Arrrggggg!!

[Karlm]

I friggin hate living in California. I just got out of college and I have been busting my behind to find a teaching job out here. I have been working with a school down on the central coast since March with every assurace that I should have a job. I have been down there twice for interviews, and I have been in contact with everyone in the know for months. For weeks I have been getting the "It should only be a couple of days bfore we sign the papers" line. Last week I went down to meet with the people again and was told that they would call me Monday. Well here it is Tuesday night and no word. Finall I get a call from someone completely out of the process telling me that the school decided Monday to put on a hiring freeze and that I was pretty much screwed. Now I understand that Sh!+ can happen, but it just really pissed me of to hear the the reason they froze hiring was that the state decided to hold off our High School Exit Exams for another year or so. SInce the kids don't have to pass the smart test anymore, the districts are all cutting their remediation classes. Seems that without some accoutability, the kids don't need to be smart. It also pissed me off that the principal that I had been working with didn't even have the balls to tell me I was out of luck himself. Now I'm left scrapping for work and I have to move in a week. Lukily I don't bank on anything and I have another couple of lines on work, but I hate having to fall back on my backup. I know we only have our fabulous govenor to thank for this cluster f^¢k, but I hate it when people jerk me around like this. Grrrrrr. Oh well, thanks for letting me rant. Didn't make me feel better though.

 

[JJ13]

If you don't mind moving the Kelso School district in Washington is always looking for teachers. They were so hard up last year they sent some of there teachers aids to school to get there degrees so they would have enough teachers. They paid for all of it. You must be willing to wheel in the muddy stuff though.

 

[RichP]

Alot of other states are looking and looking hard. Florida will pay for your whole degree if you stay there 5 years, wifes girlfriend that she graduated with last year is down there now. When you took the praxis did you score high enough to cover all the states or does calif not require that. Good luck, it really sucks out there for any type of job right now, even flipping burgers. Almost all the bugger flippers in our local mc'd, KFC and BK are collecitng SS. Even the day care centers that payed pretty well for a certified teacher have dropped to minimum wage as my wife found out yesterday trying to find something for the summer.

 

[Spudboy]

Probably not what you had in mind, but I have heard that Nevada is desperate for teachers too. I think Las Vegas is paying a considerable signing bonus.

Good Luck

 

[Karlm]

Well, hopefully I will hear about aanother job in the bay area that I interviewed for, but if not, it open season. I'm willing to go almost anywhere.

 

[Ralph]

We've a great need for good teachers in my area in Texas. We have so much growth that new schools are being built every year. We'll even take 'em from California.

RR3

 

[Eagle]

Karlm --

I don't know if you bother to read the news, but it's not just California. The economy of the entire country has been in meltdown for a year, and headlines everywehere are saying it's going to be a long, hot summer for people looking for work.

As for the testing -- it sounds to me a bit like you were banking on a discredited job. Now that many states have adopted so-called "mastery tests" as a prerequisite for graduation, it is becoming clear that students who pass the tests and graduate are totally unprepared for college or work. Why? Because of jobs like the one you didn't get. Teachers and school systems are now "teaching the test" rather than teaching subject matter and thinking skills, with predictable results.

 

[Karlm]

I was acctually slated to teach reading classes. Not quite the "How to pass the test" class. I acctually do believe that we should be making sure that kids learn to read, while I despise the whole teaching to the test idea. Out here its mostly the work of our fabulous govenor that is killing us. I'm more angry than worried right now. I've sent out four more applications this morning. Come August they are gonna have to put these kids somewhere, so I'll eventually find something. I just hate being jerked around.

 

[JJ13]

I here ya, I was looking for temp summer work, (I am a student). My father has worked for Weyerhauser for 28 years, and they have a summer help program for college students. I applied and was called 2 months ago and told I had a postition for the summer. So I went and took my physical and whiz quiz, and was waiting for the 16th to begin the job. On the 13th (my birthday no less) I received a message on my phone that I was to old to participate in the summer help program. So not only no job, but I don't have a back up for the summer because I quit looking when they called 2 months ago. Seems to me there is a lot of us getting jerked around lately.