Teaching in Palm Beach COunty (Miami: middle school, salary, moving)

[Raven1976]

How is the teaching environment there? I found the starting salary, but more interested in how the children, parents, and administrators are in general. I know you don't have tenure in Fl. IS there high turnover or are teachers mostly happy?

[Swimmom32]

Its nothing like NY or NJ...My neighbor is a teacher at my daughters middle school, she likes teaching which was why she went into it but the benefits are awful and so is the salary....as far as the children, parents and administrators that does vary upon schools...

Good Luck

[grahambrunk]

The salaries may not be the best. There are some areas especially as you get closer to the water where the students may be a bit rough. Perhaps your biggest challenge here will be the language barrier many students will have. Many come from different latin american countries and have trouble with english. In Florida we measure students abilities to move up through a test known as the FCAT which is only available in english. The performance on this test is how you will be evaluated on your job. I know of some teachers who have been employed here since the 1960s and are quite well off, so if you gain tenure and put a lot into your job, the salary does increase. And, since there are so many schools here, if you plan on moving into administration, there are lots of opportunities.

One thing I do commend Palm Beach and Broward county is that they do invest a lot of money in facilities, so you're work environment will be state of the art and up to date. I cannot say the same for Miami, many of their facilities are 30-40+ years old.