Interview Day (Brandon, Lutz, Riverview: to rent, home, transfer)

[Getting_there]

Does anyone know personally or through someone they may know, how things go on Teacher Interview Day? Tips, suggestions, anything. Thanks.

[MortonR]

For what school district? There are three in the immediate area.

RM

[indytoflgirl]

If it Hillsborough, you go to a high school auditorium (Jefferson is where I went). They have a general meeting telling you information for about an hour and then they dismiss by rows to go to the Gym where principals are waiting...sit in the front row!!! If you have a scheduled interview for later in the day, go early anyway. If you are offered a position, you will be processed at that time.....long, exciting day...wear professional, but comfortable clothes..... Best of Luck!!!!

[Getting_there]

Morton- Hillsborough

indytoflgirl- Thanks for the suggestion of sitting in the front! When you say comfortable clothes, what exactly do you mean? Nice dress pants, nice blouse? I was hoping to hear that. I would hate to come in a business suit in that heat!

I applied to two schools that seemed pretty good. Haven't heard anything from them. But, I received an invitation for the Teacher interview day nonetheless. Google has been my FRENEMY (friend/enemy). I read about these horror stories about that day. Someone compared it to the charging of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain! Chaos, someone screaming out the names of schools to be interviewed, having to choose a school on the spot without knowing what kind of school it is, something about being first to hand in a ticket for the school of your choice to interview, another one about being sat in the back then when it came time for their interview, the principals had already chosen the people from the front, 5 minute interviews where they really didn't try to get to hear or know you.... but then on the flip side, several people said it was a pretty easy interview, casual...

I have not idea what in the world to expect. This is completely, absolutely, 100% different from what I am used to in an interview. Besides, I haven't had to interview in years, so I am a bit rusty.

[indytoflgirl]

It is intense. When the economy tanked, one of the local headlines mentioned that in this bad economy, "only 600 teachers hired on teacher day". Usually, a thousand are hired on TID. I think with your license of special education and elementary education, you should be fine. I would love to give you a best school/worst school list, but with 200,000 students in the district, that is hard. I've forgotten, have you moved here yet? The good news is that it is relatively easy to transfer later in the year. I would suggest a light weight 3/4 or short sleeve suit (and no one wears panty hose here, thank God!!)...I still remember some of the new college grads stumbling around in sky high heels....comfortable shoes a MUST. Other than the obvious rules of interviews, stress your experience and how your two areas will help any child meet his/her potential, you are a team player and want to share your knowledge and learn from your fellow teachers...excited for you.....keep in touch!!!

[MortonR]

indytoflgirl pretty well nailed it. I used to work it when I was with the District.

It can be a bit crazy at times, but keep your composure and stay focused on the task at hand and you'll be fine.

Definitely dress professionally. That is an absolute for making an impression on the best principals, as you'll see them dressed in a similar fashion. There will be lots of USF Elementary Ed. grads there, and believe me, you'll be able to pick them out of the crowd.

Experience is king, so do be sure to emphasize it. With an ESE background you should have no problem getting tapped for several positions. Use the "C" word (collaboration) and the "R" word (reflection) as they are both things the administrators like to hear. Data collection is a hot subject as well.

If you have a smartphone, it might be a good idea to bookmark the District's home page as well as the school list. This way you can pull up the school(s) in question and at least get a passing idea of what they're like, location, demographics, etc.

Would you be willing to name the schools you're interested in, or the area that you want to relocate to? That would be helpful in giving you some feedback on them.

Good luck!

RM

[indytoflgirl]

Great points, MortonR!!

[Getting_there]

Thank you so much Morton and indy! I should have just come on here first instead of driving myself nuts on google!

I find that quite interesting that so many teachers are hired yearly. Is there a high teacher turnover every year?

I haven't moved down yet. I figured I would wait to see if I am hired because I at least have a tenured position here where I live. That also concerns me a bit about no tenure ever again in Florida. Does make me pause.

So you can transfer schools during the school year?? I have never heard of that! Wow. Completely different.

Thank you for the tip on what kind of suit. I can assure you, that does not exist in my closet so I will be going on a shopping trip this week!

I do not have a special ed background. Mine is ESL, which I learned everyone has to have an endorsement in Florida so nothing special, lol! Here where I live, you do not need to have an ESL background. I am certified in it plus I am bilingual but I don't think that will help any. I do have 14 years of experience so lets see if that works in my favor. It can actually go either way; some principals like a teacher with experience, others prefer a new teacher that they themselves can mold. So, who knows?

