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Still waiting to get an interview...

by Heidi

Jun 20, 2017

I am a secondary German and French teacher and still have not gotten an interview yet. Still waiting. Are there needs for teachers in these subjects? Getting worried that there are no openings for French or German.

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haha Don't know about French but there should be a need for German in the schools located in Germany. I recall that a few years ago they decided that all teachers had to be US citizens which meant that the non-US citizen language teachers had to be phased out. It would be helpful if you had another subject area to offer such as Language Arts, etc.

Jun 20, 2017

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Scholar You may want to see what all you would have to do to be elementary german. All DoDEA elementary students have "host nation" classes where they learn culture and language.

Jun 22, 2017

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Supplements/additional duties

by Janie

Jun 20, 2017

Question for the current employees here. What opportunities are there for supplement or additional duty pay? Summer school, etc.

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Teach Most schools have what are called EDAs or EDCs (depends on the schools), and those are paid positions for clubs, coaching, teacher leadership positions, etc. I have been paid for holding a Tutoring Club, being a member, then co-chair of the Continuous School Improvement Team, co-chair of the Student Support Team, school webmaster, and a few other t...See More

Jun 20, 2017

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haha As Teach posted... Other paid positions would be Student Gov't, Class Sponsor, Homework Club, Nat'l Honor Society, Events Coordinator, etc.

Generally the only summer positions would be for SPED programs for the Moderate to Severe students and Virtual School.

Jun 20, 2017

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Got orders!

by Redclover711

Jun 20, 2017

Just got my travel orders! I returned all paperwork last Tuesday and got my orders today. Exactly a week, faster than expected!

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afwife Would this time frame include tentative offer and background check, then orders? How long was your entire process?

Jun 20, 2017

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Redclover711 My entire process was about 2.5 months in this order. Interview March 31st, Tentative offer April 3rd or 4th, Passport Email within the same week, Security/Background Email took 2/3 weeks after the tentative to receive. I then got my firm offer May 18th which was less than a week after my fingerprints were returned and screened. I took a bit of tim...See More

Jun 21, 2017

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True pay vs. pay with deductions

by TeachEsp

Jun 19, 2017

How do teacher pay and deductions work? I mean, do the amounts listed in the pay scale represent base pay? Or are health insurance and retirement deducted from that?

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haha The pay scale is the gross base pay. You actual take home pay would be base pay minus deductions (insurance, taxes, retirement, union dues, etc) plus housing allowance and post allowance (which are not taxed)..

Jun 19, 2017

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haha For example, on step 12, on 26 checks per year, gross pay is around $2500 minus around $900 deductions plus around $1200 LQA plus around $300 Post Allowance = around $3000 take home per paycheck (out of which you pay your rent/utilities).

Obviously there are a lot of variables (step, family size, type of insurance, number of exemptions cla...See More

Jun 19, 2017

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Interview

by TeachEsp

Jun 19, 2017

OK, so I started the application process last fall. Being ready well ahead of the deadlines for this school year...and then I updated the app...and then I waited...and waited...and waited.

Then I was referred in April...and I waited some more.

Received an email last week and just INTERVIEWED this evening. I'll know something this ...See More

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SandArt Good luck to you!

Jun 19, 2017

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TeachEsp Misawa Japan Secondary Spanish

Jun 20, 2017

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When do you resign your current job....

by Charmaine

Jun 19, 2017

Do you wait until the background check comes back?? By then school will probably start soon.

Do you resign once you accept the position? Then you don't know if you are fully accepted and have no job at all...How do you all manage this?

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afwife Angel...I changed my profile a bit...lol. I felt a little weird with my name and pic. lol

Jun 20, 2017

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afwife Thanks so much for the info! This is a bit of a crazy and exciting adventure.

Jun 20, 2017

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wondering

by RAMSTEIN LIMS POSTION

Jun 18, 2017

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THAT POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED

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Taxes, Credit Cards, Housing, and Space A

by anotherteacher

Jun 18, 2017

First of all I just want to thank all of you who regularly respond to our questions on these message boards. DoDDS is exciting but can be a painfully confusing system at times and it's great to have veterans who are willing to take time out of their day to help people like me who are new to the system. Thanks so much!

I have a f...See MoreFirst of all I just want to thank all of you who regularly respond to our questions on these message boards. DoDDS is exciting but can be a painfully confusing system at times and it's great to have veterans who are willing to take time out of their day to help people like me who are new to the system. Thanks so much!

I have a few somewhat unrelated questions about overseas living if anyone could assist me.

I heard from a friend in the military (not in DoDDS) that DoDDS teachers do not need to pay federal, state, or local taxes. I heard that we're only required to pay sales taxes for purchases made off base. Already DoDDS teachers have some of the best salaries in the country when accounting for housing allowances in addition to decent salaries, but having no taxes in addition to that seems almost too good to be true. What taxes are DoDDS teachers required to pay?

