To put this in some perspective, if my prediction is accurate more California teachers will be given layoff notices than the entire state teaching force in 17 different states.
Manwaring guesses at 25,000 layoffs, which frames my own layoff with a wider lens, certainly.
11 Comments
Dina
March 10, 2009 - 2:59 pm -Clearly I missed something. You were *laid off*??
If so, now what?
Dan Meyer
March 10, 2009 - 3:39 pm -Eh. It’s too soon for me to flip out about anything. I’m still teaching kids and drawing a paycheck through the summer after all. I’m applying to other schools though, predictably, no one is hiring. My own district will make an effort to rehire me but I am the most junior of two laid-off math teachers, so everything is pretty speculative.
Dina
March 10, 2009 - 3:45 pm -I’ll encourage a fair and honest speculation on whether this would have happened had brute tenure and seniority not been considerations.
Stacy
March 10, 2009 - 5:08 pm -Leave CA and come teach in Austin, TX. Not so many beaches, but way more cowboys, I’d bet.
JYB
March 10, 2009 - 7:23 pm -I’ve got an 8th grade algebra spot for you if you’re willing to commute to east side san jose.
Word of warning: I suggested “teacher quality” in a teacher-only meeting as what we should use to decide who gets laid off and almost got strangled.
PBS
March 11, 2009 - 11:28 am -You are a great deal more sanguine about this than I ever was. It happened to me three different times and each one felt worse than the one before. It hurt. The last time I left Cali and moved back east. I traded Morro Bay for a teaching job. It was, and is, a great trade.
Susan
March 12, 2009 - 2:51 am -Dan,
I’ve been teaching for 19 years and yet I find you teach me so much through your blog. The thought of you not teaching kids makes me crazy. You are exactly who needs to be in that room. Your ability to make learning meaningful, to make kids think is essential. Your willingness to be always on, always have that camera with you shows your dedication, your commitment. I wish the US valued you and public education as much as it should. Hang in there! We need you.
D.C. Hess
March 12, 2009 - 4:50 pm -If you don’t mind working in Oakland, I can pretty much assure you a job with us at LPS College Park. We’re a charter school in the heart of East Oakland. We are always hurting for good math teachers. Drop me and email if you’re interested. I’m the history dept. chair but I do a lot of the interviewing. We have a job fair March 28th if you are interested.
A. Mercer
March 12, 2009 - 7:27 pm -Seven out of 20 of our teachers are being let go. That’s a really cruddy ratio, but hey, at this rate we could argue we did a reorganization under NCLB, lol.
Dan Meyer
March 13, 2009 - 9:24 am -Thanks for the kind regards, enticements of employment, etc. I’m just a bit too wedded to Santa Cruz to leave but I expect something will turn up.
Jennie
March 27, 2009 - 6:27 am -Hey we are in need of a GREAT teacher like you… that is if you wouldn’t mind moving to rural Indiana just outside Indianapolis! Great school, great kids! Sorry no beaches!