Chit Chat

Well, poopsticks

FI is finishing up his 4th year as a high school teacher, and we decided we'd be much better off living in the city. So he's been looking for jobs, but we're leaving no matter what. Obviously, our situation would be better if he has a job lined up first. After a couple demoralizing interviews, he had a third on Thursday. He went to turn in his resignation from his current job on Friday (teachers have to turn in their resignations really early, technically he should've done it in March but it wasn't a big deal). He then immediately got a job offer from the interview he'd just had.

He had some reservations about it and they gave him til Monday to think about it, but overall we were super excited. It's .8 so not quite full time, but still pretty good pay considering and really good benefits. It's near a not so good part of the city but it sounded like they really try to put kids on a good track. It's also a 6-12 school, so he has some reservations about teaching middle school but overall we figured well hey, it'll be new and different but yay jobs! So he had every intention of accepting the job on Monday.

Well he started doing some digging. He found some school ratings that place the school at a 2/10. Who knows what that means, but for reference his old school has a 5/10 and the school he's resigning from has a 7/10. It's a weird scale, but it still makes you wonder. He talked to a friend that's a counselor that went from the HS to the MS, and he said there was no way he thought it was a good idea. Okay, that's a little disconcerting, but he's a counselor and has a different perspective.

So then he reached out to his old cohort and found someone that worked at this school and she said that admin is a huge mess, the principal would basically hide if an issue came up, the vice principal sexually harassed her... just all kinds of problems. It sounds like some things have changed but in general it sounds like teachers are still treated like crap, there is no money for supplies and the school is on the verge of being shut down.

On the bright side friends of his knew of open positions that hadn't been posted yet, and he knows a lot more people working in the area than he thought, so that's good. All isn't lost and he's still pretty likely to find a job at this point. Just sucks. On Friday we were so excited and relieved that things were lining up, but it turns out that they haven't. Back to keeping our wallets on super lockdown. 
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Re: Well, poopsticks

  • Teaching in a less affluent neighborhood can sometimes be easier than teaching in a privileged one.  You don't get as much parent support, but you don't get special snowflakes, either.
    The principal issue is much more important.  If you don't have any support from your administration, life can be miserable.  It is very important that teachers feel safe in their job environment.
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  • FiancBFiancB member
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    CMGragain said:
    Teaching in a less affluent neighborhood can sometimes be easier than teaching in a privileged one.  You don't get as much parent support, but you don't get special snowflakes, either.
    The principal issue is much more important.  If you don't have any support from your administration, life can be miserable.  It is very important that teachers feel safe in their job environment.
    Absolutely. In the end that wasn't the big issue (and where we're at in the moment is actually the poorest county in the state), it's that leadership sounds like a huge mess. They aren't even technically qualified it sounds like- according to this source, they don't have any formal education in admin OR education. 
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  • Vibes that he finds a better job!
    What did you think would happen if you walked up to a group of internet strangers and told them to get shoehorned by their lady doc?~StageManager14
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  • Must be a charter school? I'd be interested to know which school it was.  I know a lot of teachers. (i'm also in the cities). At least he could do a lot of subbing if nothing else, until he gets a permanent position.

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  • FiancBFiancB member
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    I don't think it's exactly a charter. I still get confused with that. It does have an IB program which he was excited about, but it sounds like it's not implemented well in reality. I'll send you a PM.

    Subbing's the plan if nothing else comes through. I'm sure he'll find steady enough work doing that, but still it would be nice to have something steady and surefire lined up. At least with that though he'll be able to get a good feel for a lot of different schools.
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  • lol that stinks but I still laughed at "poopsticks". My FI always says that. 

                                                                     

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  • I hope it all works out. At the very least, it's a paying job and will help with the move. Hopefully something better can come along. Lots a well wishes your way. 
    I second liking the "poopsticks" title. Make me giggle. 
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  • FiancBFiancB member
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    The thing with teaching is if he accepts, he has to sign a contract. If he signs a contract, he has to pay to get out of it.

    He could accept and then backtrack because they probably won't send a contract for a bit, but that's kinda bad karma I feel like. It really screws over the district. It would probably be different if he were a little more on the fence, like he was about it not being full time, but this place really sounds like bad news. Some good teachers, sounds like a lot of problem admin has been replaced, but still a major lack of resources and help there.

    We reached out to some more teacher friends that know more people that worked there and they all said run. It would be different if he were a first year teacher and unlikely to find something better. But at this point he's applied to 7-8 jobs, gotten 3 interviews, and 1 offer so he's not doing too badly, plus it turns out he knows a lot more people than he thought. 

    But this is why it's really difficult to switch jobs as a teacher. You are supposed to sign your current contract for the next school year way before the new jobs come up so if you want to switch you have to take a big gamble by resigning and then waiting and hoping. I'm just really glad we're in a position where we can do that. 
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  • It'll all work out. Sending some good thoughts ad well wishes your way. 
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