How do I get AISD Principals to call me back??!!!?? Trying to teach!

[Stratocaster86]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

Well, in the past, we weren't facing some of the worst economic turmoil in 50 years!

Schools here are under financial pressure and there are a flood of applicants!

Private and public school principals are saying that they have never had such high stacks of resumes from teachers in 25 years.

My neighbor could not find a teaching in Austin or any surrounding district, she took a survival job doing summer school in a rural district far to the south. So, she will be paying rent on an empty house all summer as well as rent where she is teaching.

So, this coming year does not seem rosy. AISD has so many people signed up to sub that they are no longer taking applicants.

I have relatives who teach in PA and the salaries seem higher up there than they are down here. But long-term, the Texas economy is doing better than most and people are still moving here and starting families, so school districts are growing. But there is no shortage of people who want to teach here.

I hope that you find a position soon.

good luck!

Thanks, and yeah it's crazy...my heart's with Austin and Texas, but North Carolina is my "Plan B" of sorts. The state has a really good connection with Pennsylvania and a near perfect reciprocity so there's been a good amount of contact and interest due to that. However...despite the fact that some districts have as many as 5 new buildings set to open for 2009-2010, they're still under a North Carolina state-mandated hiring freeze until the end of July at the earliest. I'm being invited to job fairs where hiring can't take place, it's kind of funny in a way adn the perfect symbol for why our nation needs to rethink funding for schools.

And that's cool about the PA relatives. I'm about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, it's almost impossible to land a teaching position in PA unless you know somebody that can pull strings for you. I'll probably have a couple interviews, but nothing will lead to a real job due to hiring practices. The School Board hires all new teachers and assigns them to schools as opposed to having site-based hiring, and union negotiated tenure laws allow teachers with 3 years of service to basically be immune to losing their jobs for anything short of a major legal issue. I kind of think that's total BS and gives teachers a reason to slack off and not care. It also means that most teachers stay put from the point of their first hiring until the day that they retire, which is unfortunate for anybody trying to find a job in PA.

[mego65]

New schools does not mean new teachers. Comal ISD has two schools opening next year. When I called, they said they were filled internally. It's a hard time, Texas looks better because they have some positions, but a lot of applicants. When I called on a position in Dripping Springs, I was informed they had 5 positions and 500 applicants.

[CPTXJim]

Originally Posted by mego65

New schools does not mean new teachers. Comal ISD has two schools opening next year. When I called, they said they were filled internally. It's a hard time, Texas looks better because they have some positions, but a lot of applicants. When I called on a position in Dripping Springs, I was informed they had 5 positions and 500 applicants.

It's crazy that it is to that point here in central Texas. If you want a teaching job you better have one hell of a resume or know someone in a high place.

[Stratocaster86]

Originally Posted by mego65

New schools does not mean new teachers. Comal ISD has two schools opening next year. When I called, they said they were filled internally. It's a hard time, Texas looks better because they have some positions, but a lot of applicants. When I called on a position in Dripping Springs, I was informed they had 5 positions and 500 applicants.

I'd imagine that it's always been competetive, but it really seems like an ugly situation. I wonder how many of those 500 applicants are comming from people who are out of state, haven't really researched things properly, and are without a Texas certification/fail to meet NCLB standards. I've had an attempt to move to central Texas planned out for the last 2 years and try to visit whenever I can, haha...you at least have to give me some credit for having a natural interest in the area as opposed to just wanting a job in rough times...but I can imagine a lot of people hearing about "the wonderful amount of jobs in Texas" and blindly applying without really looking into the requirements and stipulations. Having said that, there still has to be a total hoard of qualified applicants though, and I'm definately not going to argue that a native Texan should have consideration over an out-of-state applicant. Another thing to think of though, HR department employees really deserve a pat on the back for the amount of paperwork that they must be dealing with.

[loves2read]

there are always more job applicants that jobs--the district I taught/retired in in DFW area--always had hundreds more applicants each year than job vacancies...many of them were from people who were just seeding the clouds and hoping for some rain to fall but there were those from people who did student teaching in the district or who had taught there before staying home with kids or from people whose spouses were transferred into the area and they were really wanting to work where they would live
most job applicants get interviews because of whom they know (special connections) or because they are in area where there are fewer applicants--but even those are getting more applicants than usually because so many people have lost jobs in other states and are moving to TX---some people just get lucky--that is how my son happened to get job offer at Highland Park ISD after he quit his job teaching at a charter school in Irving...

HR employees are basically not doing any more work than before--those applications come in eletronically--get scanned to see what field they are for--if they are not for an opening that is highly desired like special needs or math/science--they just get filed electronically...
no big deal...
try getting one of them on the phone --not that easy to do

[thefineprint]

All I know is that I went to a job fair a few months ago and was told that finding a teaching job in Austin, Round Rock or the surrounding areas is pretty much unrealistic unless you personally know the principals or people in administration. There are always so many applicants to chose from- and people aren't retiring or moving as quickly as they were maybe 5-7 years ago. Jobs are so valuable right now...no one wants to give theirs up! Unless you are billingual or have specialized training in specific areas (special education, math, etc.) it will be a challenge. Many districts are also on hiring freezes

[loves2read]

all of that is true--so you have to ask yourself why media spews out stories about job openings--why Texas Workforce lists teaching as one of the fastest growing areas of employment and why colleges continue to fill their education schools with students who will have tremendous difficulty getting jobs when they graduate????

[skeet09]

Originally Posted by Persnipity

I was accepted into an alternative cert program: did the student teaching, passed the TExES... Sent 40+ resumes last summer, and NOTHING. I'm not too hopeful for this year either. Should I go to the schools in person?

I have a BA in Psyc and another in English/ESL. Passed the TExES ESL/Generalist and Science 4-8 exams... I've volunteered, taught refugees, etc etc. Don't know what to do anymore.

If anyone has any info I will greatly appreciate it!

You may want to try San Antonio. Southwest ISD has lots of openings at the moment, considered a rural school district but they have plenty of openings.
Southwest Independent School District