Moving to Ann Arbor - any advice appreciated! (Saline, Caro: spring break, find a job)

[sarah1608]

Hello - I might be relocating to Ann Arbor this summer, my fiance will be attending graduate school. I am JUST starting my job search, but am having trouble finding teaching jobs. I am licensed in Moderate Special Needs in MA, and have my Masters and 2 years of experience. Based on my job search, it looks like substitute teaching, tutoring, or nannying may be my only options. In MA teaching jobs are posted throughout the Spring, so maybe I shouldn't lose hope. Any advice, in terms of job opportunities or relocating in general?

Thanks!

[Coldjensens]

Teaching jobs are otugh to find. School budgets are being slashed like mad. Many schools are trying to get rid of older/more experienced (and therefore more expensive) teachers or those with advanced degrees and go with cheaper young and less experienced teachers. Not that they want less eprienced teachers, but that is all they can afford. Advanced degrees pretty much guarntee no job becuase the unions require the district t o pay more for advanced degrees yet an advanced degree des nto guarantee a better teacher, nor does it make the teacher able to teach more classes or otherwise reduce costs. People will argue that reudincg qulaity is a bad idea, but if you have $10 you do not buy a $50 meal regardless of the quality difference.

Special ed may be different. Maybe you have to have an advanced degree for that. I do know that it is a somewhat sought after specialty, but there seem to be a lot of people going in that direction in the colleges, thus there are a lot of special ed teachers graduating. If a disctrict has $24,000 and they can get a first year special ed teacher for $24,000 vs. no special ed teacher at all, since they do nto have $40,000 to pay an experienced teacher, they will go with the $24,000 newbie.

That is what you are running up against.

Since special needs teaching seems tobe very popular now for education students, maybe you can get a job teaching in a college. Eastern Michigan (right next door to Ann Arbor iso one of the biggest teaching colleges anywhere. Maybe you can get a prt time position there.

[jaynarie]

Michigan is one of the top teacher producing states. I have 9 teachers I consider good friends that I met in high school or college. Only one of them teaches in Michigan (she did teach in Ohio for three years, and she now teaches in a charter school off of 8 Mile Rd). The other 8 all moved out of state, as did I. We are scattered through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Las Vegas, Texas, and Arizona. I myself moved to NC after two years of subbing.

I am not one to sugar coat things- you will have a VERY hard time finding a job. Nepotism is a major factor in the hiring process, and even without it, they are much more likely to hire teachers who trained in Michigan. Depending on the area, there are thousands of applicants per position. Literally.

Best of luck. You likely won't see jobs popping up until after Spring Break.

[doodledoodle]

Welcome (possibly!) to Ann Arbor! Ann Arbor is a great place to live. I don't know much about the local market for teaching jobs, but I do know that Ann Arbor has excellent public schools and tends to pass funding proposals etc. Maybe you can find a job with Ann Arbor, Dexter or Saline- all of which I believe have very good public schools.

Your other option, though maybe less desirable, would be to look for jobs at the University of Michigan. They frequently post new positions online and I have a few friends employed at the university. It seems to be a place where a fair amount of recent graduates are actually able to find work. Maybe you could work in the Dept of Education or something similar? It wouldn't be what you went to school for, but at least it would be a professional job with good pay and benefits. I believe their jobs are posted here:
Job Search | Careers at the U
Just make sure to choose Ann Arbor from the drop down menu since there are campuses in far away locations.

Hope this helps somewhat and feel free to message me directly with any other questions about Ann Arbor!

[MI-Roger]

Ann Arbor is located in Washtenaw County. Most or all public school districts in the county are members of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District (sort of an umbrella organization) and post their open job positions on the WISD web site. You will also find the job openings posted for some Charter Schools (called Public School Academies) and one private school.

Jobs

WISD operates some of their own schools, severe special needs and an International Baccalaureate High School, both which draw students from the member districts.

WISD is also the source of Substitute Teachers and Substitute Special Ed Para-Professionals for the member districts. You will need to register with WISD to be part of the substitute pool if you want to do this work while waiting for a full time position to open.