Help Wanted

[Rusty Vandura]

Here are the unfilled vacancies at the school district where I work, two weeks before the beginning of school. FTE means Full Time Equivalent, so less than 1.0 means less than a full job. Of interest: "Prep PE" means be the PE teacher where the elementary teachers drop their classes once or twice per week while the teacher makes copies or whatever. Same with "Prep Art."

Certificated -- Meaning teachers, counselors and the like

Classified -- Meaning hourly folks like skilled trades, office managers, food service, transportation...

@Shop-Teacher

[Manwich]

@rusty-vandura

One thing I noticed on that website at the bottom of the page:

"Hayward Unified School District & DualStar Digital - Copyright 2007
All Rights Reserved"

[Italia]

@manwich and they want to pay the it guy $46 an hour...

[Chariotoflove]

@rusty-vandura
We just had a back to school social for my daughter’s school. I mentioned to one of the staff that I’d love to be a high school science teacher. I got an email yesterday from the head mistress asking if I’d like to come in and discuss with her. I’m gonna tell her yes. Not because I think it’s feasible for me to leave my university job and shut down my lab in the immediate future, but because in a mid to long term future, it could be a path to something really fulfilling.

[Rusty Vandura]

@chariotoflove said in Help Wanted:

@rusty-vandura
We just had a back to school social for my daughter’s school. I mentioned to one of the staff that I’d love to be a high school science teacher. I got an email yesterday from the head mistress asking if I’d like to come in and discuss with her. I’m gonna tell her yes. Not because I think it’s feasible for me to leave my university job and shut down my lab in the immediate future, but because in a mid to long term future, it could be a path to something really fulfilling.

I can imagine you doing that.

[Chariotoflove]

@rusty-vandura said in Help Wanted:

I can imagine you doing that.

Thank you. That’s a compliment.

[Rusty Vandura]

@chariotoflove said in Help Wanted:

@rusty-vandura said in Help Wanted:

I can imagine you doing that.

Thank you. That’s a compliment.

I am flattered that you would think so. You'd be able to give as good, or better, than you get. Genuine dude with a genuine interest in the subject. But they'd start you at like $40k/yr, if you're lucky, even with all the letters after your name. In 15 or 20 years you'd advance to half your current salary.

[Chariotoflove]

@rusty-vandura I know a guy in his 60s who is a bagger at my grocery store for something relaxing to do. Another helps is a sales associate at the hardware store. These guys had their careers in the corner office and just want to chill doing something fun with other people. I could see that once my finances are secure.

[Roadkilled]

@rusty-vandura

I looked up my son's high school. Almost all the open positions are assistant coaches.

[ttyymmnn]

@chariotoflove

@chariotoflove said in Help Wanted:

I could see that once my finances are secure.

I posted recently about the aviation museum in Dallas. I spent a long time talking to two old guys who were docents. That would be my dream job.

[ttyymmnn]

@roadkilled

Those are all the people who teach math, history, etc. when they aren't coaching the football team. My boys had a few of those teachers, and they were somewhat less than qualified.

[RallyDarkstrike]

@ttyymmnn said in Help Wanted:

I posted recently about the aviation museum in Dallas. I spent a long time talking to two old guys who were docents. That would be my dream job.

Working at a car museum would be my DREAM job...

I have a BA with an Advanced Major in History, I have a BEd. and I have past Museum experience and still sit on the Board / volunteer at one,....I like to think I have the skills to do it, but there are literally none around here and most museums here are small independents with almost no paid staff other than their managers (and I don't have the skills to be MANAGER of one, I don't think).

Then again, a friend of mine with a Bachelor of Science degree somehow got a full-time permanent position as manager of one elsewhere in Nova Scotia....so....

But yeah....if anybody wants to put in a good word to Lane for me

[bison78]

@rusty-vandura said in Help Wanted:

Here are the unfilled vacancies at the school district where I work, two weeks before the beginning of school. FTE means Full Time Equivalent, so less than 1.0 means less than a full job. Of interest: "Prep PE" means be the PE teacher where the elementary teachers drop their classes once or twice per week while the teacher makes copies or whatever. Same with "Prep Art."

Certificated -- Meaning teachers, counselors and the like

Classified -- Meaning hourly folks like skilled trades, office managers, food service, transportation...

@Shop-Teacher

How do those rates compare with Fremont?

[Roadkilled]

@ttyymmnn My son's high school is considered a college preparatory school. The teachers have generally been very good. The athletics are based on the assumption that kids are in sports to pad their college applications. I would guess that at least 30% of the kids have parents that work at Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook or Google, and they want their kids to be able to get into elite schools. There are surprisingly few teaching jobs open in any of the schools. The pay would be very good in most areas of the country, but it doesn't quite match the cost of living in the Seattle suburbs. Most teachers need to be part of two-income families to get by.

