Brick Township Board of Education/Schools (Photo: Daniel Nee)
There’s nothing like waiting until the eleventh hour, the saying goes. In Brick, that practice is alive and well.
The township’s school district hired two new kindergarten teachers and a fifth grade teacher last week after an influx of students necessitated the expansion of staff, officials said.
“Unfortunately, it’s been a pattern lately,” said Interim Superintendent Richard Caldes. “The first week of school, we’re still going to have people coming in to register kids.”
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Most of the new students are, not surprisingly, kindergartners, though other grades gained pupils as well. Caldes said in the area of town that sends students to Osbornville Elementary School, 20 new students were registered in a two-week time span. Other schools picked up new students as well, leading to the recent hirings.
The new kindergarten teachers were hired at Warren H. Wolf Elementary School and Veterans Memorial Elementary School; the fifth grade teacher was hired at Veterans Memorial Elementary School as well. Their salaries ranged from $51,565 – an entry level salary at the first step in the district’s guide – to $61,960 for an experienced teacher who returned to the district at the guide’s eleventh step.
In one school, kindergarten class sizes would have neared 27 students if more staff was not hired. The preference is no more than 22 students per class, Caldes said.
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