I'm also interested in what credit cards are best for overseas use and on base use? Has anyone run into troubles with their bank for using credit cards overseas? I realize certain countries like Japan are primarily cash based economies, but whenever possible I'd like to use a credit card for both the security and rewards offers. So what credit cards would you recommend for overseas use that have no foreign transaction fees and won't run me into trouble when living overseas as opposed to simply traveling overseas.

I've heard from a few DoDDS teachers that it's better to buy a house than to rent a house because renting can often mean your housing allowance just disappears, whereas purchasing a house can allow you to resell your house and get your housing allowance back to keep. How easy is it to both purchase and sell a house back? Is it worth buying a house over renting one?

Finally, I've heard that DoDDS teachers have access to Space A flights but I haven't heard of many teachers actually taking advantage of them during summer vacation or visiting family back home. What are the rules with Space A? Also, are Space A flights completely free for DoDDS teachers as long as there is space available and you've made it to the top of the waiting list?

Thanks for any advice you guys can offer me. I appreciate your help!

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Happy Teacher Yes, you can join NFCU as a DoD employee.

Taxes are absolutely something you must pay. If your home state has no taxes, you don't pay state taxes. I have seen many, many people say that you don't have to pay any taxes as a DoDEA teacher and it's simply not true.

You do need to establish residency, and each state has its own laws ...See More

Jun 18, 2017

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HelpOthers As for buying a house. This is easier in some countries than in others. In Japan, it is nearly impossible to get a loan, so you would have to pay the full amount up front. Also, after the 10 years, you are only reimbursed for the utilities. If you are still stationed in the same location, even if you sell your home, you may not be provided a housin...See More

Jun 19, 2017

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New Hire Paperwork

by Charmaine

Jun 18, 2017

I have all of the paperwork that was sent to me via email. Is there ANY way at all that the offer can be taken back or am I considered hired? We are already packing. We live FAR from the location so this is huge for us.

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haha No examples of offers being rescinded that I know of or have heard of 2nd (or even 3rd hand). I have heard of a few examples of (and know one personally) where the teacher left after one year. It was mutual all of the way around and no one was happy so it wasn't a great surprise to anyone.

Jun 18, 2017

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Texasteacher17 Charmaine, what grade did you get hired for??

Jun 18, 2017

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Those stationed in the US....

by Charmaine

Jun 18, 2017

Are you moving yourselves cross country at your expense or do many of you live in the state where you are getting offers?

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kgteach Congratulations!!!!!! I live off base. I was offered to live on base but the housing is not that desirable and the prices are more expensive than living off post. I don't have children. But your children will be allow allowed to attend school on base if you choose to live in housing on base The only downside is that you will not have access to the ...See More

Jun 18, 2017

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HelpOthers We moved ourselves from the Charleston, SC, area to Fort Bragg, NC, then moved from Fort Bragg, NC, to Fort Knox, KY, ourselves. We downsized considerably when starting at Fort Bragg, but at the time, civilians could not live on post. Once they could, I got on a wait list for the housing I wanted, but we never got it. My children were high school-a...See MoreWe moved ourselves from the Charleston, SC, area to Fort Bragg, NC, then moved from Fort Bragg, NC, to Fort Knox, KY, ourselves. We downsized considerably when starting at Fort Bragg, but at the time, civilians could not live on post. Once they could, I got on a wait list for the housing I wanted, but we never got it. My children were high school-age and there were no high schools on Fort Bragg. Our house in SC was still on the market, so we rented something very small in a nice area and the schools were O.K., so there was no rush. After the house sold, we remained in the inexpensive rental and basically saved back the money we lost on the sale of our home and the expense to move.

However, when I received the offer at Fort Knox, they wanted me in place almost within a week. I contacted the housing office and they had something for me that would be available by the time I got there. My son had already graduated at this point, but my daughter attends Fort Knox High School. I signed up my family members to have access to the MWR facilities, so they each have a card they use for the gyms, pools, etc. We are permitted to use the shoppettes/small exchanges as long as we are only buying what we can consume/use at the time, not loading up on groceries. We do not have access to the main PX or the commissary. However, Walmart is right off post and other stores are not very far away.

We live within walking distance from the high school, library, and PX (food court and other shops around it are accessible without having a military ID), so my daughter is able to hang out with friends easily and walk home from school or these hang out locations. Our house is small, but not much smaller than the one we rented near Fort Bragg. It is an older home, but was refurbished and currently, all the homes are in the process of getting new windows and siding. I can smell mold/mildew a mile away and do NOT smell any in this home. We love living on post and I appreciate that when I do work late, I am home within a few minutes.

Good luck!

Jun 19, 2017

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