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I'm a fully licensed teacher, having taught 5 years of high school science (bio and chem, with certifications in both), but came to hate teaching high school for various reasons (in part because I didn't really enjoy dealing with high school students, but mostly due to a strained relationship I had with my AP that got worse and worse until I ultimately resigned). When I got out of teaching I went back to grad school and focused on research, worked in a lab, etc. After a while I decided to come back to teaching, because it is what I've always wanted for a career - but in middle school. This has revitalized my career and I really enjoy it.
A few years ago my wife and I were going to move, but the recession hit and we decided it wasn't a good time to sell our house. Now that things are coming back to life the moving topic is coming up again.
We live in Maryland, and are desperate to get out of the congestion, sprawl, and attitudes of the mid-Atlantic. My wife spent a lot of her youth in Iowa and Illinois, but we are actually hoping to move even more west. We also have two young kids, aged 4 and 7, so we're just as interested in finding a good place to raise a where the teacher's salary is ~65% of total household income. We are looking for a large town/small city environment with a lot of open space as well as access to museums, arts, etc.
It's easy to look at pictures, throw darts onto a map, etc., but what I am having a hard time trying to do is figure out *how* to do it and *where* is the best place to go. Also, it seems really easy to find glowing endorsements for a particular city - and equally easy to find articles totally lambasting the same city.
For example, I've found some articles that suggest Boulder, CO is wonderful and a great place, but others decrying the sprawl, cost of living, attitudes against transplants (even though every one there is by definition a recent transplant)...
I've looked at California for years, but news about teacher layoffs and a boom/bust economy kind of freak me out. Oregon is highly appealing, but the rain on the windward side of the Cascades would be a deal-breaker for my wife. Utah seems to be far too "red" for our personal politics, ditto Arizona.
I've heard/read mixed information on Nevada, such as cost of living, and I'm not sure I want to raise my kids in or around casinos...
So far a short list I've put together of places that are intriguing, but I'm not suggesting I'm limited to these places - and I'm also totally ignorant about smaller towns that might be sort of "satellite" communities to these cities:
Boulder, CO
Ft. Collins, CO
Reno, NV
Eugene, OR
Provo, UT
I'd certainly appreciate any comments or suggestions - including advice on how/when to try to begin making professional contacts "out west."
Don't forget to check out the requirements of getting your teaching license transferred to the states you're looking at, if you haven't already. I was looking to relocate out west several years ago and found that some states required you to take additional Praxis-like tests, whereas others just required you pay a certain fee to have your license transferred over. They should have requirements for these kinds of things on their state's government website for education. Best of luck
Boulder is not what you'd call "cheap" or even inexpensive. Teaching jobs in the entire metro area are very competitive. Should you decide to relocate there, apply everywhere. The worst they can say is "no". The transplant issue isn't that bad; most adults here in the metro Denver area (which Boulder is part of) were born somewhere else.
Most urban areas are flooded with certified teachers. Some are even restricting their sub lists to certified teachers.
Do lots of internet research on this before making any move.
Go to the various school websites and look over their openings. Also look at their sub page to see who can sign up and if the lists are closed.
I will say that the further away from the urban areas you go the more opportunities you will see.
But the pay is lower and the services/equipment/infrastructure is not that of urban areas.
I'm rural. In the towns around me the Principal also does lunch duty, crossing guard duty, drives the school bus, etc. just to give you an example.
We have no curriculum specialists, directors of education, Dept heads, Teacher coaches, etc.
Just some food for thought if you consider areas outside urban.
Boulder is not what you'd call "cheap" or even inexpensive. Teaching jobs in the entire metro area are very competitive. Should you decide to relocate there, apply everywhere. The worst they can say is "no". The transplant issue isn't that bad; most adults here in the metro Denver area (which Boulder is part of) were born somewhere else.
Have you thought of Nebraska?
You might consider Salt Lake City instead of Provo. SLC is actually fairly liberal.
Thanks for the comments, everyone! To be clear, my timeline would have us moving out next summer at the earliest.
A friend of ours lives in Boulder and loves it, but I've also read/heard a bit about the cost of living there, so I've also started checking out all the surrounding towns and communities between Denver and Ft. Collins. It seems like they are all a fairly reasonable commute from each other, at least on the map. I've commuted from Maryland to Virginia for years and dealt with that (although the traffic made the distances seem a lot longer).
The school I'm in now is one where the principal does lunch duty - in fact all of us have rotating duties and while there are support staff for special ed, math coach, etc., there are no teacher coaches or the like. I actually kind of like that a little better, anyway - I like feeling more involved in the school. The cities I mentioned are more points of reference, as my personal preference would be to live in the more outlying communities - I really want to avoid congestion, especially very sprawly areas.
I hadn't considered Nebraska as much, as I want to be as close as possible to national parks, especially mountains. Not for skiing, so I don't care so much about being near a ski resort, our interests are more along the lines of hiking and camping. We also want to be within a reasonable distance of a decent sized airport, as our families are both in the mid-atlantic.
I'll keep Salt Lake City in mind, as well - thanks for the suggestion!
The other thing that concerns me is that between Maryland and Virginia, traditionally principals will not hire you unless you have resigned from your current position. I can't move without having something in place - but I also don't necessarily want my current principal to know I'm looking to move. I suppose I could issue notice over the summer if I had an offer out west...what is the likelihood of principals/HR offering a position to someone under contract in another school district (albeit a thousand miles away)?
Thanks again!
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