Maybe or Maybe not budget related, but first job!!

[redmomof4]

Very proud and excited for my eldest son who just got a job offer with Des Moines Public Schools teaching choir for 6-9th graders this fall after he graduates from DePaul in June!

He went wanted to stay in Chicago, but with the layoffs of hundreds of teachers, that probably was not going to be feasible. At my father's suggestion, he came home to Des Moines for the DMPS job fair and was one of very few (12-15) candidates who were offered a job on the spot (out of approximately 1300 people who were there).

He was starting to get that close to graduation anxiety about not having a job lined up, as was I. And as a mom, I couldn't be more excited to have him back in our hometown. (we moved away for my job but will be back in hopefully 7-10 years)! Now he has to start car shopping

So Proud today!! Congratulations to Christian!

 

[mommyrosa2]

Congrats...what a huge accomplishment and relief! My oldest DD is in her first year of college as an Elementary teaching major with a minor in Special Ed., and from the moment she chose her career path,i started worrying. I hope she is as lucky by the time she finishes school. Congrats once again!!

 

[Aliceacc]

That's fabulous!!! To find ANY teaching job in this economy is wonderful, but music is almost impossible!!! He must be a wonderful candiate to have beaten out so much competition!!!

 

[Sandy61]

Congrats. We live about 45 min from Des Moines and saw this on the news this evening. This first job will be good experience for him and then after a few years he can stay or go where he would like. I did an internship in Chicago at a public school and went through teachers striking for a month and I had to go to a Catholic school for awhile.

My son graduates this May and is already working full time and taking his one last class. He stood in the kitchen yesterday and complained about how much they took out of his check. Welcome to the world, kid. Your son will get IPERS as his retirement. My husband and I both have IPERS.

 

[redmomof4]

Alice, thank you!

Mommyrosa, he has also shown interest in special ed, thought about postponing his graduation to get his endorsement, but I told him he should graduate on time and work on his certificate later if that still interests him. His degree is in vocal music performance and education. Good luck to your daughter, where does she go to school?

Sandy, Where in IA do you live? Its home to us and we hope to be back there someday. I agree it will be a good experience. Both my parents work for DMPS (neither are teachers though) and have talked about their continuing ed reimbursement, which is good. Plus they contribute to IPeRS which is great, as you know. He also had the opportunity to experience a CPS strike when he was student teaching. It was a good learning experience for him though as they worked in strike camps (?) does that sound right? Kudos to your son also!!

Thanks for all the good thoughts, we couldn't be more pleased!

 

[Aliceacc]

I did an internship in Chicago at a public school and went through teachers striking for a month and I had to go to a Catholic school for awhile.
.

Not to be one of THOSE posters who are looking to find offense at everything, but...

Some of us CHOOSE to work in Catholic schools because we believe in what they stand for. My husband and I have both made that choice. Both of our schools pay very well-- better than what we would make in some (not all, but some) local public schools.

It does bother me when comments like this make it seem like Catholic schools should be a very last resort.

When I returned to work after 5 years as a SAHM, I turned down several other jobs, including some in public schools, to get back to the same Catholic school I had left. I've been there a total of 21 years, and I can't imagine working anywhere else. I'm treated as a professional, I have enough autonomy in my classroom that I'm able to differentiate for my kids, and discipline is a non-issue.

It may not be right for everyone-- no school is-- but it is the right choice for so many of us.

My apologies for the hijack.

 

[Sandy61]

Aliceacc, I did not mean any offense at all. I should choose my words more carefully next time! I am totally for teachers and schools.

 

[EagleScout]

I think most readers did not read your post as a slight to Catholic schools - and I am a huge supporter of both private religious education and public schools. (My father - who was the best educated person I know - was a product of JESUIT TRAINING.) It sounded like your were describing how tricky it can be to get a job in education, and that even your internship was disrupted by the school striking, which meant the entire city you happened to choose no longer had any spots, so you had to switch gears.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Also, where I live, the private schools don't have the sort of pension plan that the public schools do, so even if they love, love, love teaching at a private school, most teachers go to a public school when they can if they know they will need a good pension plan to retire.

The quality and experience at a private school can be much better than what's had at many public schools, however. It's not a bad thing, just different, but often many teachers will say "well I had to go to a private school." They don't mean they hated teaching at the private school or that it was a bad experience, just that it wasn't the right fit for them, due to the pension issue, but they had to take it because it was all that they could find.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, again I apologize. I started the hijack, and didn't mean to de-rail what is supposed to be a post of celebration.

Let's assume I overreacted, and get back to the idea behind the thread.