Teaching jobs in Seattle?

[BillA]

Anyone know what the job market is like for public school teachers in Seattle? It is the suck in Portland right now.

[olyclimber]

I bet you can find a teaching job in one of the outlying areas...Enumclaw is a good choice...you may be able to teach equestrian science there.

[chucK]

Seattle School District's running something like a 12 million dollar deficit and they're planning on closing 11 schools.

 

You might be able to get a job if you're willing to go for undocumented worker wages

[Dechristo]

Tutor

[foraker]

Just googling...

Most of the jobs from the Seattle Public School District all seem to be limited to displaced or unassigned teachers. You might try the Lake Washington School District, they seem to have more, but what do I know?

 

http://www.lkwash.wednet.edu/lwsd/html/jobs/job_listings.asp

[Jim]

It depends. At my wife's middle school they just hired a 75% position, science, to a person fresh out of school. Folks with more experience want full time. So I think it depends on your flexibility. But previous comments are correct, there's a bunch of shifting going around as some lowere seniority people get laid off and displaced teachers have hiring priority - unless you have some special skills. As usual, science, math, and special education are the best prospects.

[JayB]

Hey Bill:

 

It might be worth checking out some of the Districts just East of the mountains - I would be willing to bet that the demographics over there are much more conducive to hiring than in Seattle.

 

I would be willing to bet that quite a bit of the school closure action in Seattle can be attributed to the fact that Seattle's population has one of the lowest percentages of people under 18 in the entire US. I think only San Francisco was lower. The bottom line is that there just aren't that many families that want to try to raise kids in a $500,000 "Artists Loft," and even amongst those that would - there aren't many who have the moolah you'd need to handle that kind of a mortgage without regular plasma/organ donation. I'm sure the fact that the burbs are perceived as quiter/safer/having better schools etc is part of the equation as well - but this is true of all cities, not just those in coastal areas, so if this was the major factor driving this shift you'd expect to see roughly equal percentages of kids in cities with comparable sizes - but I think the main reason is that people with kids have effectively been priced out of coastal cities. Tons of school closures and declining enrollments in the pricy bits of Socal, and elsewhere.

[selkirk]

You should also check the school districts in the burbs. Shoreline, Lynwood, Everett. Anywhere but Seattle Proper. Or possibly look at private schools in the area?

[foraker]

Hey Bill:

 

It might be worth checking out some of the Districts just East of the mountains - I would be willing to bet that the demographics over there are much more conducive to hiring than in Seattle.

 

I would be willing to bet that quite a bit of the school closure action in Seattle can be attributed to the fact that Seattle's population has one of the lowest percentages of people under 18 in the entire US. I think only San Francisco was lower. The bottom line is that there just aren't that many families that want to try to raise kids in a $500,000 "Artists Loft," and even amongst those that would - there aren't many who have the moolah you'd need to handle that kind of a mortgage without regular plasma/organ donation. I'm sure the fact that the burbs are perceived as quiter/safer/having better schools etc is part of the equation as well - but this is true of all cities, not just those in coastal areas, so if this was the major factor driving this shift you'd expect to see roughly equal percentages of kids in cities with comparable sizes - but I think the main reason is that people with kids have effectively been priced out of coastal cities. Tons of school closures and declining enrollments in the pricy bits of Socal, and elsewhere.

 

[ScottP]

 

 

MPD/DID

[BillA]

Thanks for the responses guys. It sounds like the prospects aren't much better than Oregon. I was just contemplating things yesterday as I was substituting for a PE class where the teacher's lesson plan was to watch the movie Dodge Ball. So I watched Dodge Ball three times. Not exactly why I wanted to get into teaching...

[olyclimber]

Dodgeball??? You need to get those kids watching Jane Fonda workout tapes.

[JoshK]

The suburbs are the beginning of the end of humanity. Loss of culture increases exponentially as you leave seattle and approach the east side. You'll soon be assigned your mandatory 2.2 children, 2 dogs, 1 cat, and an unfilling career. Your appreciation for all things artistic will dissapear. Finally, you'll be forced to turn in any existing vehicle you have and you'll be assigned your mandatory EAV (Eastside Assault Vehicle) - The Chevy Suburban.

 

The good news is you are closer to Snoqualmie pass. Oh, and you can make weekly pilgramiges into the city for a temporary moral boost. Just leave your fucking Suburbans and Hummers out of the city!

 

The Eastside:

[foraker]

What? Actually playing Dodgeball is bad for the little sprog's self-esteem or something?

[klenke]

Hey Bill:

 

It might be worth checking out some of the Districts just East of the mountains - I would be willing to bet that the demographics over there are much more conducive to hiring than in Seattle.

 

I would be willing to bet that quite a bit of the school closure action in Seattle can be attributed to the fact that Seattle's population has one of the lowest percentages of people under 18 in the entire US. I think only San Francisco was lower. The bottom line is that there just aren't that many families that want to try to raise kids in a $500,000 "Artists Loft," and even amongst those that would - there aren't many who have the moolah you'd need to handle that kind of a mortgage without regular plasma/organ donation. I'm sure the fact that the burbs are perceived as quiter/safer/having better schools etc is part of the equation as well - but this is true of all cities, not just those in coastal areas, so if this was the major factor driving this shift you'd expect to see roughly equal percentages of kids in cities with comparable sizes - but I think the main reason is that people with kids have effectively been priced out of coastal cities. Tons of school closures and declining enrollments in the pricy bits of Socal, and elsewhere.

