Against idea of hiring retired teachers

I am writing in response to the article I read in the March 8 Suburban concerning the idea to propose recruiting retired teachers in order to create a sizable savings for the Old Bridge school district.

I hope that this proposal will not be approved since I believe that although it may save money, teachers who decide to retire are usually ready to leave the school system, and I do not believe that they have the same energy and/or motivation that our students need.

I am not against having retirees be active, but I believe that we need to think about the reason they decided to retire. I do not think that it is necessarily true that experienced, retired teachers could prevent disciplinary problems in the schools. It has been my experience, after working for 17 years in the educational system and as a parent, that some teachers who are close to retirement do not have the same enthusiasm for their work and, naturally, do not have the same energy.

I hope that in our need to search for solutions to address the budgetary problems of education we do not compromise the education of our children, which should be our No. 1 priority.

Marta C. Batlle

Old Bridge