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imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 7:34 pm

I have always worked in bais yaakovs (teacher, p3 provider). Does anyone have any advice regarding positions available in the public school system? Would you recommend or not recommend any of them? Are there any part time opportunities? I am attracted to the higher degree of professionalism, the potential for learning, and the benefits. I am concerned about needing to work 7-hour days as I am used to working part time.

watergirl

Thu, May 26 2016, 7:40 pm

imamother22 wrote:

Anywhere in the world? Are you looking to relocate?

cnc

Thu, May 26 2016, 7:41 pm

Most likely NY based on the fact that she mentioned P3.

watergirl

Thu, May 26 2016, 7:46 pm

cnc wrote:

Most likely NY based on the fact that she mentioned P3.

As always, it's helpful to never assume anything On a worldwide message board. I have no idea what P3 means. Maybe that's one of the things that only New Yorkers would know. If Someone is posting something on here that is New York centric, she really needs to say so. Otherwise, how is she going to get other people not offering suggestions that really aren't relevant. Or maybe she was in New York but she actually is looking to move out. She didn't say that she was looking for specifically a P3 job.

amother

Gray

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:04 pm

watergirl wrote:

She's not looking for a P3 job (that's only for private schools ). But the fact that she did P3 means that she is NYS certified so I would assume she's looking in NY. Doubt she wants to restart her certification process.

watergirl

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:06 pm

amother wrote:

Again. Only new yorkers know that P3 is a thing. Non nyers like me read it and its meaningless. Again - op, I see your new here. Welcome! Its helpful to post location. Thanks!

imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:16 pm

(Deleted post because posted same msg twice by mistake)

Last edited by imamother22 on Thu, May 26 2016, 8:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:20 pm

Thanks everybody. In NY state, P3 providers are Nys certified teachers who are mandated by the board of Ed to work with students who need extra academic support and attend private schools. This is funded by the NY dept of education. I am considering using my certification to work in the public school system instead. I live and work in brooklyn

amother

Natural

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:34 pm

I have worked in a few schools, and I can say that (just like everything else in life), no school/position is the same from one public school to another. Why? It depends on the administration//principal...
Some schools have "made deals" to use service providers for part time because sometimes a school may have had a few students who still needed services but did not want to hire another full time special ed. /setts teacher for only a few students. Other schools would never allow someone to work part time. It really depends on the principal and students needing to be serviced....

I can also say that in terms of the specific environment /students you would work with, every school is different. Some schools I have worked in have had administrators who made sure that there was an environment such that rules are enforced, and it is safe. Other schools I have worked in had principals who sat in his/her office and did nothing to ensure a proper school culture except to blame the staff. In these schools, the students as well as administrators were more challenging to work with.
I can't recommend specific schools because the truth is that there usually no vacancies in those schools with a great work environment because the staff stays put"".

good luck
I hope you can find a good school with maybe a situation such that the principal would agree to hire you part time assuming that is what you want??

imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 8:38 pm

Thanks! I would love to work for about 5 hours a day. I realize I can't be picky though!

BrachaBatya

Thu, May 26 2016, 9:13 pm

In public school you will likely have more resources, make more money, earn better benefits and of course mix with a much more diverse population of colleagues, students and parents. I think it would be an excellent opportunity for many!

imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 10:26 pm

Thanks for your encouragement!

amother

Crimson

Thu, May 26 2016, 11:15 pm

I work in public school. Its a whole different ballpark than a yeshiva. There are definitely lots of pros but also a lot of cons. To me I feel like its a jail sentence. Once you're in the DOE you can't leave before age/years otherwise you're losing out on pension...

imamother22

Thu, May 26 2016, 11:35 pm

If you don't mind, could you please share both specific pros and cons? I'm definitely worried about feeling "stuck" in a job I don't like, hating every day yet not wanting to lose out on the pension...

amother

Jade

Fri, May 27 2016, 5:34 am

I worked in both, but not in NY.
It depends how old you are,pension wise
What are the benefits
What you will be giving up

Let me explain
This was about 15 years ago, OOT.

I switched to public school at age 40. That would mean for me to receive pension I would need to work in the public school until at least 65, for the pension plan to start kicking in. If your happy great. I was miserable. If I was 25 I may have stuck it out.

Salaries in private school were at the time $25,000.00 plus if your kids attended the school you would get 50% tuition break. If you needed further assistance they would work with you. Full tuition at the time was $10,000.00 per child.

Public school $36,000.00 plus yearly increase and benefits, health insurance and retirement fund being the major benefits. The first year I worked the health insurance benefit was great. I paid $200 a month (versus $1200) for a great family insurance plan with little deductible. The next year things changed. The state no longer provided health insurance. The plan would cost me $1800 a month, and a higher deductible.

