Moving from Alaska to Wooster, Ohio?

[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Ohio is kind of hurting for Science teachers right now. Kind of weird. So if Science is your bag, you should have no problem. In fact there are 2 Science teacher openings (not elementary though) in Wooster right now:

Open Positions

Isn't that funny how that works, here we have some of the largest research facilities in the nation like Glenn Research at NASA, but yet we're hurting for science teachers in the schools . Whats up with that?

[Donna7]

Originally Posted by progmac

Flyington's comment was primarily about midwest self-hate and secondarily about the job market. Or at least that was the tone. If he was trying to provide advice about the "odds of getting in the public school system" he had a funny way of doing it. The OP did ask about the market for teachers, so points along those lines should be a part of this conversation.

If the OP has an idea of the region she wants to be, it might be better to begin a regional job search rather than focus on one particular town. When we came back to the midwest, we were open to moving to any of a number of large midwestern cities (fortunately we were able to return to the best one!).

Yes, I agree 100% with your second paragraph. One has to be open to explore different cities in the state one wants to work in because job opportunities vary city to city, state to state.

My point is that in Wooster right now (and in NE OH, in general), teaching jobs have been decimated due to budget cuts and lay-offs. Our family is in the midst of this as our son who is highly qualified to teach science is barely finding substitute teaching jobs. He is getting some sub jobs now as the budgets have been approved by the school boards, but a permanent position is a hard find (at least in Wooster and surrounding areas), and that's where the OP is looking to relocate to.

Thank you for your reply.

[flyington]

I DID fail to mention anything about teaching JrC, so I shall emend my comments. WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO TEACH THESE BRATS IN WOOSTER??? This is definately not the friendliest place to live. And it's true, I would rather not live here but unfortunately the financial ruination of our country currently prohibits me from doing anything about it. The job market here is lousy, oh, unless you wanna be an "Italian cuisine transportation Engineer (pizza delivery), so excuse me if I'm not representing a spokeman for the "I love Wooster, move here now, it's great" society. Wooster sucks and people should know that!

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by helenm907

I've read a lot of great things about Wooster and that general area. The scarey part of moving so far is being able to find work. I'm an elementary school teacher. What are the odds of being able to get into the public school system? Is it tight and closed or is there at least a small amount of movement in the system?

wooster city schools recently got hit HARD with the closing of the rubbermaid plant. wooster high school has lost enrollment and i'm sure there elementary and middle schools have as well. my parents are from wooster and all of my extended family still live there.

wayne county has some very good schools but they are very very small. people rarely retire so openings are not often.

[Badadbabe]

I DO live in Wooster. It's a beautiful town with a surprisingly good amount of activities in spite of the small size. The people are cold and unfriendly. It is a closed society. They have all the friends they need. We even have a minister across the street and she has never invited us to her home or church. We love our home and the town, but you can have the people.

[Nightlifeplease]

Originally Posted by flyington

Why on earth do you want to move to Wooster? The city is laying off right and left, the people are very "clicky" and everything is overpriced! There are a heckuva lot better places to live between Alaska and Wooster I assure you.

Amen to that!

[Nightlifeplease]

I moved from Alaska to Wooster and would rather go back to Alaska. Wooster, Ohio is horrible!

[Evergrey]

Wooster is a boring Mennonite town with no nightlife whatsoever. Everything closes at 5PM. I lived there for a year-and-a-half right after graduating from a Big 10 university... it was a culture shock and a thoroughly miserable experience.

[thefourthlee]

I don't know about the teaching job situation in Wooster City schools but the town is nice. I've lived here for 32 years. There are lots of county schools within a short driving distance that would also be a possibility. Norwayne, Dalton, Northwestern, Highland, Triway, Smithville. I am sure that I have forgotten a couple. Hope it helps.

[Meemur]

Given that the OP was 2010, I wonder if there's an update.