The school district has five high schools. Three are large schools, ranging from one in a solidly middle class neighborhood to one where parents are probably in the top 5% of income brackets. One school is an alternative high school and one is run in conjunction with the juvenile justice system as a residential school to divert kids from the justice system back into the mainstream.

[Rusty Vandura]

@bison78 said in Help Wanted:

How do those rates compare with Fremont?

I don't know. Salary and benefits for both districts are available on the districts' websites.

[Taylor Martin]

@rusty-vandura Being an English teacher is something I want to do someday. After all, my childhood hero was my 12th-grade advanced composition (creative writing) teacher. He wrote my reference, reviewed my admissions essays, and most of all, got me to enjoy writing. Would be cool to teach as he did.

[Rusty Vandura]

@taylor-martin said in Help Wanted:

@rusty-vandura Being an English teacher is something I want to do someday. After all, my childhood hero was my 12th-grade advanced composition (creative writing) teacher. He wrote my reference, reviewed my admissions essays, and most of all, got me to enjoy writing. Would be cool to teach as he did.

Then go for it. Get your social justice bona fides lined up because it will weigh considerably in your hiring, depending upon the state where you are seeking employment.

There is a demand for English/Language Arts teachers.

[Taylor Martin]

@rusty-vandura I want to work for my current company at least a few years since it's a stable remote gig with a lot of flexibility. Also nice to have on my writer's resume. But it's in the ol' 10 year plan.

[Zaphod's Heart of Gold]

@taylor-martin I had that thought about my first job, wanted to make it at least 5 years to get good experience.

Turns out the company sucked and I left for a contractor gig after 10 months, hoping I would be put on as a direct hire after some time.

2 years later, still a contractor, I picked up and moved to a better company, also as a contractor, for a better hourly rate, more benefits, and with the hopes I would be a direct hire after some time.

3 years later, still a contractor, I took a direct hire position at my current job.

Life doesn't always go to plan. If it turns out your situation doesn't work for you or a better opportunity comes along make the move or start finding a way out.

I will say that, despite how poorly things went for a while, I got lucky and always made the right move whether I knew it at the time or not. First job the company basically went under (may still technically be around but not worth working for), the second ditched its engineering team not long after I left which would have put me out of a job, the third dumped all its contractors right before COVID hit which would have put me out of a job. I'm now in an essential industry doing new design work among many other tasks, with a small team that works well together. It has its challenges but that can be good and bad depending on how you look at it. Plus my salary has gone up basically 100% when you factor in holidays, vacations, and benefits.

[dogisbadob]

@roadkilled said in Help Wanted:

@ttyymmnn My son's high school is considered a college preparatory school. The teachers have generally been very good. The athletics are based on the assumption that kids are in sports to pad their college applications. I would guess that at least 30% of the kids have parents that work at Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook or Google, and they want their kids to be able to get into elite schools. There are surprisingly few teaching jobs open in any of the schools. The pay would be very good in most areas of the country, but it doesn't quite match the cost of living in the Seattle suburbs. Most teachers need to be part of two-income families to get by.

The school district has five high schools. Three are large schools, ranging from one in a solidly middle class neighborhood to one where parents are probably in the top 5% of income brackets. One school is an alternative high school and one is run in conjunction with the juvenile justice system as a residential school to divert kids from the justice system back into the mainstream.

Are the 4 non-alternative high schools sorted strictly by geography, or are they based on merit/grades or some kind of placement test?

Is one of them a vo-tech?

[Roadkilled]

@dogisbadob

There are three high schools of 2000 - 2500 kids distributed by geography. All three are college prep. For reference, my son's high school offers 33 AP classes. Each school does have a few vo-tech classes, but not enough for somebody who plans on going into the trades or another non-college track.

There is one alternative high school of 120 kids covering the whole district. It is designed to remain small to allow more direct interaction with kids who would be significantly challenged in the main schools.

The school district works with an adjacent larger district that has vocational training. The vo-tech school in the adjacent district is 8 miles from the center of my school district, so it's not horrible for kids to get there. Kids in my district that want to take vocational training can go to classes the adjacent district without parents incurring any tuition expenses.

[Roadkilled]

@dogisbadob It turns out that there are more vocational classes in my son's school than I realized. He is taking wood shop this semester. Being a college preparatory school, it's called "Woods Technology", but it's shop.
http://courseguide.issaquah.wednet.edu/ihs_2020_2021/index.php/2-uncategorised/237-int300-woods-technology-1

Home Economics is renamed "Culinary Arts".
http://courseguide.issaquah.wednet.edu/ihs_2020_2021/index.php/2-uncategorised/265-hfl100-foods-related-culinary-arts