New Jersey retirees are choosing teaching as a second career, filling classroom shortages. Here are three of their stories. (2024)

Melanie BurneyThe Philadelphia Inquirer

Shortly before retiring from the Air Force as a logistics specialist, Al Jackson Jr. began preparing for his next career: teaching.

Jackson joined the state’s Troops to Teachers program while serving active duty at Joint Base Dix-McGuire-Lakehurst in Wrightstown. He began substitute teaching in nearby North Hanover Township and completing the requirements needed for a permanent full-time teaching position.

After his first substitute day, Jackson went home and told his wife that he had likely discovered a second career on the level with serving his country: working with students.

“I just loved it,” he recalled. “I loved the interaction with the kids.”

That was in 2000, after he retired from the military as a master sergeant with 24 years of service, most while serving as a logistics specialist. He landed almost immediately at the Burlington City school district, initially as a substitute teacher.

“It all lined up,” recalled Jackson.

Jackson completed a bachelor’s degree and obtained a teaching certificate through the alternate route process. Over the years, he’s been an intermediate school language arts and science teacher, and most recently an environmental science teacher at Burlington City High School.

Facing a national teacher shortage — and struggling to fill vacancies in critical subjects such as special education, English language instruction, and science, technology, engineering and math — more districts are turning to professionals such as Jackson who decided to make education a second career.

New Jersey has sought to waive basic skills requirements and ease unnecessary barriers for educators to attract more teachers at a time when fewer young people are completing teacher education training programs.

It is believed that the shortage will only get worse and districts will need to tap into a pipeline that increasingly includes more teachers who find their way through alternate teaching programs, which allow those who have not completed a teacher preparation program to obtain a certificate of eligibility. They still must meet the basic requirements for certification such as academic study and test requirements.

“This is not a rubber-stamping of us approving teachers quickly,” said Corine Brown, who heads ASPIRE to Teach, an alternate route program at Rowan University in Glassboro. “It sets them up for success. It is a win-win-win all the way around.”

For the 2022-23 school year, there were 3,644 teachers in New Jersey who completed an alternate route program, more than double the amount for the 2019-20 school year, according to the latest statistics available from the New Jersey Department of Education. In addition, 4,309 provisional certificates were issued for that period.

‘Just like the military, he has standards’

Married and the father of two, Jackson, 66, became interested in teaching after attending a teacher-parent conference for his son, then a fourth grader in 1998. He was surprised to see few male teachers. He accepted a suggestion from the superintendent to become a substitute teacher.

Standing at the entrance to his classroom on a recent morning, Jackson greeted his students as they arrived. Signs posted around the room convey his teaching standards. One reads “No slacking any time”; another says “Pass with hard work.”

“He does his job very well,” said Hannah Richey, 16, a junior. “He’s not going to let you slack off.”

For a recent lesson on a hypothetical plan to redevelop Burlington Island, a once-thriving landmark in the Delaware River, Jackson showed a video and then engaged students in a lively discussion. He set strict due dates for projects.

Students applaud his no-nonsense military style and rules, such as no cell phones in class. He stopped speaking and stared hard at students chattering during his lecture.

“Just like the military, he has standards,” said Heaven Mercado, 16, a junior. “I think he’s a good teacher.”

Jackson said the 2024-25 school year will be his last year teaching. He plans to spend more time with his wife, Betty Joe, and their nine grandchildren.

“Traveling is one of the big plans,” he said.

‘You’re still cool’

As a youngster, Joseph Jarrett couldn’t wait to finish school and pursue his childhood dream of becoming a police officer.

He ended up loving his career in Camden City and on the campus of Rutgers-Camden. But after 13 years, fate and a terrible accident that left him seriously injured put him on a different path, forcing him to leave the force in 1997. He decided to try teaching and was pleasantly surprised.

“Never in my mind did I think about teaching,” Jarrett said of his mindset before that discovery. “I wanted to get as far away from school as I could.”

Jarrett became a substitute teacher for several years at Catholic schools in Philadelphia and Glassboro, N.J., mostly in special education. He obtained a teaching certificate and later a master’s in counseling, where he found his real passion.

Jarrett, 59, has been a guidance counselor at New Jersey’s Woodbury High School since 2002. He has a caseload of about 200 students and helps them with everything from college planning to social and emotional and family problems.

“You make a difference every day,” said Jarrett, of West Deptford, N.J., a father of two.

Jarrett said some students are struggling academically and emotionally with the aftermath of the pandemic. Counselors also help by providing school supplies or prom outfits or arranging for groceries at their homes, he said.

“You find that you have to meet kids where they are in order to bring them up,” Jarrett said. “At the heart of everything we do comes from love.”

During a counseling session last week with Emerald Sills, Jarrett questioned her about her college plans. A junior and standout athlete, she hopes to attend Alabama A&M and major in law enforcement and forensics.

“Did you know I was a policeman before?” Jarrett asked her.

“You’re still cool,” Sills, 17, replied with a smile.

Jarrett said he believes his background in law enforcement and as an entrepreneur — he is a co-partner in an imaging business — brings life skills to the classroom that appeals to students.

“It is a phenomenally rewarding job. I thank God every day for it,” he said.

‘Teaching in our blood’

Kevin Johnson is ending his career where he started: in the classroom.

A few months after retiring in January 2023 as an IT project manager, Johnson was looking for something to do — on his terms. A former Willingboro, N.J., school board member and a longtime mentor in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, he wanted to work with young people.

“I was looking for something meaningful to do,” said Johnson, 64,

A graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., with a bachelor’s in public administration, Johnson was a substitute teacher for about six months when he returned home to Deptford, N.J., after college in 1983.

This time around substitute teaching allows him the flexibility to select assignments to fit his schedule. A first-time grandfather, Johnson travels to Maryland regularly to visit his grandson. And he’s following in the footsteps of his mother and grandmother. His sister and brother are also teachers.

“We have teaching in our blood,” Johnson said.

Johnson recently obtained a K-12 certification and announced on his Instagram page in February: “Back to work.” He proclaimed his first assignment as a substitute science teacher in Collingswood schools “a good day.” He spent decades in IT, working for American-Water, Comcast and Cigna.

On a recent afternoon, Johnson shared duties with three other health and physical education teachers in Collingswood High School’s gym where four classes played volleyball and basketball. He mainly checked the attendance roster and kept a close eye on students on the courts.

Principal Doug Newman said Johnson was a welcome addition to the district, which has few Black male teachers.

“I love the perspective of professionals who come into the field,” Newman said.

Johnson said substitute teaching has changed from back in the day. Little instruction is required because teachers leave lesson plans, and students pull out their Chromebooks to complete assignments, he said.

“It’s a new world out there,” he said.

Johnson has a new appreciation for educators. He believes too many are overworked and underpaid. He plans to work indefinitely, but only a few days a month.

“I admire the folks who are doing it every day,” he said. “I feel good after a day of work.”