Teaching public school in boston (Cambridge, Quincy: rentals, home, job market)

[Taylor2010]

I am an elementary school teacher and would like some opinions on teaching in Boston as compared to other places. I am in Texas now and looking to get out. I know it's pretty broad but thanks in advance.

[beth98]

I can only offer some general opinions based on second hand knowledge but here they are:

I'll assume you mean teaching in Boston proper.
-Rewarding but tough, some schools are great, others are not. There are varying degrees of parental involvement but most school will have parental involvement on the lower end.
-I've heard good things about the emphasis on continuing education for teachers.
-Boston public school teacher salaries are probably higher than where you are coming from in Texas, you should be able to find information on the schools website.
-A teaching job in Boston can be competitive to get.
-Keep in mind Massachusetts has some of the best schools in the country to while I'm saying Boston Public Schools are not great, my perspective could be very different then yours.

Best of luck

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by Taylor2010

I am an elementary school teacher and would like some opinions on teaching in Boston as compared to other places. I am in Texas now and looking to get out. I know it's pretty broad but thanks in advance.

I'll give you advise, Teach somewhere else. Boston's schools are CRAP!!!!! Teach in a nice town that won't have you in the ghetto teaching kids that don't want to learn. Plus somewhere else you could get paid respectably. I did my "time" in BPS, 11yrs. Wouldn't wish it on anybody. Nothings changed. My girlfriend went to school in Natick (Boston Suburb) and learned stuff in the 7th grade we were being taught in High School.

[Taylor2010]

Thanks for the replies. Is Boston a decent place to live if you teach in the burbs? Will a teachers salary get you very far up there? I know Boston is very expensive.

[unit731]

There is Boston and then there is the Greater Boston Area. Don't get the two confused. Boston proper is rather small compared to cities out west. The Greater Boston area is quite large but comprised of individual cities.

Cities out west and other areas just annexed surrounding areas to make very large cities. Boston did annex some areas centuries ago but stopped. Boston has distinct neighborhoods such as Charlestown, Back Bay, Brighton, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury, South Boston, and on and on.

Surrounding Boston are cities such as Winthrop, Revere, Everett, Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, Dedham, Milton, Quincy and on and on.

All seem to blend together. So it becomes an area or neighborhood that meets your needs and wants.

Teaching in Boston proper can vary greatly. I went to night school with one 6th grade Boston proper teacher and he had stories of the police coming into his 6th grade class and handcuffing one of his students. Some schools can be great while others leave some to be desired. All boils down to which school you get in what neighborhood.

If you wish to teach in the suburbs then why not live in the suburbs. Public transportation is everywhere from trains to subways to busses.

If you have an automibile make sure wherever you live has off street parking. Don't even think of parking on the street as during snow storms all on street parking could be banned.

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I taught in the BPS for a few years many moons ago. I couldn't land a contract because of the residency requirement: In order to teach in the BPS, you have to be a Boston resident. There are many people who have been grandfathered, however, either administrators or people who have been around umpteen years.

It's very, very political in terms of jobs. I suspect most urban systems have varying flavors, but the BPS even more so. The rule of thumb back in the day was to "know someone who knows someone who knows someone" in order to just get your name in circulation. I suspect it isn't any different now.

I was a long-term sub at a middle school in one of the more sketchy areas of the city. While I personally never felt threatened/afraid, there were a number of situations at the school which made me reel in the "Kids that age shouldn't have to deal with that kind of crap" sense.

The other thing? As a long-term sub I was paid at a higher per diem rate. Back then the rule was, if you stayed at a particular school for more than 30 days straight, your pay rate would automatically go up. They circumvented this by pulling me out on the 28th or 29th day and sending me to another school. I'd return the following Monday. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I quit when it became apparent I would never land a FT contract because there was no way I could afford to move into Boston proper.

[Taylor2010]

Once again, thanks for the responses. It's all good info. Also really good to know that there is public transportation in the burbs. That's not the way it is here. What can 1800 get you in a nicer burb? Also, do any burbs have a residency requirement?

