Good news on the teaching job front!!!
As some of you know, I’ve been a substitute teacher for about a year and a half. I’ve taught at every elementary school in Salinas, Greenfield, Chualar, Soledad Mission School, and Millenium High School.
I recently applied to be a “provisional” teacher in the teacher pools at several of those districts, and applications to others are in progress.
I got my first bit of good news. I got an email from the Salinas City Elementary school district telling me that I am “free to apply” for specific teaching positions, which will be posted starting in early May. I am presuming that I have passed the district level approval and now it’s up to individual schools to select me or not.
Salinas City district is one of the districts I most wanted to work in, and there are several very good schools I would gladly accept a job in.
I haven’t yet heard from Alisal District, but I’m less interested in working there, although it would be interesting if I got employed at my alma mater elementary school. Living in immediate proximity to a school I work at could lead to some unwanted or inappropriate contact by the students. Think, “Let’s go check out Mister Green’s puppies while he’s not home“, for example.
I’ve been subbing at Millenium High School a lot recently, so it’s possible they might make an offer. I’m not sure I want to teach High School because it’s a lot of stress to have to deal with surly teens; surly fourth graders are hard enough. However, Millenium is a charter school which specializes in digital media and has a full studio, and as digital art is one of my specialties, if I got the right offer, and if it came before or at about the same time as an elementary school offer, I might take it.
At the moment, my first choice would be a third- or fourth-grade class at one of several Salinas City schools. I like that level as kids are far enough along to know the basics of reading and writing, how to behave in class, know the basics of computers and tech, are beginning to understand complex compound ideas and concepts, and have not yet gotten to the surly, angry, defiant levels, at least for the most part.
If I am hired at a Salinas City Elementary School, I’ll start at $52K per year. This is because I have twelve college degrees, one BS and eleven associates, which means I meet the top level for Bachelor’s Degree education bonus of Bachelors plus 75 college units. This means that in a year or three I’ll be able to pay off all my bills, minus the school loans. If I start in the fall, hopefully, I’ll be able to get some or all of my student loans forgiven for working in a distressed school district, which Salinas City is, assuming Trump and DeVos don’t end that program.
I still have to get through the summer, with no work for several months, so I may have to ask for help then, assuming I don’t get any summer school work.
I’ll write more as I know more.
#jtg