Where to be a teacher (help and thanks) (Detroit, Grand Rapids: public schools, living)

[RichStu99]

My wife has finally gotten word that we will be moving to Grand Rapids in June/2017. I am a special education teacher and football coach with about 20 years of experience. I am trying to figure out the best place to work next year. Of course, this is assuming the right job is available.

I hope to have some options. I have looked at the following: (starting West and moving east).....Hudsonville, Jenison, Grandville, Byron Center, Caledonia, EGR, Forest Hills, Lowell and Rockford. We will be visiting the week after Easter and I do have something set up with a principal in one of the previously mentioned systems. It might be for an anticipated opening for next year.

I would like to continue as an assistant varsity football coach when we move but the teaching aspect of what I do is most important. For what it's worth, I bring very solid credentials. I have a Master's Degree and have been ranked highly effective for years.

Anyway, any info/advice/ etc....would be so appreciated. I would love to hear from teachers if there are any here.

Thanks so much for any information that is provided.

[mjlo]

What exactly are you looking to get input on? What the best district is to teach in?

[RichStu99]

That would be great

[Coldjensens]

Cant help with the question about west side schools, but I can let you know Michigan can be very hard to get a teaching job. We are reputedly one of the top 5 places for teachers (combining pay/benefits, conditions, how things are run, etc). If you exclude Detroit, most openings get swamped with applicants. The football thing might help. Football is big most places. Special Ed is also in higher demand, so that will help too, but you are not likely to simply have your pick of any posted job opening. You may well be competing with as many as a hundred applicants. There are some options that can help - Take what you can get, build a reputation, move to a more desirable position if what you took is not that great. Work as a sub (pay is terrible). Some school/district will get to know you and if you are good, want to hire you. It may take a year or two, but eventually you will become known. Living on $75 - $105 a day with sporadic work may be difficult though.

You will likely move from your initial position eventually once you get to know the area and schools better, so it may not matter that much where you start. You may need to take whatever is offered.

[Petoskey]

Unless I missed it, your post doesn't specify which grades you're interested in or certified to teach. I'm guessing secondary ed since you said you're also a football coach. Either way, the best way to find open positions would be to go to the school websites and look for job postings. They also post teacher pay scales on their websites so you can compare the pay at each district. Keep in mind that many schools have or have had step increase freezes and not all post that info on the pay scale chart. There are also some state-wide teacher job posting sites. As someone else noted, getting a teaching job in MI is difficult due to the large number of applicants but I think special education jobs are easier to come by. You might want to broaden your job search since as someone else pointed out, you can get what you can get and then at some point look for something closer to home. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links on this site but I'll post some to local school job postings (they're further west than what you mentioned though) as well as some state ones that I have saved and moderators can delete if it's not ok. Mona Shores HS currently has a spec ed teacher job posting and Spring Lake HS has a alternative ed posting. Grand Haven Public Schools has a posting for varsity assistant football coach but no current teacher postings.

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