Teaching (San Diego, Santa Ana, Anaheim: apartment, crime, house)

[ktpop]

Anyone on the West Coast know of any good school system to teach in? I am currently teaching in MASS, but thinking about a change...I would like to get some advice on a school systems from grades 1-6...thanks!

[newportbeachsmostwanted]

ktpop, I'm going to copy and paste parts from what I previously sent to another teacher. Right of the bat you can pretty much erase L.A. from your list. The schools are notoriously horrible. Unless you are fluent in Spanish, don't teach in LA. Some kids speak English.. but esp. in grades (1-6) you know that parent-teacher communication is key.

The suburbs are safe to look at.. Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Agoura Hills (which are by Malibu) or you could look in the Southbay; Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, or Rancho Palos Verdes(excellent schools). As far as I know, none of the cities mentioned will be plagued with the ever-so common gang violence and booty dress codes. Don't expect to be able to purchase a house here though, unless you have quite a large savings. Rents are typically 1300-1 BD, 2000 2 BD, ..and don't expect luxury at these prices.

Check out Orange County and North County(north of San Diego). You will want to avoid Westminster, Santa Ana, and most of Anaheim in your search. The rest of Orange County is blessed with amazing schools and great students(for the most part). Irvine, Newport Beach, Mission Viejo, and parts of So. O.C. will have the best schools. Most of the schools are new infact and in good shape. Traffic on surface streets is hardly an issue down there. Mission Viejo and Irvine are constantly rated in top 5 for safest cities in the U.S.

Oceanside and Carlsbad are growing areas with pretty good schools. Carlsbad would be first choice,(in my opinion), it's a nice community. As I said though, it is in growing areas so increasing traffic is expected. The commute to San Diego on I-5 is increasingly horrible, plan on an hour plus.

You might check out northern California, because it is more similar to Massachusetts..liberal, nature, rain etc..- Marin County has great schools. Check out Mill Valley, Tiburon, Ross, and Larkspur. Apartment community is small in Marin, but you can find them. San Rafael is the likely place to find housing. There is a lot of open space in Marin, and it is very safe-nearly 1/4 the normal US crime avg. It is beautiful, yet only 20 minutes accross the Golden Gate and you're in SF. (After paying the horrendous $5 toll..lol)

[ktpop]

Thanks for all the great info on the schools....any ideas of what a teacher gets paid out there in Cali? I would be interested in what a elementary school teacher gets and do they get paid more because of the degree they hold??...Thanks!

[Deserter]

I don't know what current teacher pay is like statewide, but when I started out 8 years ago, my district was one of the best paying in the state. I'm in the desert near Palm Springs. Housing is still relatively affordable out here and traffic is not too bad either. My district is Desert Sands Unified School District. Most CA school districts can be found on the web and have their salary schedules posted. Yes, pay depends on the degree you have, plus post-grad units, and experience.

The desert has beautiful weather during the spring, fall, and winter but hideous summer weather, but as a teacher you can leave town for that.

[Sassberto]

My wife is a teacher in San Diego Unified. She has tought in both inner-city schools and suburban school districts.

Starting salary is around 34k and it will go up as you get credentialed and seniority. With a masters you can make ~50k easily. Benefits in SDUSD are amazing and much better than the nearby schools.

My wife speaks fluent spanish and works in special ed and she is in extremely high demand. She gets to pick and choose her program and her schools. However some of the gen ed teachers are not nearly as lucky and there is a surplus. A lot of the younger teachers are forced to work in the lower-performing schools because the more senior teachers in the good schools won't leave. Working in the low-performing schools was very hard for my wife - the administration is absolutely morally bankrupt.

However she has friends who work in the best north county schools and hate it. The problem is that the parents are overbearing and interfere. They are consumed with grades and student acheivement. One my wife's friends gets phone calls all day long from parents. She is unable to discipline or give a poor grade to a student without parental uproar.

No Child Left Behind is a burden on teachers, allowing districts to continue their BS while foisting off the problems on teachers. My wife spends thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours preparing course and classroom materials for her class. In the bad schools the admins are consumed with cost-cutting and in the good schools the parents are hyper-competitive and acheivement-obsessed. It's a tough job and I could never do what she does.

[jmc]

Wow, well put Sassberto!!!! I am a teacher here and have also taught for San Diego Unified. I fall into that catagory of the surplus general ed teacher. Even though I had a temporary contract with San Diego two years ago, my principal was unable to get me a contract last year. Same thing happened with Chula Vista Elementary School District...I beat out about 60 people and received a contract to teach 3rd grade. I found out the district only issues "temporary" contracts after a certain point in the year. Long story short, the school I was at had decreased enrollment, staff had to be cut, and guess who was out of a teaching contract for this fall even though the principal wanted to keep me? Yep, that's me. I'm currently subbing for those districts and not pursuing jobs here since my husband and I are moving to Florida. I don't personally think San Diego is your best bet KTPOP in finding a job here from Massachusetts, but you never know. Sassberto made a good point about the demands teachers teaching in higher income area schools face....I imagine it's like that in many areas, though. CA is a great place, and I can see why you'd want to move here. Check out the website www.edjoin.org for CA teaching positions. Good luck to you!

[momof2dfw]

Then someone needs to tell the poster Needs Affordable Home that what his friend told him is so wrong. Some of us have already tried but to no avail. Here is one of his remarks on that. LOL!!!!!!

"Someone I know told me teachers can make $100k. I did search and teachers do make $65k in Cali, that I can prove."

[albinoazian]

You can make near $100K/year in Fullerton Joint Union HSD and Huntington Beach Union HSD. I make $50K as a 1st year in HBUHSD and it will suck when I move to another state an make $30K, but I think it will be worth it.

[WNYerinSOCAL]

Bothmy husband and myself are in education and we do know teachers that make upwards of 80k+ but they have been teachng longer and also have stippend positions along with their regular duties. For example coaching or site coordinator positions etc. Corono Unified pays pretty well maybe checking out thier payscale would be helpful.

[SBright]

You might look at www.teachcalifornia.org for information, and at edjoin.org to find out what districts are paying.