Newsday Article about teaching jobs on LI

With no connections, no teaching job on LI
BY AMANDA LEIGH MELE
Amanda Leigh Mele lives in Patchogue.

November 18, 2006


For more than four years I have played a game. It's a game of high stakes - one in which the competition is vicious and the pace cutthroat. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to name the game: "Find a teaching position on Long Island."

What has made my job search particularly difficult is my lack of "six degrees of separation." I am not related to any teacher, principal, board member or clerk at a school on Long Island. Because of this, I will continue to be passed over, again and again. I do not have a green flag attached to my name, no one can vouch for me, and because of that, the chance of my resume's making it past a school's vertical file is slim to none.




It has become decidedly clear to me that I am not going to get a teaching job on Long Island. My job search is my job. I don't get paid to do it; I can't afford not to do it. I can't afford to begin a different job because my schedule needs to be clear in case I can sub. And I can't find a new career. I want the one I didn't even start yet.

Last year, I got two leave-replacements, and I thought that I had finally broken through the glass ceiling.

I worked as though these classes were my classes. I stayed past when the secretaries left, until the lights were dimmed and the floors were waxed. I made hundreds of phone calls to parents about their children. I sent notes home. I wrote clear commentary of students' papers. I stayed to offer extra help every day. I planned curriculum. I drafted assignments. I asked the principal to observe me several times. I added supplemental lessons that were engaging and fun. I even bought things for the classroom like pencil sharpeners, juice and paper.

When it came time to apply for three open positions in the grade level and subjects I was teaching, I did so with a steady hand and a renewed sense of confidence. The principal never made it to the class. I never got any feedback. I never even got a phone call. Quietly and quickly, those positions I was experienced and ready for were filled - each by someone who was related to someone else in the district.

It was only after working this past school year with three other teachers who have been playing this game for as long as I have that I began to feel a certain validation. It isn't just me. As a matter of fact, chances are you know a "wannabe teacher."

And in my validation I have come to a poignant realization: I'm not the only one losing in this battle, nor is my family alone. It's our schools, and the children who attend them, that will suffer as well.

So why am I leaving Long Island? Why am I saying goodbye to my hometown, my family, the neighbors, the streets, the ocean? I'm leaving because I want to be a teacher. I am left with a choice I do not want to make.

My choice is between my love for a job I haven't even had and the very things that make my life worth living. I know I'll never be the same, no matter which I choose. And as far as the game is concerned, checkmate.

Message edited 11/21/2006 2:38:24 PM.

Re: Newsday Article about teaching jobs on lI

im surprised Newsday printed it - even though she has a point!

Re: Newsday Article about teaching jobs on lI

great article. exactly why i moved to florida last year. and exactly how i feel.

Re: Newsday Article about teaching jobs on lI

Wow, that was a very poignant article.

I agree with her, it is the students who will suffer from nepotism in the school system. However, I do know a few teachers that got positions after years of trying without knowing anyone. It just takes a long, long time, and a lot of being in the right place at the right time.

Re: Newsday Article about teaching jobs on LI

Unfortunately, what she says in many districts is VERY true.

It is truly sad that a profession that requires so much dedication, personal financial expense w/o reimbusement (students loans, supplies, etc), hours and hours of work beyond the school day, relatively low pay considering the amount of professional on-going training required has so much politics and lack of respect from the general public.

I, too, am surprised that Newsday printed it.
Newsday is notoriously anti-teacher, cop, firefighter, nurse... all civil/union employees.