I cannot seem to find a job anywhere...other than part time intervention work. I'm getting so desperate and discouraged. I applied to a school today that is 41 miles away. I'm not sure I'm willing to drive that far - that's almost 100 miles a day both ways. But I'm not ruling it out either. The biggest obstacle for me is my soon to be 2nd grader. I'd have to leave SO early and I'm not sure where he would go after school.
I've also started applying for jobs outside of the education field. I've been applying for teaching jobs since March and haven't even had one call for an interview, but the job postings come and go on the website, so someone is getting hired.
How do I stay encouraged? Should I continue to apply at the schools so far away? How far would you be willing to drive?
This is definitely the year I would look outside of education I’d I did not have a job. 100 miles is too much for me, especially with school age children. I guess it might matter the time for the drive. If it was easy on, easy off highway, maybe. Winter weather and back roads? Probably not.
Don’t know where you live, but would taking a couple kids to teach from home might be possible?
I tend to think about commutes in minutes, not miles. A 41 mile drive that takes about 40 minutes and 41 miles in rush hour traffic that takes 2+ hours are totally different things.
When I first got my job at my current school, my commute was about 20 minutes. Over the years, the area between school and home got super built up and traffic got worse and worse. It got to be about 30 minutes in the morning but 50+ minutes every afternoon. I felt like I wasted so much time sitting in traffic.
When I lived on the northern side of the city I applied to some more rural schools that were around 50 minutes away. The difference for me was that there was NO traffic whatsoever and it would have been a super easy drive. I don't think I would have minded that much driving on those roads, where I could just relax and listen to music or maybe an audiobook. For me, that's very different than driving only a few miles but taking 50 minutes to get there because it's bumper to bumper traffic the whole way.
I wouldn't necessarily give up on finding a job just yet. So many schools still don't know exactly what will be happening once school begins again in Fall. I suspect there may be teachers who are still on the fence about if they feel comfortable returning, based on decisions that distracts make as the start date gets closer.
Y DH commutes about 35 minutes a day (25 miles). If he hadn’t been close to retirement, we would have moved somewhere between our jobs. I’m only 4 miles from work.
Another option (albeit no health insurance) that I saw on my local Nextdoor is to offer services to those parents who are not going to send their kids back to school come August. The teacher who posted received many replies, so there might be a need for that where you live.
You know, you could take a part time intervention job and sub the rest of the time. It would be a great way to get your foot in the door, make contacts, keep your ear to the ground about retirements and openings for next year and get letters of recs.
I also think of minutes, not miles. I left a job 10 min away and now drive about 35-40 min. For me, it was totally worth it.
I once worked at a school 37 miles from home. I was lucky and able to bring my young daughter with me at the time. We had great chats in the car and listened to books on tape (it was several years ago).
If you can’t take your little one with you I would go for the intervention jobs close to home or a job outside education until your little one is grown. I regret the times I chose work over my family when I absolutely didn’t have to. I know there are a lot of times a person just doesn’t have a choice and you have to do what it takes to make ends meet.
I have my fingers crossed for you that your Fairy-Job-Mother Is going to call you within the next week offering you your perfect job.
I'm black listed in my area from a non-renewal six years ago (yes, they can do that) and my searches nearby always prove fruitless. I drive an hour each way without traffic to teach. If I could find another career that gave me the benefits and schedule, I'd do it at this point.
I am deciding today if I am taking a job 55 minutes away (47 miles, easy drive) with a small class size of about 10 students, 30 students total in grades 6-8. I have no kids at home, so that's not an issue. I have also driven in horrible traffic for anywhere from 45 minutes to 75 miutes for only 30 miles. That was hideous.
Nothing wrong with looking outside of education this year. Covid has turned everything upside down and is the reason I am looking at smaller schools.
There just don’t seem to be any jobs in my content area this year. I don’t really want to teach in person either. I might just write this career choice off as a failed experiment and pack it in.
Our district just announced that they plan to reduce class sizes when we re-open during the pandemic. I don't know where they think these extra classes and teachers are going to fit. We don't have extra empty classrooms at our school.
There may be other districts that will be scrambling to do the same, which would mean having to hire more teachers.
Y'all can always move to Florida- we always have positions open. And especially now that we are being forced to go back to brick and mortar schooling 5 days a week with kids, we will be seeing a mass exodus of teacher leaving. Our governor is an assh---!
So there is definitely a need here. And an added bonus- base salary for beginning teachers was raised in my district by almost 7, 000 so anyone under that amount gets bumped up for compensation. Unlike us who aren't -we get crap.
(Its a hard day right now to be a teacher in Florida during Covid)
Do you really want to be teaching in the middle of all this? Ummm... the good news is that there should be a lot of last minute openings. Teacher retirement boards are being flooded with calls.
I'd think again about the part time job. Our district has had part time jobs turn full time within the same school year. Or you start part time at one building and another opens up due to staffing changes. If the PT job is within your area and something you'd like to do, I'd pursue it. I also agree that you could then sub the other time you're not working. They may even use you to sub within the building you're working at.
i would check on the subbing/intervention option and make sure it is allowed. About 4 years ago i was offered a 12 hour per week intervention job. i was told i could sub the other 3 days, came to find out it was not the case. glad i found out before it was too late.
My first year, thirty-one years ago, I lived with my mom and commuted an hour each way. However, I was young then, it was interstate with no traffic, I’m in the South so no weather to worry about. I did worry about all the deer 🦌 which were abundant.
One thing to think about- there will be times when you will be expected to stay late for things like Open House, athletic events, prom, etc. (Maybe not this year because of Corona, but usually you are expected to attend a minimum of x events per year. You will be on the low end of the totem pole, so expect to have these extracurricular duties. Be prepared.) There were times when I was driving back to my mom’s house at 10 pm.
“I don't know where they think these extra classes and teachers are going to fit. We don't have extra empty classrooms at our school.”
I wonder if they will bring in mobile units? But, that means hiring more teachers, one would think��. But, then again, where will the funding come from??
Last edited by Room_916; 07-09-2020 at 09:09 PM..
Reason: Misspelled word
Fractured- Nothing will ever change unless we get a Dem Governor. We've been red for so long- part of the problem is dual residency for voting, and those who are love Reps because of their business tax breaks (high class people).
This governor has just extended the state of emergency for another 60 days but expects brick and mortar.
They also are not pushing back on the Phases. It is business as usual except for bars are closed and restaurants are at reduced hours or reduced capacity. However, the beaches are full to packed of course.
I've commuted for up to 2 hours each way for a job before. It's not ideal. I agree that the amount of time it typically takes to get there would make a big difference (that job I spoke of was about 45 miles away). I've driven to jobs that were 50 miles each way but only took about an hour, too.
I think this year there will be jobs coming up much later than usual as schools figure out what they will actually be doing and what their need will be.
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07-08-2020, 04:44 PM
We don't have extra empty classrooms at our school.
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