Big Island teachers with tattoos (2013, hotels, house)

[hotzcatz]

Well, I suppose if someone had that many tattoos, Blind Cleric, then they could teach art?

[whtviper1]

Right now DOE will take just about any breathing body/teacher since they have several hundred vacancies, so I don't expect any tattoo policy changes anytime soon. Although, I would cover them up as much as possible in interviews, you might be talking to someone who doesn't dig tattoo's and crosses you off the list just on that basis.

[Futuremauian]

I lived on Maui for 6 months before I realized how desperate they are for teachers. The DOE recruits on the mainland (annually) and most of the new hires don't stay because they don't earn enough money to live decently. Some quit mid-year. The DOE should also advertise locally. I've NEVER seen ads in the newspaper for these jobs. The application process needs to be streamlined as well. I have a life credential in California yet it took me months to get qualified to sub here. When that finally happened I was immediately offered several full-time positions.


If the DOE recruited recently-retired teachers from the mainland they might have better luck. They would get experienced professionals that are financially secure and perhaps looking for an adventure for a year or two. Chances are they would outlast the newbies who flake quickly.


The best kept secret is how well-behaved the kids are here. They are excellent compared to the ones I taught in California. I planned to work occasionally but enjoy my job so much that I am nearly full-time.


Finally, I don't think tattoos will have any effect on your job prospects (unless they are on your face). Many here have them and also teach in board shorts and flip flops daily. Good luck to you! BTW: I wore long pants to my job interview. The Principal was in shorts. It was the only time I've worn long pants in nearly two years!

[Ofthesea123]

Thank you everyone for the replies and information! I appreciate it very much and it is extremely helpful! Especially the tips on dressing for the interview...haha...good to know I don't have feel compelled to wear a suit!

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

Originally Posted by Blind Cleric

No problem, unless you've taken it to extremes.

No--THIS is extreme :

[hotzcatz]

Can the whites of the eyes be tattooed, too? That'd be really strange.

I wonder what the motivation would be for this sort of permanent costume?

[Irish Eyes_Mrs. Z]

I don't know if the guy in the above photo has his eyes tattooed, but I'm guessing he may actually be wearing contacts. My daughter certainly does with her Hallowe'en costumes.. I've heard that eyeballs can be tattooed, but I'll ask my daughter to confirm or correct. She'd know, I'm sure, since she's half owner of a popular tattoo parlor and a licensed tattoo artist.

As for that guy's motivation? Dog knows. I suspect he has the kind of personality that strives to get attention one way or another. I'm also guessing that he must have some way of making his living with that get-up, although I can't imagine what it would be unless it was in a traveling freak show or somesuch. I can't imagine any "normal" employer wanting to hire him if he has any contact with the public. He'd scare the bejeezus out of little kids!

[leilaniguy]

Years ago I was having lunch at the old Pahoa chop House. There was a family eating at another table when a couple came in and the guy was pierced and tatooed like that person, with spikes and steel balls under the skin, and the family's little boy ran over to the couple and just stared in amazement. His father freaked out, yelled at the little kid " WE GOTTA GO NOW!" He and the family literally ran from the restaurant without finishing. I looked at the inked couple and shrugged and the guy busted up laughing.

[StarfishKey]

Originally Posted by Futuremauian

I lived on Maui for 6 months before I realized how desperate they are for teachers. The DOE recruits on the mainland (annually) and most of the new hires don't stay because they don't earn enough money to live decently. Some quit mid-year. The DOE should also advertise locally. I've NEVER seen ads in the newspaper for these jobs. The application process needs to be streamlined as well. I have a life credential in California yet it took me months to get qualified to sub here. When that finally happened I was immediately offered several full-time positions.


If the DOE recruited recently-retired teachers from the mainland they might have better luck. They would get experienced professionals that are financially secure and perhaps looking for an adventure for a year or two. Chances are they would outlast the newbies who flake quickly.


The best kept secret is how well-behaved the kids are here. They are excellent compared to the ones I taught in California. I planned to work occasionally but enjoy my job so much that I am nearly full-time.

Hi there! When I read this, I didn't think this could be true! But I looked online, and in fact it is! That is not the case at all in places like Florida, where many people are attracted to live, but many of them happen to be current or recently retired teachers.

I have 2 Masters and a PhD. I have taught Social Studies in some of the most dangerous [hard-to-staff] schools in the US, and love working with kids. But I left public school teaching behind to get my doctorate, so although I've done some tutoring of at-risk kids recently, I have not had to be in the system for about 8 years. I had considered teaching in Hawaii colleges, but there are not that many openings in my field, and nothing really caught my eye as being something I was very interested in.

However, the idea of teaching in a remote hard-to-staff school with kids who truly need my service is VERY appealing. To be honest, I would not be prepared to make a commitment to staying more than 2 or 3 years (unless of course living there makes me change my mind!), but if certain schools are in a state of emergency hire, perhaps even short-term work as a teacher would be of service to the community.

Where are the hard to staff schools in Hawaii? I looked online and could not find a list of openings for emergency hire or any means of locating schools that are deemed hard to staff/qualify for an incentive bonus, despite the state apparently offering bonuses to teachers in certain schools. It is difficult for me to locate who is actually in desperate need of teachers. The DOE website seems to require you to sign in to even LOOK at job openings.

Would any such schools be likely to actually have respect for a teacher, and not micromanage them to death, force them to teach exclusively to standardized testing, and be routinely abusive to them? I have worked in past public schools in other states in which administrators demeaning, cursing at, and otherwise demoralizing and traumatizing teachers was the norm (even where a teacher's union is supposedly strong). The kids, and even the local community violence, were no problem at all. But I have dealt with many disrespectful principals who were aggressively involved in illegal activities using the school as a front, and I am just too good to go back to that kind of circumstance ever again. I have been told by various students in every environment in which I have ever taught that I am the best teacher they have ever had, so if I am going to move halfway around the world for a low-paying job in a hard-to-staff school, it will have to be to work for an administration that actually respects my ability to TEACH without telling me what to do like a robot every minute of every class. If you're going to require people to have a degree and pass all kinds of tests to prove their professional qualifications, you'd better treat them like they are professionally qualified to make their own decisions after you hire them.

I'm not going back to the public school system unless it is in a humane environment, and where I currently live, I have not been tempted because the state has no respect for teachers whatsoever, and administrative micromanagement is the norm. Are there any hard-to-staff schools in Hawaii that actually appreciate that administration is simply there to FACILITATE good teaching, and to not control it (despite most having no recent experience actually teaching themselves to know what good teaching in a modern environment actually looks like)?

It sounds like a dream come true that teachers in Hawaii are leaving due to low pay, when the real reason the vast majority of teachers leave the system on the mainland is disrespect and micromanagement. Nobody goes into education for the money in the first place. But people do enter it because they want to help, and admire a teacher's knowledge and ability to reach out to and improve the lives of others. So then when you are faced with the reality that you are not allowed nor trusted to actually help anyone, and are not respected as a professional despite putting many years of your life into learning your craft, it is a good reason to run from that career and never look back. Too many bills to pay sounds great by comparison.

[hotzcatz]

On a social level teachers are very well respected in the community, there's still shenanigans between teachers and admin, though, but if admin were to curse at teachers? That would be shocking. Students still misbehave, although they may not be up to mainland levels of misbehavior yet.

Honokaa High principal placed on temporary leave - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

That was last year's huhu when the principal was causing trouble and the community went ballistic. So, there's at least community support for teachers.