Teaching Jobs in Charleston Area (Summerville, Union: best schools, military, shop)

[NJtoSCASAP]

Hello All,

I have been looking around the threads for the last few weeks, and decided it was time for me to post my own.

A few things about myself. My husband and I are a younger couple in our mid-twenties, and have been married 3 years now. We are military, currently stationed in New Jersey (ack!). I am from southern DE and my husband is from CO. Hopefully, we will be starting a family within the next year or so!

We are hoping for orders to Charleston (having been there several times, and loved the area) within the next 2 years, and if we don't get them, he plans on getting out and looking for a job in the area, regardless.

I am a teacher, currently at a small Catholic school, teaching 8th grade social studies. However, I am also certified in DE and NJ for elementary education as well (6-12 Social Studies; K-6 certification).

My largest concern with relocating, is the availability of jobs for teachers. I know in DE and NJ, the education cutbacks have been numerous (all up and down the east coast). I was wondering if South Carolina, in particular, the Charleston area, has been largely affected and how many teachers are still being hired on a year by year basis.

I looked at the Dorchester area school district webpage, it appeared that there were numerous openings all through the district, and I will be looking into Catholic and Charter schools as well.

I was hoping for some input from anyone with knowledge on the topic. Any specific information on the best schools to work for, the reputations of the area, etc. I am not so concerned with travel time. Where we are in New Jersey, everything is over 25 to 30 minutes away from us (without traffic), so I am used to travel. Granted, I don't want a 2 hour commute if I can avoid it. In DE, we were 10 minutes away from where I worked and the base!

I know that we are interested in the Mt. Pleasant area. I am a coastal child, so being near the water is important. Any additional information, exclusive to this area would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[greenvillebuckeye]

dorchester 2 - IMO 3 great high schools.
charleston - wando, west ashley, james island and academic magnet. the rest i wouldn't be caught dead in...although if i was in them then i probably would be dead anyways ha!
berkeley - everything is decent school wise IMO.

catholic schools - bishop england is the area's high school. k-8 not sure. would imagine its tough to get a job in BE as i rarely see job ads.

while CCSD has had openings throughout the summer it's gonna be depend on how willing you are to work in well a school with issues haha. i teach in greenville county and the upstate tends to have more movement even in the good schools b/c IMO the difference between schools up here is small. you can teach at dorman or rock hill or dw daniel and go to jl mann, riverside or northwestern and not lose much academically or athletically. in the low country, you get into a good school you stay there. and the good schools are few while the bad are many.

[OleTomCat]

Summerville Catholic school is an option too, it is K-8 I believe...

[fedupw/NJ]

My wife and I are from Union County NJ. We are in Summerville and absolutely love it. We have only been here a few weeks and will never return to NJ. We are in our early thirties and have found that the Summerville area offers everything you could possibly need. Good luck in your search.

[MustangEater82]

I know there are a few private schools in the summerville and I think knightsville area, I have seen them in my searches, they looked nice. My wife is working in Berkley County schools, she is a SLP, and they had alot of positions open, she is working contract work though(almost got screwed this school year though, school system switched contract companies and didn't tell the company!)

Almost got all the jobs filled.

On the flipside my mom was telling me they are kicking all the low time teachers out down in FL. Which sucks, they work a year, get laid off a year, work a year get laid off a year. The lay offs are based on seniority through the unions, yet no one can work enough to get seniority. Sad to be new teacher down there. But i won't get into how screwed up school system funding is.