A vacant apartment building along Route 440 in Hopelawn is being converted into supportive housing for residents with disabilities and high medical needs. A closing is expected in July.
Edison promised laid-off teachers they'd be first in line for rehire. The union says that's not what happened.
ETA president Matt Hrevnak said some teachers who wanted their jobs back never got an interview. The district says every opening reflects natural attrition, not new positions.
Edison Teachers Association President Matt Hrevnak said he spoke with at least two non-renewed teachers who reapplied for jobs and never heard back. (Edison Television via YouTube)
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Chris Howell | August 28, 2026
Months after the Edison school district cut dozens of teaching positions to close a budget gap, the head of the teachers’ union is raising pointed questions about whether non-renewed staff who were promised priority for rehire ever got a fair shot.
Edison Teachers Association President Matt Hrevnak addressed the board Tuesday night, saying two teachers who applied for multiple open positions after being non-renewed this spring never received a single interview.
“I don’t like when people are given false hope,” Hrevnak said. “Many of these people were told that if they were non-renewed for budget reasons, yes, you can reapply. You will definitely be considered. That was not necessarily done.”
The comments came after Superintendent Edward Aldarelli reported Tuesday that the district has 26 current vacancies, including 13 teaching positions, all tied to retirements and resignations over the summer.
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That figure prompted Elizabeth Conway, a former board member, to ask publicly how the district could let teachers go in the spring and now appear to be hiring again. Aldarelli said none of the current postings represented new positions. Each one replaced a staff member who had retired, resigned, or taken a leave.
He added that non-renewed teachers, particularly those let go for financial rather than performance reasons, would be looked upon favorably if they applied for open positions. He acknowledged, however, that many had likely already accepted jobs elsewhere given how late in the hiring season it is.
Hrevnak said that explanation missed the point. He also clarified that Aldarelli’s figure of 82 total positions included retirees and unfilled vacancies, not just budget-driven non-renewals. The actual number of teachers cut for budget reasons, he said, was closer to 43 or 44.
He said he had pushed for non-renewed teachers to receive interviews before positions were posted publicly. That did not happen, he said.
“They don’t even have to give you a reason,” Hrevnak said of the legal standard for non-renewing a non-tenured teacher. “They can simply say thank you for your service, and we think we could do better. I can’t argue with that. But that was not necessarily done.”
In the past two weeks, he said, he received calls from two of those teachers. Both had applied for multiple open positions. Neither got an interview. One needed just one more day of service to earn tenure.
“If you didn’t get it now, don’t depend on Edison,” he said he told her. “You’re probably not coming back.”
In some cases, he said, teachers held off accepting positions in other districts because they expected to be called back to Edison. Some are now without jobs as a result.
“It’s always hard when I have to deal with and talk to 40 people crying on the phone for an hour,” Hrevnak said. “‘What am I going to do now?'”
The spring non-renewals stem from the district’s decision to reduce a proposed 11.9% tax increase to 6%, a cut that included eliminating dozens of positions across teaching, support staff, and administration.
Hrevnak closed with a broader criticism of the district’s five-year run of zero tax increases, which he said set up the crisis that followed.
“It was a mistake going to 0% each year for five years,” he said, “and then not going to the percentage needed to keep programs and keep staff.”
Editor’s note: The Central Jerseyan is free to read and supported by advertising. If you value this kind of local reporting and want to help sustain it, you can become a citizen supporter on Patreon. Your contribution helps fund continued coverage of local government, schools, and community issues.
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