In private school I got Erev chag off. Erev Shabbat I got out by 2pm. The school was only 15min. from my house.
In public school I had to work Erev chag and Erev Shabbat until 3:30. School was out at 3, but you had to stay until 3:30. It was 40 minutes away from my home.

The principal, even though he was Jewish, could not understand why I needed to take off so much for Jewish holidays. This put a big strain in our work relationship. The few other Jewish teachers only took off RH, one day only, if that much. YK, was a teachers work day which could be made up working extra hours on other teacher workdays. All my sick and personal days would go towards Jewish holidays, plus I still owed some towards the end of the year.

The principal was not an easy person to work with. He had his favorites, and I was not one of them.

All this made my time there very hard, but you may have a different experience than me.

Other frum people I know enjoyed working in the public school.

You have to weigh your pros and cons.

m in Israel

Fri, May 27 2016, 6:44 am

amother wrote:

I worked in both, but not in NY.

The principal, even though he was Jewish, could not understand why I needed to take off so much for Jewish holidays. This put a big strain in our work relationship. The few other Jewish teachers only took off RH, one day only, if that much. YK, was a teachers work day which could be made up working extra hours on other teacher workdays. All my sick and personal days would go towards Jewish holidays, plus I still owed some towards the end of the year.

T

Just pointing out that this is less relevant in NY where the public schools system still factors in Jewish holidays more than other systems (a remnant from the days where Jews made up a huge percentage of NYC's public school staff). Yom Kippur and Pesach are both completely off, and Rosh Hashana, Sukkos, Purim and Shavuos can all be taken off as "religious observance" days (where you lose the per diem salary rate instead of days from your bank). (Of course you can still end up with a principle or coworkers who resent you taking the time off.)

amother

Jade

Fri, May 27 2016, 6:51 am

I got so burned out those 2 years, I quit and didn't teach any more.
I love to teach, and often think about going back, but at my age???
May be I should volunteer.
Any way, you really have to weigh your options.
If it's only financial, like in my case, sometimes it's just not worth it.

amother

Amber

Fri, May 27 2016, 9:39 am

I'm an OT and work in the public school.
I have different hours then teachers and a different pay and contract
Every schools is different- My payroll lady doesn't deduct if I come in late or leave early-others do and drive the staff members crazy
My principal is nice and says its your religion, ok take the day.

Pros-
free benefits
Paid throughout the year so don't have to work in summer
Hours are great in order to be home for your kids

Cons-
I have a far commute
Does feel like a jail sentence because y would I leave now
Personal con-(I hate working and OT is so boring in school setting!!!)

Good luck

Mon, Jun 20 2016, 10:28 pm

How about the diversity of students, like some of them speaking only Spanish? And the different behavior challenges of children in public schools versus chassidishe schools, and the amount of drugs/drinking and what nots that make up the difference in atmosphere? If you're from a chassidishe background, these are a huuuge challenge. Is it still worth the difference in pay?

m in Israel

Tue, Jun 21 2016, 2:09 am

tf wrote:

I'm not from a Chassidish background, so I can't speak to that, but a lot of this will depend on both the specific school you work in as well as the age level.

For example, if you are working in K or 1st grade, you definitely are not going to be dealing with drugs or drinking Smile

The truth is that unless you are in a really bad neighborhood, you are not likely to be dealing with that at any elementary school age (high school is a different story). Similarly, unfortunately I have heard from more than one frum woman that they had LESS behavioral/discipline issues to deal with in public schools.

In general, I think the pattern is that if you work in more upper class areas you will have much less issues in terms of behavior, etc., but the job will be much more demanding -- principals will likely be pressured to meet whatever the latest performance standards are and you will have a lot of accountability/scrutiny (which of course is not really a bad thing most of the time!). OTOH if you are in a worse neighborhood you will have to deal with more issues but you will probably also be left alone more (parents will be less involved, etc.).

Honestly, I think the biggest "atmosphere" issue is actually dealing with co-workers. IME there is a lot of nivel peh even among upper class teachers (although many try to be more careful if they are around someone they know is sensitive to it -- plenty of people would apologize to me after cursing in front of me just because they knew I was a frum person), and you do need to interact socially to some extent in order to maintain good working relationships, so you may need to get used to topics and styles of conversation that are different than you are used to. It is definitely a much less insular environment -- whether it is worth the difference in pay is obviously a personal decision. How much do you need the money, etc. The difference between Chassidish schools and public school in terms of money is very significant.

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