I think Jay makes a valid set of points here.

Certainly something is changing with the populous' spectrum of ages in the city and cities in general.

 

Just today in the Seattle Times:

"The closures, which are estimated to save $4.8 million annually, have been proposed both as a means to help close a multimillion-dollar budget deficit in the coming years, and to address declining enrollment. Seattle Public Schools enrolls 47,000 students — less than half the number it had 40 years ago — but operates 99 buildings, three-fourths what it had in 1965. The district hasn't closed a school since 1989."

 

It is interesting that 40 years-worth of population growth (country, state, and citywide) has not led to 40 years-worth of child student growth but instead a decline of 50%. Certainly there was the baby boom and the advent of home schooling but I think it is more than that. More and more families and individuals are choosing to not have kids, be that for whatever reason(s).

 

So it makes sense that the city would want to close down some schools and consolidate the students. There is always going to be NIMBY's complaining. It will be a case of "hey, don't waste taxpayer money but, hey, don't you go closing my son's or daughter's school."

[cj001f]

Yes JayB does have some good points. The recent market softening has more to do with municipal and state budgeting stupidity than underlying demographics...

[JayB]

Hey Bill:

 

It might be worth checking out some of the Districts just East of the mountains - I would be willing to bet that the demographics over there are much more conducive to hiring than in Seattle.

 

I would be willing to bet that quite a bit of the school closure action in Seattle can be attributed to the fact that Seattle's population has one of the lowest percentages of people under 18 in the entire US. I think only San Francisco was lower. The bottom line is that there just aren't that many families that want to try to raise kids in a $500,000 "Artists Loft," and even amongst those that would - there aren't many who have the moolah you'd need to handle that kind of a mortgage without regular plasma/organ donation. I'm sure the fact that the burbs are perceived as quiter/safer/having better schools etc is part of the equation as well - but this is true of all cities, not just those in coastal areas, so if this was the major factor driving this shift you'd expect to see roughly equal percentages of kids in cities with comparable sizes - but I think the main reason is that people with kids have effectively been priced out of coastal cities. Tons of school closures and declining enrollments in the pricy bits of Socal, and elsewhere.

 

 

"Vibrant Cities Find One Thing Missing: Children"

By TIMOTHY EGAN

 

New York Times.

Published: March 24, 2005

 

Linkage.

 

"San Francisco, where the median house price is now about $700,000, had the lowest percentage of people under 18 of any large city in the nation, 14.5 percent, compared with 25.7 percent nationwide, the 2000 census reported. Seattle, where there are more dogs than children, was a close second. Boston, Honolulu, Portland, Miami, Denver, Minneapolis, Austin and Atlanta, all considered, healthy, vibrant urban areas, were not far behind. The problem is not just that American women are having fewer children, reflected in the lowest birth rate ever recorded in the country.

 

Officials say that the very things that attract people who revitalize a city - dense vertical housing, fashionable restaurants and shops and mass transit that makes a car unnecessary - are driving out children by making the neighborhoods too expensive for young families."

 

Pertinent Stat

"From 1990 to 2003, Portland added more than 90,000 people, growing to an estimated 529,121 residents, but the city is now educating the fewest students in more than 80 years. "

 

Kid shortage = Teacher Surplus. Why this proposition is controversial is beyond me.

[JayB]

Other Excerpts:

 

"The problem is not that children are leaving for private schools, officials said. It is that new people attracted to the city tend to have higher incomes, having already raised a family; are retiring; or are single and unlikely to have children.

 

After interviewing 300 parents who had left the city, researchers at Portland State found that high housing costs and a desire for space were the top reasons. "

[cj001f]

Families with young children don't go out to eat or buy luxury goods as often as persons without children, so the amenities close and the cycle repeats. There's a reason you never drive to the 'burbs for a nice rest. or bar. Clearly a liberal plot

[archenemy]

maybe kids are just dumber and can't make it to school anymore. I mean, have you seen some of the goobers walking around with their pants down their asses and electronica attached to their heads. It's not normal, I am convinced.

[cj001f]

pants down their asses and electronica attached to their heads. It's not normal, I am convinced.

Fleshlights are plain wrong.

[archenemy]

and little girls with those fleshbelts. Flab hanging outside their jeans under their too-short shirts.

 

Christ I'm getting old.

[Jim]

A problem east of the crest is the somewhat, shall we say, less enlightened populace you may have to deal with. One science teacher I know was specifically repremanded for teaching evolution. She left for greener pastures. Another was consistently hounded by her principal as to whether or not she believed that everything in the bible (which he kept on his desk) was truth.

[archenemy]

blasphemer.

Everyone knows that heathens don't make proper teachers.

[jordop]

 The 'burbs may be culturally dead but it's really the urban brains that are dying . . .

Edited June 4, 2021 by jordop