Best Schools FOR TEACHERS?? (Chicago, Oak Park: rent, hotel, college)

[MissV]

Someone here help me out PLEASE...I have been researching schools in the Chicago area for some time...but can't find much info on this topic... What are the best schools to TEACH in? I teach students with severe disabilities, so I am not so much concerned with test scores (what schools are rated on most everywhere)... I'd like to know of places that treat their staff well...good salaries, new buildings, employee morale, perks, that sort of thing. Or, public schools known for having a great inclusive special education program. Anyone have experience or can point me in the right direction?

[ahava]

Are you looking at elementary or secondary?

[MissV]

either...but mostly focusing on high schools since that is what I teach now...

[jigsaw]

Originally Posted by MissV

Someone here help me out PLEASE...I have been researching schools in the Chicago area for some time...but can't find much info on this topic... What are the best schools to TEACH in? I teach students with severe disabilities, so I am not so much concerned with test scores (what schools are rated on most everywhere)... I'd like to know of places that treat their staff well...good salaries, new buildings, employee morale, perks, that sort of thing. Or, public schools known for having a great inclusive special education program. Anyone have experience or can point me in the right direction?

I'm a speech therapist, and have just taken a position in Wilmette. If you're looking for HS work, check out the New Trier district ( http://www.newtrier.k12.il.us/default.asp ).

Also, the IL education job bank is a good place to search for openings: http://www.illinoiseducationjobbank.org/pages/ (broken link)

Best,
***

[ahava]

I teach English at Stevenson, and I love it here. Most people don't leave once they get a job here, except to teach abroad. Stevenson pays VERY well. Also, every teacher gets a laptop (and the tech people keep our software and such updated). The district has a lot of money, so we're always getting new things. The school buildings are incredibly clean and during inclement weather the facilities people are really good about salting/shoveling sidewalks and parking lots early in the morning before teachers even arrive. The administration is supportive and makes everyone feel valuable. We're expected to attend professional conferences and the school reimburses us. I'm going to Las Vegas this summer for an AP conference and my hotel and airfare are paid for . Also, teachers work as a team within their department, and as a result you get to know your colleagues really well. I feel like the other English teachers are my family (especially the one I married ) My husband and I have an awful commute, 45 minutes at best but usually over an hour, and it's worth it to work at Stevenson and live where we do.

[MissV]

Wow, see Kirsten, those little things are things you could only find out from someone who WORKS in a school. I think it is Oak Park that has its own lunch menu for teachers...almost like a little cafe. Now that is NEAT. Ok, I have eaten a few too many _____ on a bun cafeteria meals this year, so something like that WOULD be great. Oh gosh. I got sent to a conference in Indianapolis last summer. We had to drive, and I had to share a hotel room with a co-worker. At our stupid hotel we couldn't even rent a movie on the tv, so I was bored off my gourd! I WANNA WORK AT YOUR SCHOOL!

Anyway, someone out there has to know of a school or something that is looking for a special ed teacher for students with moderate/severe disabilities, right? C'mon people, help get me out of Indiana.

I'm a good teacher, promise. I just didn't anticipate it would be so hard to get my foot in the door from so far away

[ahava]

Originally Posted by MissV

Wow, see Kirsten, those little things are things you could only find out from someone who WORKS in a school. I think it is Oak Park that has its own lunch menu for teachers...almost like a little cafe. Now that is NEAT. Ok, I have eaten a few too many _____ on a bun cafeteria meals this year, so something like that WOULD be great. Oh gosh. I got sent to a conference in Indianapolis last summer. We had to drive, and I had to share a hotel room with a co-worker. At our stupid hotel we couldn't even rent a movie on the tv, so I was bored off my gourd! I WANNA WORK AT YOUR SCHOOL!

Real food for lunch? That would be awesome. Oak Park - River Forest is a good place to teach. Lyons Township is also; I know some (maybe all) teachers get computers there too. At Stevenson teachers have a separate lunch menu, because we have a separate cafeteria (two actually), but the food is only marginally better than what the students get. The faculty cafeterias are called "staff dining rooms" to make them sound fancy and one has a fireplace. I've only seen it used maybe twice, ever, but it's still rather impressive. When we go to conferences we usually have to share rooms too, but we get to choose our roommate and obviously now my husband and I room together but before I was married I would just choose one of my friends. If I didn't like my coworkers it would be hell.

[acajud]

You have the goodbad and ugly in all schools. Just look up the schools you like online, and give them a visit. You have to work for a school to know it, and there are not any perfect schools.

[MissV]

Well... I'm trying to make an informed choice.

I worked in a bad school my first year out of college, and I have spent the last two years in a great school that I love. I'm looking to move closer to my family...

Maybe I am trying to figure out as much as I can because I see just how big of a difference it has made to work in the two different places.

At my first school, we had no lunch or planning time. It was a special school for students with severe disabilities. The kids were great, but it isn't exactly a relaxing lunch by any stretch of the imagination when you are trying to eat with one hand and feed a kid with the other...and a good percentage of the kids had food issues, such as throwing it or vomiting on purpose... not to mention behaviors like hitting, etc.

So, even now, after almost two full years in this school, every day I STILL just marvel at the fact that I actually have a lunch time of my own! And, I think it is better for the kids any way you look at it to have a teacher that actually gets to sit down to eat, and has time scheduled to plan activities.

Kirsten--I would probably faint dead away if I saw a teacher area with a fireplace! Just knowing there are schools like that out there is awful for morale when you are stuck in a bad school.

I know I am a good teacher--I work with these students because I have a brother with a severe disability. But, they can be a tough crowd. Little things like lunch time, nice staff, clean school, they make a BIG difference.

Anyone else with info or potential job contacts, don't be shy

Thanks!

[WestRoPaJay]

Isn't it pretty impossible to get jobs at Stevenson or New Trier?
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If you are looking farther afield than just the suburbs, I've heard great things about the Hononegah in Rockton.

And, though I don't agree with them ideologically, thechampion.org/teachers.asp has a database of salaries.