$600/week for a middle school/high school science teacher in Tampa

[ryoder]

I found this job posting on craigslist in education.
10 months of work, 4 weeks per month = 40*600/week = $25K or so

That is what this private school pays science teachers to work their school year. That is pretty darned low.



MS-HS Science Teacher (Tarpon Springs)
Must love teaching and be reliable and professional. Must have a great personality and be able to "connect" with your students. You must be able to manage a classroom and follow polices. Experience with inclusion or ESE is a plus. Classes are small (12 students) with a diversified population (ranging from gifted- typical-special needs). Must be able to teach a broad range of levels in one subject area (example: biology, chemistry, general science). You will teach a different level of the subject each class period vs. teaching one level all day, so you must be flexible and easy going. Our small school is very family oriented so you must be very friendly and a team player. You must be able to write a great email and be basic computer savvy. Experience with SMS or TeacherEase is a plus but not required. We are looking for long term, stable, qualified team players to be part of our teaching staff. Our teachers must be structured enough to follow curriculum and flexible enough to add to it or make changes that best suit your students. $600 per week plus benefits based on experience, credentials, and subject position. This is a contracted school year position August-May.

If interested in applying, visit our school website to learn about us. If you feel that you are a good fit, please email a cover letter and resume or CV (would prefer a CV). Also list any elective subjects, personal hobbies or skills (sports, play an instrument, cooking, woodworking...) that you enjoy.


Solid Rock Community School |

[namwen]

That is typical for private high schools in my experience.

[cookderosa]

AND it looks like you have to find an income source in the summer- this isn't going to pay year round. That's why it's hard for private schools to get good teachers, plus there is a stigma that makes it hard to "cross over" back into public education. In Illinois private schools were not allowed to "count" for earning your license during the student teaching portion.

It's worth pointing out that this add doesn't say LICENSE required. This could simply be a case of where someone with a degree in science takes a teaching job as opposed to someone who earned a degree in "teaching science." Does the MS-HS title indicate they want a master's degree? If so, this must be a private secular prep school. It made me chuckle that they ask for hobbies, I wonder if this is an "oh by the way, we need a sport- instrument - cooking- woodworking" teacher too.

[ryoder]

Well when I went to a small school in PA each of our teachers had a hobby and those sometimes translated into club assignments. My science teacher was an avid modeler. Meaning he made model cars so he had a model club. I had no interest for modeling but I loved science so I took his model club as an elective while the other kids went to band. Thats how it worked. We had an activity period and you were either in band, chorus or a club. Pretty cool I think. He let me do homework instead of building models

I think MS and HS refer to middle and high school. If I were retired I would do it. I would rather work for a private school than the gub-mint.

[OE800_85]

Well...isn't that the way? Private schools expect more from teachers (in terms of work, not credentials) and run them ragged, offering a pittance salary. Are you saying you'd rather work for these schools on principle, that you don't care that a public school could easily pay you twice as much (not even considering the benefits)?

Something to add...in CHINA, one can easily make 100-300USD/day (net salary) teaching English. It's a travesty a professional teacher can be paid 600/week (I'm assuming that's gross, not net salary)

[ryoder]

I don't like working for the government.

[sanantone]

Working for the government is awesome! Well, it all depends on the private employer you work for. At my last job, I didn't have paid vacation for years until we were bought out. Our health insurance was also not worth buying. I can tell you that my coworkers were costing everyone money because they depended on things like food stamps, public health programs, and WIC. We had no sick days, personal days, or any of that other stuff. Civil service is awesome too, especially in a state where unions are rare and essentially powerless in the private sector.

[Lindagerr]

Teaching in a private school is an option for someone like me. I would love to make more money, but I don't need benefits. I would do it mostly because I love teaching and miss it.

In NJ I worked through all the steps to be able to get a job teaching, after ~ 2 years I would be fully certified. Now I have moved to NY and I would have to start all over from scratch. I would have to take new qualification exams apply for new certification eligibility and pay lots more money for it all. In NJ I could get enough substitute jobs that I could work every day if I wanted to. In NY I haven't even applied to substitute because I was told first they call former teachers then they call certified teacher who haven't had a teaching job yet and last they call uncertified teachers.

My husband is trying to talk me into looking for a job at a private or alternative school and I might do it at some point, but I will not do it for the great pay. The charter schools in my area do pay a bit more then $600/week but it is still significantly less than a public school teacher. Tarpon Springs is not a well off area so that could be why it is so low. The average salary there is about 1/3 of the average in the area of NJ I used to live in.

[ryoder]

I was offered a job at a local private school teaching computer classes and running the computer lab etc back when I was still in college. I think it paid like 25k and I said no thanks. I didn't see a career path in it. How much value could I provide year over year in that capacity? I wanted to make a good salary so I could support a family and education just wouldn't cut it.

My Sensei in karate was also pretty much poor. He devoted his life to studying and teaching Japanese karate and said that they were asked to take a vow of poverty. He was a very humble and wise man and spent many hours at night teaching us college kids karate. Some of those kids drove new BMWs their parents paid for while he drove an old minivan but he was happy and never complained.

To each his own.

[OtherSyde]

My dad is a Catholic school teacher (5th and 6th grade combo class due to the tiny size of the school) in southwest Missouri, and never made much money... Maybe $25k annual or so. Has plenty of smarts and a degree, though. I guess teaching really has to be a devotion; if it suddenly paid more, it would help the true and devoted teachers, but would also attract a lot of money-hungry jerkoffs just trying to collect a paycheck, which would NOT help our children and would severely degrade the already-poor quality of American education. A real shame, and a conundrum as well; we need more good teachers, but how to keep the lazy fluff out?