RETIRED TEACHER ANSWERS CALL TO SERVE AGAIN.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Paula Reynosa devoted three decades to teaching and loved being in the classroom. Then she spent a year as a footloose retiree, and found it didn't suit her one bit.

So it was back to school this month for Reynosa, who was able to return to work because of a state law and a recent vote by the Newhall school board. The board of education decided Oct. 21 that rehiring retired faculty was a good strategy to help meet the demand for qualified teachers created by California's class-size reduction push.

Assembly Bill 18, sponsored by Assemblywoman Kerry Mazzoni, D-San Rafael, was signed into law earlier this year by Gov. Pete Wilson. It allows teachers who retired on or before July 1, 1996, to be rehired by a school district without a reduction in their retirement allowance.

The law requires each person to hold a valid California teaching credential, and permits public school districts to employ the retirees until the law expires July 1, 1999.

So far, Reynosa, 59, is the only retiree working for the Newhall School District, which tends to search high and low for qualified instructors. Its recruiters routinely travel out of state and even to Canada to find good additions to the district faculty.

Reynosa was hired to teach afternoon kindergarten, and to help out with morning kindergarten, at Newhall Elementary School.

``I substituted last year, and realized that I missed the children,'' she said. ``With substituting, I kept my fingers in the pot, so I felt very comfortable coming back. I was welcomed back with open arms.''

Reynosa, a mother of five, said she decided to go back to work in part because her youngest is a 21-year-old college junior - and an extra paycheck could help with some of those expenses.

``I not only still earn my retirement, I'm also earning a beginning teacher's salary,'' Reynosa said. ``So I'm `double-dipping', and the temptation at my age was too great'' to pass that up, she said.

The need for teachers and the shortage of candidates with credentials has prompted school districts across California to hire applicants with only ``emergency'' credentials. In the Newhall School District, 21 of the 236 teachers on their staff have emergency credentials - rather than the standard state certification, said Kim Shuman, the district's certificated personnel technician.

District enrollment, which stands at 5,858, is growing at a rate of 4 percent a year - meaning there's a constant demand for more teachers, especially with the new smaller student-to-teacher ratios created by class-size reduction, Shuman said.

Retirees can be be rehired by the school district for salaries ranging from $33,464 to $41,223, Shuman added.

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PHOTO (color) Paula Reynosa is teaching at Newhall Elementary after coming back from retirement. A state law and school board vote led to her rehiring last month.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News