Help! Teacher wanting to relocate to Austin Area (Dallas, Pflugerville: construction, school districts)

[AustinTexan]

Originally Posted by txgolfer130

Now, hold on a minute there Hoss. I can tell you're tryin' to be funny. But it ain't coming across that way. And before we get into tossing around stereotypes...let's not forget where we are, and our stereotypes, which you're filling out just nicely.

What happened to a little southern hospitality and kindness? I'm sure you're doing your momma proud.

Did I offend you? Awwww, too bad. It's the truth. There's no point in trying to defend something that is well known throughout the South. I'm not one to hold things back and throw some sugar on things. It is what it is. Anyone from the South who has traveled to the northern parts of the country (as I have done extensively with my job) will tell you that every word of my post is true. They move down here and act like they're doing us a favor. Trust me, they're not. When my kids are crowded in classrooms, we're stuck in traffic, and our taxes keep going up to fund the new schools we have to build for all the transplants moving here, I don't feel that ANY of them are doing me or anyone else here a favor by moving here (Cincyteacher). We have enough Texans willing and capable of filling the teaching vacancies, thank you.

[inthecut]

Originally Posted by AustinTexan

Have you even visited Austin or Texas or are you just like the other 500,000 people who are moving here every year because of "what you heard about Austin and/or Texas" on message boards? LOL!!

Seriously, how do people just pick Austin from half way across the country as a place to move to? Yes, I'm one of those native Texans who doesn't like all the changes all this migration is causing, but I still can't understand what is drawing so many here, especially from Ohio, Georgia, California, Oregon, Wisconsin, New York, and Arizona. Why don't you come here and visit a few times, get a feel for the people, culture, surroundings, etc and then secure a job before coming? Sounds like common sense, huh? Try it.....

There is such a thing as a cultural meme.....internet memes are a subset of the same...Austin is very much a cultural meme, AND an internet Meme...
a meme is like a gene, in that it replicates, and like a virus(not unlike a viral video or e-mail), in that it spreads fast.....Austin also contributed greatly itself to this meme, in placing the city in every top 10 list known to mankind........

SO, what we have are many people looking for El Dorado, and figuring that the cultural meme that is Austin must be that place........one cursory look at the city can tell you its little different than Ann Arbor, Madison, Wisc.,
Chapel Hill, N.C , or any other college town, but with far more people and traffic......honestly..........does that mean the city isn't worth moving to?
Hardly!......does that mean it ISN'T El Dorado? Most assuredly!

Check out these articles for some very interesting explanations of "memes"...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meme

Per this following article, the "Advertising and Marketing" section tells you all you need to know about how Austin's
PR folks created the national "Austin is El Dorado" meme....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by AustinTexan

Did I offend you? Awwww, too bad. It's the truth. There's no point in trying to defend something that is well known throughout the South. I'm not one to hold things back and throw some sugar on things. It is what it is. Anyone from the South who has traveled to the northern parts of the country (as I have done extensively with my job) will tell you that every word of my post is true. They move down here and act like they're doing us a favor. Trust me, they're not. When my kids are crowded in classrooms, we're stuck in traffic, and our taxes keep going up to fund the new schools we have to build for all the transplants moving here, I don't feel that ANY of them are doing me or anyone else here a favor by moving here (Cincyteacher). We have enough Texans willing and capable of filling the teaching vacancies, thank you.

Offend me? Son, you'll have to try a different track 'cause that dog ain't hunting. Some, may act like they are doing us a favor, but trying to lump a whole demographic into a decided label is just plain silly. Anyone from the South would know better and especially one who has traveled extensively with their job, would know it's also like grandma said. A fool is the only one opening their mouths and talking, and saying foolish things.

We're stuck in traffic and our taxes are going up, and our kids are in crowded classrooms because of the lack of finished and available roads, the moronic expenditures that some of us continue to allow the State to make and the population boom that happens after a economic boom period. We don't have enough Texas willing and capable of filling the teaching vacancies, or guess what my friend...there wouldn't be any vacancies!

Thank you and bless you heart. As Grandma said.

[ArkLaTexana]

[quote=txgolfer130;8004692]We don't have enough Texas willing and capable of filling the teaching vacancies, or guess what my friend...there wouldn't be any vacancies!
[quote]

I don't know what it's like where you're at but according to a teacher friend of mine there's been a hiring freeze in AISD since about 2000.

[ArkLaTexana]

That quote got messed up!

