Dr. Marc Gaswirth, a retired public school administrator, has written extensively for nearly 50 years about public sector bargaining and school human resources.

The past 15 years have been especially trying for the state’s public school employees. Many have retired while others have chosen to enter a profession other than teaching, contributing to the current teacher shortage. During this time, many school employees have felt misunderstood, mistreated and, if not under attack, at least under constant siege.

2008 saw the beginning of a sustained economic downturn and the election of Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, who unabashedly and pugnaciously ran a successful campaign on an anti-teachers’ union platform that would include curbing extensive and costly school employees’ compensation packages, and modifying the teacher tenure and pension statutes

Fast forward to March 2020, two years after Christie left office. The pandemic struck shuttered schools and forced school staff into a vastly unfamiliar virtual working environment, which resulted in substantial academic loss and behavioral regression among a substantial percentage of students that still resonates three years later.

Still, for those who currently see New Jersey school employees as an under-appreciated class, please be open to a different — and hopefully illuminating — perspective.

Beleaguered school employees can take solace that while their jobs have indeed become more complex and challenging, their employment protections remain well-ensconced in local labor agreements and in state and federal law. While certain rights and benefits contracted during Christie first term, largely driven by political and economic exigencies, others have since expanded greatly during Democratic Phil Murphy’s five-plus years in office

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