[holden125]

Originally Posted by Taylor2010

Once again, thanks for the responses. It's all good info. Also really good to know that there is public transportation in the burbs. That's not the way it is here. What can 1800 get you in a nicer burb? Also, do any burbs have a residency requirement?

If you're looking to rent and you're not looking for 4 bedrooms, you can do fine for $1800 in many burbs. Housing around here tends to be much older than what you may be used to (that can equal better craftsmanship and charming period details, a totally worn out dump, or some combination of the two). But there are nice towns in the suburbs where decent rentals can be had for well under $1800.

Don't imagine that all the suburbs are a car-free zone, though. Many suburban towns have adequate public transit to get to Boston, but the system really is geared toward people commuting to downtown. Even schools in the city of Boston are scattered across the city, and it might take a LONG time to commute to many of them by mass transit from the suburbs. As in, 25 mins on the commuter train, wait for subway, 15 mins on the subway, walk two blocks, wait for bus, 20 mins on the bus in rush hour traffic, walk five blocks. You're talking 90+ mins each way. If you teach in the suburbs, most schools are hard to reach by mass transit. The only feasible suburb-to-suburb commute by mass transit will be if home and work are not too far from each other on a single commuter rail line or bus line. Transfers add time. We live near the commuter rail and my fiancee can take it to school in Boston easily enough, but she works at a place that can only be reached by car. Suburbs do not generally have a residency requirement. Many of the teachers in our town live in Boston or other neighboring towns.

You will have to be certified to teach in Mass., though for people coming from many states there's a reciprocity pathway of some sort if you've been licensed elsewhere for more than a couple of years. I think, if you have been teaching on a Texas license for 3 years and Texas has an agreement with Mass. (I don't know if it does or not), you can get a one-year temp license here and then jump through more hoops to get whatever you'll need. Mass. is fairly rigorous on teacher license requirements. Not sure what the job market is, but you might want to reach out somehow now to someone here. Maybe just an email or call to a teachers' union person, or an officer of some other teachers' org. People in the field can give you more straight dope, and if you're fortunate they can introduce you to more people and you're on your way.

Educator Licensure - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

[Taylor2010]

Thanks again for taking the time. I like where I live now and the school that I teach at. Next year will be year number five for me. I teach at a lower income school now so that aspect of teaching in Boston doesn't scare me.

I'm really looking to get out because of the political environment here. Texas ranks towards the bottom in most educational aspects and continues to make massive cuts. Next year I will be working longer hours for less money, less sick days, etc. It's still an ok job but getting worse all the time. Lots of blame gets heaped on teachers here even though we aren't unionized. Teachers are far from respected here in many areas. What is the general political climate regarding education and teachers in mass?

[xo_kizzy_xo]

I've been out of the education field for years now, but I have in-laws and a couple of friends who are either still teaching or are trying to get back into the system after a long absence (i.e., raising their kids).

There have been budget cuts galore here, too, but I suspect they haven't been as bad as in other areas. A lot of towns, however, do place a premium on education -- the higher the property tax, the better the schools, as a rule of thumb. Every year a few towns push Prop 2-1/2 for another increase in taxes, either for a new school building and/or to alleviate looming layoffs. My town had three in two years. I'd hate to tell you what the tax rate now is

That said, there is still a lot of politicking and maneuvering in the public schools. The people I know who are trying to get back in, even though they're still in the teachers' union in their respective towns, have had no luck landing any positions in or out of their disciplines. I have another in-law who's been a long-term sub in a suburban district for a few years now, hoping to finally land a FT contract. She hasn't had any luck either. The friends who are still teaching speak of how the MCAS (our version of the No Child Left Behind Act tests) infiltrates every single area of the curriculum to the extent that they have little to no room to tweak anything. If their class doesn't do well on those tests, their heads are on the chopping block.

Heh, I have a cousin who moved to TX to teach because she couldn't find a job here. That was a few years ago, though. The licensure requirements have changed since then, so I'm not even sure she could teach here if she returned.