[txgolfer130]

There have been hiring freezes in parts of Austin actually since '98. However, there have been multiple new-hires through-out AISD, LT, Eanes, DS, Buda, Kyle, etc.

And as I point out, if there were enough people locally, the districts wouldn't be advertising outside of Austin area and outside of the State. I know AIDS and other districts have been hiring, because my sisters neighbor is a new hire at LBJ. My friend is a new-hire in Lake Travis, and her husband is doing his student teaching also in LT, and they have already approached him about staying on.

[mego65]

Austin has a large list of open positions. They are not having a hiring freeze. A lot of the schools are still having job fairs. That shows that they do have jobs. However, some are canceling job fairs, Leander, but they are still hiring, they just are not going to pay for a job fair and are attending the UT job fair.

[loves2read]

teacher hiring is not a one-size-fits-all
there are plenty of districts where they hired fewer than 20 teachers a year--across the district--
there are some districts that hire 20 teachers for a school---
just because a person has a teaching certificate does not mean s/he is qualified to teach any opening that comes up--or would want to...

BUT it is difficult for out of state teachers to get hired in TX because it is more a matter of whom you know vs what you can teach to large extent

[kittymama]

Austin currently has a lot of jobs posted on their website as well as other districts around - Pflugerville, Hays, Round Rock, etc... As to whether or not there are job openings, it depends on what you teach and how picky you are. Some districts let you apply with an out of state certificate and others expect you to have already applied for a Texas certificate through the SBEC. However, it is relatively easy to get a one year certificate from the SBEC if you are certified in another state. Then you just have to take the appropriate content exams to get a regular Texas teaching certificate. I know b/c my husband is applying for jobs in Texas right now and has his one year temporary from the SBEC. You can NOT register for the content exams through the ETS until after you apply to the SBEC for a review of your credentials and a one year temporary, so you MUST do that step first. They then give you instructions on how to register for the content exams. Some applications will ask when you've registered for those exams.

I don't know what the applicant pool is like (as in number of applicants per position), but it can't be any worse than Fairbanks, Alaska where we currently live, because competition is very fierce here - such as ten or twenty interviewees (and who knows how many applicants) for ONE position (and that was after school had already started last year and at a mediocre school at that). You pretty much have to be willing to teach in Bush Alaska (think not only small town, village actually, but one without roads connecting it to anywhere else or stores) or another state first before you get a job here. It is also not uncommon for teachers to not know whether they have a job to return to all summer long each year until they get tenure here. But even if it is AS difficult to get a job in Texas as Fairbanks, he's already applied to quintuple the amount of jobs available in Fairbanks, just because the greater Austin area has so many more schools and students. We are flexible and consider anywhere in central Texas to be a vast improvement in quality of life and amenities compared to where we currently live. Truthfully, anywhere in the state would be an improvement (heck anywhere in the 49 other states), but my family lives in Austin, and we do like the area and have been there several times. I even lived in Austin for a year.

As for me, I will be so grateful to move back to my home state of Texas and say goodbye to long, dark, miserably cold winters forever. :-) The 300 days of sunshine that Austin gets and snow only once every few years trumps a LOT of things in quality of life issues IMO. After seeing 50 below zero, I will never again complain about 100 degrees. I have seen the error of my ways.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by AustinTexan

Trust me, there are more than enough "ohioans" moving here to Texas who think they are doing us a favor for doing so. And I'm not so sure any of us Texans want our kids taught by the rude and obnoxious ways of northerners. I'm not saying that your are one of those "rude and obnoxious" types, but the stereotype is pretty darn accurate for a majority of your peers in the north/northeast. And why wouldn't you be that way? It's cold most of the time, you're miserable, the crime is horrible, the economy sucks, and by Texas standards, the people aren't very attractive. So you see, I can see why most of you fit that stereotype so well. Hell, I'd be pretty pissed off at the world if I lived there too! LOL!!

AustinTexan, you must be a natural born yankee, given that your post is one of the few "rude and obnoxious" ones that I have seen here so far. You are the kind of person who gives Texans a bad name, a name they don't deserve. I'm happy to say that most native Texans have better manners.

It is easy to understand why so many people are interested in moving to Austin. Its been published in numerous magazines listing it as one of the best places to live in the US. Fact is that Austin's economic vitality is largely driven by the growth of the City and surrounding area. It has been the no growth attitude and wishful thinking that has prevailed in Austin over the years that is responsible for the bad roads and inadequate school facilities. Too many people have voted against spending money on those things because they think "if we don't build it maybe they will stop coming". It hasn't worked.