Place me somewhere in Arizona! (new teacher) (Phoenix, Tucson: fit in, 2015)

[wildmissingno]

I'll be honest - one of the more political threads on here all but talked me out of moving to Arizona. However, I will give my own personal background; maybe there is hope yet!

I am a single 26-year-old female graduating with an education degree (no masters. That should give a sense of my upcoming income bracket). I desire to work in a public school, but I am open to private schools if need be. Based on my student teaching experience, I really enjoy diverse classrooms and those where students need MORE help. I don't want to be in a straight up dangerous school, but I certainly don't want all honors kids.

I live in Kansas, but I have also lived in Minneapolis, MN, Napa, CA, and Sacramento, CA. Minneapolis was awesome, but the weather destroyed me. Napa was beautiful and incredible, but not the right fit for a young adult and it took forever to get to the Bay where the action was at. Sacramento didn't seem to have much of a culture, and the suburbs were no better. In Kansas, my favorite town is Lawrence. It is my backup should I not find the right fit in other states. I am currently stuck in Wichita (land of chain stores and restaurants and not much else).
I hope I don't seem too negative about these places! I think they all suit many types of people, just not me!

Desert appeals to me on multiple levels. New Mexico seems like a nightmare for a new teacher (few job postings and very low wages), so I have sort of honed in on Arizona (maybe Phoenix, maybe Tucson, maybe Flagstaff.. you tell me!). If that's incorrect, please let me know... I would love to be wrong. I would also consider southern California, since it has the desert vibe and tons of sunshine.

Is Arizona it too red for me?
I am a bi woman who dates other women sometimes. I am interested in many new age-y subjects. I care about conservation of resources and general green living. I am totally willing to pay large amounts in taxes if it provides healthcare and great education. I identify as progressive.

In Wichita, I don't meet a lot of like minds. However, I have never felt threatened. I'd like to do much better than that, though!!

[curly5759]

Originally Posted by wildmissingno

Is Arizona it too red for me?
I am a bi woman who dates other women sometimes. I am interested in many new age-y subjects. I care about conservation of resources and general green living. I am totally willing to pay large amounts in taxes if it provides healthcare and great education. I identify as progressive.

This part of your post makes me think that Flag is the place you want, but be aware that many people refer to the city as 'poverty with a view'. Pay is not good for anyone, teachers included.

Az isn't exactly the place to come to if you are looking for a living wage. I am speaking as a retired teacher, my wife was a teacher and my daughter, niece and other family members are teachers in AZ. Starting pay in most districts is in the very low 30's and most districts will only allow a max of 5 years exp on the salary schedule. Of course, Phx and Tucson do pay more, and Sci, Math and Spec Ed teachers do command a premium. My advice to you would be to consider the Phx and Tucson areas only as you are more likely to find better pay and more people who are a bit more open minded than the smaller towns.

Curly

[wildmissingno]

Thank you for the advice, Curly. So is Flagstaff expensive in terms of everyday expenses?

[curly5759]

It isnt so much the everyday expenses as it is low pay for most jobs. Gasoline and housing are expensive, if you look at some of the threads on this board you will get a better idea of prices.

Curly

[jamies]

Yes Flagstaff is expensive. Maybe too much for a teacher. They say they are short of teachers, but the pay doesn't correspond.

If you appreciate guns and freedom and independence from oppressive government, then you will like Arizona. If not then you will LOVE San Francisco.

[Suzatlarge]

The teacher situation has been discussed here, sometimes heatedly:

Teachers flee Arizona

There's an interesting post midway through that topic about new teachers being recruited to AZ: http://www.city-data.com/forum/40322497-post62.html

[CodyW]

Short of Flagstaff, I would recommend Tucson. Much more liberal than Phoenix, you will find a lot of "new age" types there, along with the college crowd, retirees, old hippies and an an abundance of different ethnicities. Housing is much cheaper than Flag - about on par with Phoenix. Can't speak to the school system, but I imagine they have their challenges, good and bad.

