Looking for teaching positions some what close to louisville. Help! (Princeton: to rent, credit)

[enofile]

I have been an effective middle school teacher for 36 years and do not want to give up a vocation I love and cherish. I am moving to Louisville from the Milwaukee area to join my wife who accepted a position, and I need to be precise as I have been corrected, at The University of Louisville Health Sciences Department which includes the Med School, Dental School, etc. My specialty is Middle School social studies and I have chosen to take a sabbatical from my current job until July to see if we can adjust to living in Louisville and also so I can try and get a teaching job. I have excellent references from current administrators, parents, and even former students. I have been given fellowships from Princeton University, Heidelberg University, and was voted Wisconsin's teacher of the year in 1996. I'm good, but everyone tells me I will never find anything in Louisville. I am even willing to substitute! The state of Louisville, in its great bureaucratic wisdom, ignored my 70 graduate credits in history and political science, and provided me a 5 year license to teach middle school social studies. In Wisconsin, I am licensed to teach any subject first through eighth grades, and history, political science, geography, psychology, and sociology on the high school level.
Can anyone give me advise and recommendations? I am desperate. I applied to the Oldham County School District as I heard it was fantastic. But, alas, they have no openings. If I do not find a suitable position I may have to move back to Wisconsin to go back to my old school and force my wife to look for work somewhere in the upper Midwest. Suggestions please! Thank you.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by enofile

I have been an effective middle school teacher for 36 years and do not want to give up a vocation I love and cherish. I am moving to Louisville from the Milwaukee area to join my wife who accepted a position, and I need to be precise as I have been corrected, at The University of Louisville Health Sciences Department which includes the Med School, Dental School, etc. My specialty is Middle School social studies and I have chosen to take a sabbatical from my current job until July to see if we can adjust to living in Louisville and also so I can try and get a teaching job. I have excellent references from current administrators, parents, and even former students. I have been given fellowships from Princeton University, Heidelberg University, and was voted Wisconsin's teacher of the year in 1996. I'm good, but everyone tells me I will never find anything in Louisville. I am even willing to substitute! The state of Louisville, in its great bureaucratic wisdom, ignored my 70 graduate credits in history and political science, and provided me a 5 year license to teach middle school social studies. In Wisconsin, I am licensed to teach any subject first through eighth grades, and history, political science, geography, psychology, and sociology on the high school level.
Can anyone give me advise and recommendations? I am desperate. I applied to the Oldham County School District as I heard it was fantastic. But, alas, they have no openings. If I do not find a suitable position I may have to move back to Wisconsin to go back to my old school and force my wife to look for work somewhere in the upper Midwest. Suggestions please! Thank you.

To be honest, some of your posts sound questionable. You are the same person who bragged about how much money you made. You also claimed you looked all over Louisville and all you could find that was upscale enough to rent was 1500 a month. That seems odd when I have posted luxurious places, fully furnished with all utilities and in stellar locations, for 1200 a month.

That said, if you really have all those credentials, you will have no problem finding a job with JCPS. Outside Chicago and Minneapolis, I dont believe there is a school district anywhere in the upper Midwest larger than Louisville/Jefferson County. If you cant find a job teaching in Louisville, you are not going to find it in a smaller district in the upper Midwest with less growth. JCPS desperately needs good teachers, especially in math and science, and I know for a fact they are hiring now. I am not really sure what you are looking for or what your complaint is? Oldham is an excellent district but very small, so its going to be harder to get a job.

[haley06]

You probably won't find any jobs openings right now. Starting around April or May, you will find all kinds of jobs available throughout Kentucky for the next school year. I graduated in May of 2007 and didn't start looking for a job until the last week of July. I was still able to find a job and I got hired two days before school started in August.

Jefferson County's (Louisville) hiring process is different from most. You apply to the district and they place you at whatever school that they want you at or need you. In most school districts, they tell you what school has an opening and you can contact the principal at the school to set up an interview after you have apply to the district.

A way to look for jobs throughout Kentucky, go to www.kde.state.ky.us and click on jobs, click on certified vacancies in kentucky schools, then click on the link that says Kentucky Educator Placement Service, then click on the link that says "click here to search for a job." From here, you can search by county or do an advanced search to find jobs by region, grade level, or subject area. They keep it updated and it is a good way to find what schools are hiring.

Good luck to you and I hope that you are able to find the job that you want. You seem pretty qualified and a great addition to whatever school hires you.

[StaceO]

To Haley 06:
Because of the way teacher hiring is done, is it tacky to contact the schools you find that are hiring (I'm specifically looking in Jefferson County this April/May - moving from SC where there is no union). I've never worked in a union state and want to go about things the correct way.