ANyone here a teacher in Hudson County?/ (Jersey City: public schools, ranking)

[Raven1976]

WHy is it so difficult to get a job in West new york and Jersey City public schools? I swear I've been teaching for years now and still can't get in there. Is it all about kissing ass?

[zhelder]

I teach in an urban district in Essex County. Don't believe the hype about teacher shortages. It is very difficult to get a public school teaching job ANYWHERE in NJ, although I think it's a little easier now than it was say a decade ago. It's a little easier in urban or less affluent areas, but not a whole lot. Pay is good in many districts (especially in the northern half of the state) and benefits are fantastic, so competition is fierce.

Sometimes it's just about being in the right place in the right time and meeting the right person. I looked for a long time before I got my full-time job, and subbed for several years in some affluent burbs. I couldn't get a full-time job in those fancy places, but I went for an interview in my current district and hit it off with the administrator who interviewed me.

Even in the rare case that a school has a teacher shortage, if the administrators don't want to hire you, they won't hire you, and they'll continue putting base subs in to babysit the kids. (I never understood that logic, but I've seen it happen lots of times.) Sometimes it's politics. Sometimes they lose the paperwork. Sometimes the administrator hiring you simply has to take a shine to you to make a hiring recommendation. It's BS, but unfortunately, it's the way it is right now.

Do you have to work in WNY or JC? Maybe looking in other areas will help in the job search. I don't know much about WNY, but I've heard some pretty horrifying things about JC (similar to what goes on in my district). Good luck!

[Raven1976]

Originally Posted by zhelder

I teach in an urban district in Essex County. Don't believe the hype about teacher shortages. It is very difficult to get a public school teaching job ANYWHERE in NJ, although I think it's a little easier now than it was say a decade ago. It's a little easier in urban or less affluent areas, but not a whole lot. Pay is good in many districts (especially in the northern half of the state) and benefits are fantastic, so competition is fierce.

Sometimes it's just about being in the right place in the right time and meeting the right person. I looked for a long time before I got my full-time job, and subbed for several years in some affluent burbs. I couldn't get a full-time job in those fancy places, but I went for an interview in my current district and hit it off with the administrator who interviewed me.

Even in the rare case that a school has a teacher shortage, if the administrators don't want to hire you, they won't hire you, and they'll continue putting base subs in to babysit the kids. (I never understood that logic, but I've seen it happen lots of times.) Sometimes it's politics. Sometimes they lose the paperwork. Sometimes the administrator hiring you simply has to take a shine to you to make a hiring recommendation. It's BS, but unfortunately, it's the way it is right now.

Do you have to work in WNY or JC? Maybe looking in other areas will help in the job search. I don't know much about WNY, but I've heard some pretty horrifying things about JC (similar to what goes on in my district). Good luck!

I already work in JC in the abbott program. Even though it is funded by the BOE, I'm not considered a public school teacher. I just wanted WNy because that's where I did all my student teaching and subbing and attended there as a kid.

[NJ Chutzpah]

If you attended there as a kid, then do you know any of the high ranking adminstration people, like a superintendant, or principal at one of the schools?