Career Decision

[Tex]

I hope this is an appropriate place for this post and I apologize in advance for the length.
It seems as if the lagging economy is starting to have an impact on public schools. Without going into the boring details of how the state funds education, our district is expecting a budget deficit and has announced that it may file for financial exigency which allows for teacher layoffs. Our student numbers are down and we barely have enough students enrolled next year for two teachers. The year after is very uncertain. I'm the last in, so I'll be the first out.
I currently teach in a great district. My fine arts director is a former theatre teacher who is highly regarded and an all around great guy. The teacher I work with is incredible and has taught this old dog many new tricks over the past four years. My space is a very nice, above average proscenium with a few toys. A new black box and shop is being built this summer with lots of new toys. We have wonderful students and I'm happy here just being the TD.
A close friend called me the other day to tell me that he's been made an assistant principal at his school, his job as theatre director is available and he'd like me to consider it. The space is incredible. There's a beautiful proscenium arch theatre with tons of toys (including 10 Studio Spots and 10 Studio Colors), a gigantic black box, huge shop and a smaller lab type black box space. He has a great budget and lots of autonomy. I would be the lead teacher, so if it ever came down to only one teacher, it would be me. I don't really know about the kind of students he has, but he has been successful in competition in the past, so that's a pretty good indication. The school is about the same distance from my house as my current school so that's not really a factor.
It seems like a no brainer. For the sake of security, I feel like I should apply for the job. I'm 8 years from retirement and I don't want to spend them worrying about getting laid off. Am I missing something? I'm not going to base my decision on the comments from an Internet forum, but there are many educators here and I thought someone might have a different perspective for me to consider.

 

[Footer]

Been there....

Last year I was teaching at a performing arts high school. It was my first year. Come about March I got a letter saying that I was not going to have my contract renewed. The head of the dept. assured me that my job was safe. Turned out come May 10th it was. At the same time though I had already interviewed for a few other positions. By the time they told me I had a job, they had a resignation letter. I was not about to sit around and wait for them to tell me I had a job, I went looking for other ones.

At this point, always take the sure thing. Be sure that your "years in" transfer. Job security is more important then keeping a good relationship.

 

[Tex]

Thanks. Just as an FYI, as long as I stay in a public school, my retirement is not affected. We pay into a state-wide pension plan instead of social security. When my age plus years of service equals 80, you can find me on my boat.

 

[Footer]

Thanks. Just as an FYI, as long as I stay in a public school, my retirement is not affected. We pay into a state-wide pension plan instead of social security. When my age plus years of service equals 80, you can find me on my boat.

I am pretty sure I will never be able to retire, but then again when I hit retirement age we will all be enslaved by our alien overlords (who I love and welcome by the way... if they are listening....).

In Georgia where I taught depending on how you transfered your years of service could or could not transfer. Meaning if you had been working for 10 years you were hired on at a first years pay scale. Only reason I asked!

 

[Tex]

Wow, that sucks.
Here, the state pays a minimum based on years of experience. Individual districts add onto that. I could move to any public school in the state and I would still have 16 years of service. Not sure why Georgia thinks that changing buildings makes you lose your experience.
The only downside to changing districts is that I would be on a 1 year probationary contract for the first year, then go back to a term contract the second year. The difference is that on a probationary contract, you can be non-renewed for no reason at all. On a term contract, there has to be cause and due process. It's interesting how different states treat the teaching profession...

 

[Tex]

Just as an update for anyone who cares, I took the job.
After all these years, I'm finally going to have to learn to program an ETC board...

 

[museav]

Congratulations! Hope it all turns out to be everything you could have hoped for.

 

[Parker]

Just as an update for anyone who cares, I took the job.
After all these years, I'm finally going to have to learn to program an ETC board...

What is the board that you had been using "all these years"?
What ETC board are you learning on?

 

[Tex]

The board at my first school was an EDI Omega II which died and was replaced with a Horizon system. My current school had a Colortran Encore which was replaced by an Innovator. The new school has an Express 48/96, 24/48 and a Smartfade.

 

[Parker]

The board at my first school was an EDI Omega II which died and was replaced with a Horizon system. My current school had a Colortran Encore which was replaced by an Innovator. The new school has an Express 48/96, 24/48 and a Smartfade.

We recently upgraded from an Innovator to an ETC Element and it had been a while since i had worked on an ETC... the programming is a breeze and I have found the interface to be wonderful.
Hey- anything is better than the Innovator! Have fun... congrats on the new position!

 

[seanandkate]

Congrats on the new gig Tex. It sounds like you're really going to love it there. (And in Ontario we have to get to 85, not 80, so I am, of course, insanely jealous)

 

[ruinexplorer]

Congrats on the job. Of course, you have also found one of your best resources already.

 

[Tex]

Congrats on the new gig Tex. It sounds like you're really going to love it there. (And in Ontario we have to get to 85, not 80, so I am, of course, insanely jealous)

I got lucky. Teachers who started two years after I did have to get to 88.