Thanks for reminding me of the "buzz words!" Yes, data, data, data. I was hoping that monster had not made his way down here but I guess it has, lol. I like the idea of bookmarking the page.

I am looking to rent in the Riverview or Brandon area. I will give a look around since I will fly down 2 days before the interview. The schools I am looking at are Davis, Apollo Elementary, Thompson, Bailey, Wimauma, Pizzo and Lutz Elementary. If you know of any other good ones, please let me know.

How are you finding the administrators and teacher support in general?

Thanks again!

[indytoflgirl]

OH MY, then you are exactly what the District is looking for...... Have you looked on their websites (schools) and there is also a website on Florida Dept of Education that lists the grades of the schools. I am near Lutz so I know Lutz Elementary is good...not sure about the other..... Yes, you may transfer...and if you are eligible to retire, you can retire date of instead of the end of the year. I come from a very small school system and I definitely know we (husband, he teaches, too) are "not in Kansas anymore". LOVE it, though!!!

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by Getting_there

Thank you so much Morton and indy! I should have just come on here first instead of driving myself nuts on google!

I find that quite interesting that so many teachers are hired yearly. Is there a high teacher turnover every year?

Not necessarily. Understand that the school district here is MASSIVE compared to where you are. Roughly 220,000 students and 30,000 employees, the largest single employer in the county. There are a lot of people retiring due to the changes in compensation and the state funded retirement program in the last few years. Old school (no pun intended) teachers I know are just burnt out, and the performance-based system that has been put in place has made a lot of them leery of sticking around for fear a major change in their performance rating could ultimately affect their retirement benefits.

Originally Posted by Getting_there

I haven't moved down yet. I figured I would wait to see if I am hired because I at least have a tenured position here where I live. That also concerns me a bit about no tenure ever again in Florida. Does make me pause.

I'm no longer in the District, but I was there when they changed the rules a few years ago. While it did concern a lot of people, the potential for making more money over time is far better. No more "steps" and just hanging around, knowing what you're going to be getting in the way of compensation for the next three years.

Originally Posted by Getting_there

So you can transfer schools during the school year?? I have never heard of that! Wow. Completely different.

Yes, you can, but you have to be careful. You can't really move around during the year, per se, but there is a transfer period at the end of the year where current employees can apply for openings in other schools. More often than not you've already scoped out where you want to be and made some contacts so you're queued up to see the principal. There can be politics involved where it can prevent you from transferring, but that's becoming less and less of an issue as the old guard starts to retire and the political machine that once ran the District dies off or retires.

Originally Posted by Getting_there

Thank you for the tip on what kind of suit. I can assure you, that does not exist in my closet so I will be going on a shopping trip this week!

I do not have a special ed background. Mine is ESL, which I learned everyone has to have an endorsement in Florida so nothing special, lol! Here where I live, you do not need to have an ESL background. I am certified in it plus I am bilingual but I don't think that will help any. I do have 14 years of experience so lets see if that works in my favor. It can actually go either way; some principals like a teacher with experience, others prefer a new teacher that they themselves can mold. So, who knows?

ESOL (ESL) endorsement is a requirement in Florida. If you don't have it you have a fixed period of time to get it, and you're labeled as "teaching out of field". Bilingual in Spanish is very good, as a number of schools are in areas where there is a large population of Spanish speaking families.

If you don't have an ESE (Special Ed) certificate, are you just certified in Elementary Ed? Do you have any specialties? Getting additional endorsements in Florida used to be pretty simple, but now they've jacked the cost up significantly. I had eight different certifications, but I only used one - at the time it was around $75/each, now it's more like $350. Ouch.

Originally Posted by Getting_there

Thanks for reminding me of the "buzz words!" Yes, data, data, data. I was hoping that monster had not made his way down here but I guess it has, lol. I like the idea of bookmarking the page.

I am looking to rent in the Riverview or Brandon area. I will give a look around since I will fly down 2 days before the interview. The schools I am looking at are Davis, Apollo Elementary, Thompson, Bailey, Wimauma, Pizzo and Lutz Elementary. If you know of any other good ones, please let me know.

How are you finding the administrators and teacher support in general?

It depends. High performing and low performing schools often have the best administrators for obvious reasons. Without being specific it's tough to say. For the most part the administrators I worked with were great people and very committed to their job and mission. As with any organization of this size, there are always clunkers, but they get weeded out in relatively short time.

Originally Posted by Getting_there

Thanks again!

RM