Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 10-30-2007, 10:15 AM
 
30 posts, read 159,145 times
Reputation: 29

Advertisements

Hi I am a 25 year old mother of a 2 year old. I am looking to get back into teaching and hope to move with my husband and daughter to Jacksonville next summer. I want to teach at the K-2 level. I have taught (Assistant Teacher) in the Philadelphia S.D. in Pennsylvania. I would like to teach in a very diverse school but not a failing school in a bad neighorhood. Where I taught previously we had several lockdowns due to gun shots heard outside the school. We also had teachers actually put their hands on the kids (Kindergarten) and were not fired. They were simply moved to higher grades. By the time students got to the 6th grade it was more crowd control than anything. I do not want to deal with that type of situation again. However I do want a school that is diverse, and where students want to learn, and parents care about their child's education. I plan to go to the Duval County Teacher Recruitment Day in June and was wondering if anyone had attended. What is it like? What are my chances of securing a job in a decent school? Bachelors Elementary/ Special Education. Masters in Reading. I do want to teach in Duval County despite all the negative I am hearing about it. I am also wondering about what the bring home paycheck in Duval county looks like for a first year teacher w/ Masters? Any comments would be very helpful. Thanks
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 10-30-2007, 06:02 PM
 
3 posts, read 15,603 times
Reputation: 13
I am a 3rd year teacher in duval county. I am a special education teacher also. I work with elementary education students, and am a support facilitation teacher (my sped kids are Inclusion, and I travel between all the general education rooms to provide services).
There are several diverse schools in duval, and many opportunities for ESE positions. Your chance of securing a job in a school you will like is very good. You will probably have several offers. You can research the different schools in Duval by going to Duval County Public Schools: Preparing Kids For The Journey Of Their Lives and following the links. There is also a teacher salary schedule on that website. I do not have a masters, and the difference in the pay rate is about -1000/year for bachelors. My first year I was making approx. 1100.00 every 2 weeks in take home pay, but that was with teacher union dues, and medical, dental, and life insurance already taken out. That was also on a 10month pay plan and not the optional 12month.

Hope that helps a little!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2007, 08:35 PM
 
30 posts, read 159,145 times
Reputation: 29
Default Union Dues...

Hi. Thanks for the response. Your post was very informative. I was actually thinking my check would be a little more. I used paycheck city.com and estimated that on the 12 month pay option I would bring home 2,400 monthly before any med fees or union dues. How much do you actually pay yearly for union dues? And I was under the impression that Duval paid my medical benefits, I would just be responsible for the deductable. If not, that probably changes what we can afford once we move. Thanks for your input.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-30-2007, 09:26 PM
 
24 posts, read 126,521 times
Reputation: 16
they pay individual coverage but NOT family coverage. You also get 750 a year to use for misc expenses (glasses, dentist, etc) and this can be used for your family too. You should be able to access the salary schedule on Duval county's website. I believe your starting salary would be abou 35 - 37k with a masters.I do not think Duval is a terrible county to work for as a whole - my husband loves his job. However, it will largely depend on the school and principal that you work for. Good luck!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 10-31-2007, 04:36 PM
 
Location: Historic Springfield
549 posts, read 2,204,886 times
Reputation: 380
I'm in special ed...autism...been in duval county for 15+ years. If you're interested, check out the district's website: Duval County Public Schools: Preparing Kids For The Journey Of Their Lives You can also apply online
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-17-2008, 05:10 AM
 
1 posts, read 4,945 times
Reputation: 10
Hi, I'm bingual-Spanish and have a BA in Social Psychology. What does Duval County have that could best fit my credentials. I'm a mother of 4 kids, youngest starts K next year, so I'm researching now. Thank you.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 12-17-2008, 02:20 PM
 
Location: St Augustine
604 posts, read 4,620,598 times
Reputation: 354
Quote:
Originally Posted by wimlyn View Post
I plan to go to the Duval County Teacher Recruitment Day in June and was wondering if anyone had attended. What is it like?
I went to the fair last June. A complete waste of my and everyone else I met's time. The fair started at 9:00am and I got their at 7:30am and the parking was full so I drove around 1/2hr and finally found one. Stood in line outside 30minutes. Went to sign in 30minutes line again. Then told to go upstairs. They fed us (over 500people) into the auditorium for a talk. We could see tables set up on the "floor area" for each school w/ a rep for each. Told to make appts at the schools we were interested in even though there were only 8 elementary openings in the district. Then they opened a tiny 2' foot door at the bottom and it was a stampede. People were hopping the walls and running. The first people ran from table to table signing the appt book and w/in 2 minutes they were all full. Each school only gave 10 or so slots. Did manage to squeeze a 1:30 time for a non hiring school, only to stand around all day and they had packed up and left already.

Needless to say I was extremely disappointed. One woman I met was in tears. She had traveled from out of state in hopes of moving to the area. Job market in NE Florida (and many other parts of Florida) are extremely tight. You have a lot of certifications though so that may be plus for you!! I have yet to find employment in the tricounty area and some teacher friends let go last year weren't able to secure work either.

You can see the employee handbook on their web site from last year with the insurance rates for employee/family. They are pretty decent from what i've been seeing lately. About $700/month for family medical/dental.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-06-2009, 12:24 PM
 
2 posts, read 9,272 times
Reputation: 10
For jbm32206,
My son and I live in NC but are from Melbourne, FL. My son was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome about 2 years ago. I heard about a public school in Jax called the Alden Road School. Do you know anything about it? The programs for AS up here are limited or non-existent. Do most public schools there recognize AS? My sister's in Jax and trying to get me to come back. As a teacher, you would know better than anyone if a future move were even worth it.
thanks.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-06-2009, 04:46 PM
 
Location: Historic Springfield
549 posts, read 2,204,886 times
Reputation: 380
I've had students placed at Alden Road, which is 6th-12th....and what we refer to as a center school. Is he in a self contained class? If your son has AS, I doubt this is where he'd be placed. This is for the more profound.

http://www.duvalschools.org/ar/default.htm
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 02-08-2009, 05:16 PM
 
2 posts, read 9,272 times
Reputation: 10
Thank you. I thought their website had said K-12. And as for his being in a self-contained class? No. Their are no real AS programs here. The only programs are for more 'profoundly' autistic. He is in what they call SED-Severely Emotionally Disabled with some time in a regular first grade classroom. Thank you for your information. I guess if I do go back it will have to be for more reasons than wanting him in a better program. I doubt there's anything publicly available anywhere that's designed for AS kids like him. My sister even told me that the preschool she works for has never even heard of this.
Thanks again.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Florida > Jacksonville
View detailed profiles of:

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top