[elkotronics]

I am currently stuck in Wichita (land of chain stores and restaurants and not much else).

Hello, wildmissingno, I am a fellow Kansan who works in the medical field, so I am not up on where to teach for you. I would only say that you might look in to a town I am sort of looking at, Show Low, AZ. It may not suit you because it's up high at around 6,500 feet in the White Mountains, east of Phoenix. I only mention it if beauty of location concerns you. Because you'll get beauty in Show Low, AZ.


I don't know if they need teachers, but why does it seem like they might? Just a thought for you. Other than the Show Low idea I would head to Tucson. I lived in Willcox, AZ, it's in SE Arizona and it's about 80 miles SE of Tucson. We would head to Tucson on my week off (I work in the Allied Healthcare field, at that time my job worked me one week on, one week off, and it would continue rotating like that) to play. All the stores you could ever need or want, and health food stores like Sprouts and such were available here and there, too.


Entertainment could be found if you like rock music at Club Congress on Congress St. downtown in Tucson, or over near the U of Arizona campus on 4th Ave. Check out a place called The Hut. We saw a guy named Kevin Pakulis there, he plays his own brand of rock and roll (I told him he sounds like Tom Petty after one of his shows and he gave me one of his CD's) and it sounds great live. And it sounds great recorded, too, for that matter.


Just a few ideas for you, Arizona should work for you. Phoenix is huge and very hot - Tucson would be the better choice if too hot doesn't suit you well. It's interesting that you say Wichita is basically "chain stores and restaurants and not much else." My wife and I are going to Wichita on a Saturday in April to visit for the first time - we live in historic Dodge City 150 miles west of Wichita - we've been here only since July 31, 2015, and I'm finding myself missing Arizona! I am looking at a job in Show Low that's at the hospital there and in my field. I just don't think I'm going to pursue it because of our one-year rental lease here in Dodge (we're only 3 months in to it - we could leave it if we found other suitable tenants for it - though, if said tenants damaged the property at all we would be liable for it - not a total deal killer, actually) and also the fact that we're weary of moving. We'll probably just settle here, but, I plan on retiring in a tad over 5 more years of work, and, Arizona is where my wife and I both want to retire.


Moving to Show Low and working for 5 more years puts us in the place we want to retire in early then! Hope you find what you want - Arizona is just so much more inviting than Wichita - the brown/red rock and dirt of Arizona and the Grand Canyon - and the Chiricahua Mountains 25 miles SE of Willcox are so gorgeous. If any of you are ever in SE Arizona and you're on vacation and you want to see some beautiful mountains with very unusual rock formations, go see the Chiricahua National Monument. Oh, it's so beautiful. It was formed from a volcanic eruption some ten millions years ago in Turkey Creek there in that area. Big spires of rock in these tall tree-like formations, only they're jagged and roughed out of the rock. It is so quiet and beautiful while you're there and gorgeous scenery. It will cost you the National Park fee and I'm not up on what those cost - but after the Grand Canyon the Chiricahua is my next favorite National Park in Arizona.

[wildmissingno]

Originally Posted by Suzatlarge

The teacher situation has been discussed here, sometimes heatedly:

Teachers flee Arizona

There's an interesting post midway through that topic about new teachers being recruited to AZ: http://www.city-data.com/forum/40322497-post62.html

I am especially concerned about the lack of feedback and professional development mentioned. I would hate to stall out in skills as a first-year teacher! Yikes.

As for the low pay, I can't honestly say any of the areas I'm considering pay well. I don't think teachers are valued. Probably the best wage relative to COL that I'm looking at would be in Lawrence, KS, which is close to me, but doesn't have the weather I want. Plus, Kansas is on the verge of it's own exodus!

It's all a bit scary.

[Dangerous Dave]

CodyW is right, Tucson is very liberal, crusty, and dank. The downtown is full of homeless people, crumbling old buildings, and other mainstays of left wing culture. I used to call it "Portland with a Tan" but I was being unfair to Portland. Which, BTW might be another option for you.