Well, it's official: I will remain in my current school district for 2008-2009. I had one interview a couple of months ago, and their rejection letter motivated me to fill out seven other applications over three districts. I know "people" in two of those districts, and had some pretty high hopes about having the inside track. Nonetheless, I didn't score an interview for ANY of the seven positions I applied for. Not ONE. Needless to say, I'm having some thoughts about my marketability these days. I've been at this a while, and although I need to keep some mitigating factors in mind (like my experience makes me a little expensive, and that this is no economy--particularly in education--to go moving around) I am somewhat bummed about the result of my job search.
There's another thing: I've been moved from my former school site for a number of reasons, and one of the lesser-known of them is that I'm not really liked at all by several members of the district administration (my new principal was almost told this verbatim not long ago). I'm very pro-school-site, and that [apparently] makes me come off as very anti-school-district. Moreover, this new assignment of mine comes with two caveats (the why of this is a long, boring story, and I'll spare you that): there's a strong chance that this assignment won't exist in a year, and I may go when it goes; and if I do get to stay I will have to endure a $12K-a-year pay cut. (Knowing these two things, I went job hunting. Alas, no success.)
So it seems that the only way to a happy ending is to determine exactly how I can use this job to (a) benefit the school site and (b) get back into the good graces of the school district. On the plus side, the dynamics of this new assignment will give me oodles of time to achieve the latter. With all the other changes going on in my life right now (wedding, teenager becoming even older, finances finally in some sort of order, house projects coming along nicely), which are the positives that will outweigh the negative, I should find myself fairly busy.
In any event, it is finally time to embrace the horror and make some sort of attempt to turn this situation to my advantage (unless, of course, any of you out there are still looking for a secondary assistant principal in Southern California.) We'll see how it goes.
Helpful hints, position essays, and useless blather from the Assistant Principal of a high school in Southern California. Posts here do not necessarily reflect the positions or views of the school or district with which he is employed.
So there.
So there.
Monday, July 28, 2008
posted by Q6 at 5:05 AM
2 Comments:
At 6:29 AM, 
At 6:47 PM, 
Melissa B.
I'm not sure I agree with your friend Sherman. With more responsibility comes more "kissing up" to "The Man," doesn't it? We had a new principal last year, and oh my gosh--he had to become a contortion artist to try to please everyone. And you know what they say--in trying to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. BTW, Tara. R. is "guesting" for Take Another Look Thursday--please come on by and check it out!
You're not going to like this advice, but if your experience has priced you out of the assistant-principal market, you need to be applying for principalships. And good luck!