On 6/24/09, ChemTeach wrote:
> I have been looking for a new position for two years. I
> know that I am lucky to have a job at all, but I really
> would like to move to my "dream district". I have been on
> over a dozen interviews. I have outstanding evaluations,
> certification in every area of science and I have math, but
> still no offers. I wish I could say it was my interviews
> pure and simple. I have had some bad ones, but most of
them
> have been decent and even great. I am just SOO
> frustrated... I am waiting to hear back on two good
> interviews.. I just need to vent somewhere. I think I
have
> exhausted my friends and family...
Oh honey...this is a profession where proven hard work and
competence and intelligence and devotion to the field mean
nothing. Nothing at all. I have known administrators who
have deliberately hired incompetent teachers just to "stick
it" to particular programs. I know a principal who hired an
ELL teacher who wasn't even certified because she couldn't
pass state certification tests. She could be paid sub pay
and she wasn't unionized. And who cares if ELL students
have a good teacher? It's not like we think they can
succeed (or want them to succeed). She was a dream
candidate for this admin who loved to rule by fear. Another
principal in the same district had a track record of hiring
ditzy, flighty, indecisive people who would come running to
him at every turn and "spill the beans." They became his
spies.
I honestly believe these admins wanted to sabotage the
system. They were in the biz solely for themselves and a
grand and glorious power trip. I don't think this is true
of most admins. I think that most admins simply have no
idea how to hire people. They do not have an HR background
and they really don't know how to teach subjects outside of
the ones they taught. They don't know what makes a good art
teacher or chemistry teacher or math teacher or music
teacher. They're throwing darts and the quality of your
interview is irrelevant.
There are no dream districts. In the blink of an eye a
principal can leave, a school can be redistricted, the
contract can change, or a million other things than can
cause "dream district" to become "hell district" overnight.
