentors, they move through several steps of introductory training, including a peer-coaching course. Their focus must shift from evaluation and performance assessment to coaching and examining classroom practices. The mentor-teacher relationship allows "conversations about teaching that are deeper and more profound" than the traditional administrator feedback, Kellaher says.
As a result, new teachers report confidence and trust in their mentors and a strong appreciation for their support. The mentors, in turn, value the opportunity to improve instruction—a role they often didn't have time for as school leaders. As mentors, "they're freed from the other responsibilities of school life," Kellaher notes, and they can focus completely on the teachers they are coaching.
No Substitute for Experience
Besides using mentors to nurture teachers and principals, schools are finding that retirees can serve a valuable role as substitute teachers. As substitutes, retirees can gain the emotional and financial benefits of returning to the classroom while working a flexible, part-time schedule.
Dearborn Public Schools in Michigan has about 40 retired teachers working as substitutes, according to Carl Stuef, director of human resources there. They enjoy keeping active as well as being able to choose their own schedules, he notes.
In Washington state, the desire to have retirees return to work spurred legislation that increased the number of hours school employees could work while collecting retirement pension payments. Under the new law, which took effect in July 2001, the limit is now 187½ hours, which allows retired teachers to work the full school year, if desired. This allows for long-term substituting or one-year teaching contracts.
The legislation was drafted to help schools find more candidates for hard-to-fill positions. In January 2002, the Seattle School District still had 60 openings unfilled. "We have a teacher shortage of sorts," says William Bleakney, director of human resources for the Seattle district. When there is a teacher shortage, there also tends to be a substitute shortage, so Seattle is hiring retirees for substitute teaching and for full-time positions.
Bleakney notes that many of the hard-to-fill slots are in special education. By welcoming retirees, schools find candidates who have already worked in such challenging situations. "This law allows us to hire people who have been there and done that," Bleakney says. "You're putting better teachers in the classroom, which is why we're here—to help kids."
In Florida, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has hired retirees to combat a shortage in substitutes, says Gwendolyn Bryant, executive director for instructional staffing and certification. The school system benefits by hiring "very qualified and capable people" at part-time rates, she says. Because the state of Florida has a budget deficit, "we're looking to save money everywhere we can," she emphasizes.
Understanding the Big Picture
Besides using retired educators as mentors and substitutes, many districts are finding that retirees can adapt their school experiences to central office roles. Former teacher and administrator Rosetta Vickers is doing just that in Miami-Dade. After 38 years that included serving as a classroom teacher, reading specialist, and school principal, Vickers is now working part-time in the regional office dealing with parent concerns over the phone. After retiring at 57, Vickers says, "I couldn't turn my brain off."
Vickers' experience helps her work with parents to find solutions that are in the best interests of the children, she says. The work is so satisfying that Vickers says she would "do it for free." She is paid an hourly rate for her work, but she donates some of that money to help fund scholarships for students in the Miami community.
Many other educators find they can't turn off their commitment to education after retiring. The retire-rehire option can be a win-win situation if handled correctly, says Bryant. But working with retiree candidates is like any other hiring decision—you have to match the right person to the job, she notes.
Bleakney agrees. "Not everybody ought to stay. Not everybody wants to stay," he says. "And some you wouldn't want to hire back."
Bleakney himself is an example of the retire-rehire trend. After 31 years as an educator in various roles, he retired as superintendent of the Bainbridge Island School District. His current role as director of human resources in the Seattle district office has been "a really good match for me and for them," he says, because he had been a human resources director earlier in his career.
Bleakney says he feels valued and appreciates the fresh opportunity to apply his knowledge of schools. But he points out that he enjoyed some retirement time before returning to work. "In that first year, I wasn't ready to come back."