So, change is good, right?

[Djfan]

For the last few months Mrs. Fan and I have been hoping for a career change for me. I even want to go so far as to say that I think God is leading us on to other things.

Well, today we got that confirmation. I had my annual review, and my principal said I wasn't being offered another contract for the future. There were lots of reasons, but the bottom line, IMO was politics. Those of you in education know who thick the politics are there. For a reason I still don't know, I was on the backside of them this time.

Oh well. If any of you know of any professional jobs open, let me know.

Here we go again.

[SanAntonioSteelerFan]

Hey DJ - Hang in there dude. A man of integrity will come out on top in the end.

Any letters of reference you can get from allies in the fights there, you might want to consider asking for them before the school year is up, when their memory of you is the freshest.

Prayers for you and your family ...

[Djfan]

Thanks Brother. I already have. Trusting God. It's all good. Just feels really bad and unfair.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Didn't you just move from SoCal to the Rocky Mountains a short while ago for this job?

The politics involved in Education is deplorable. I taught in a private school (7th and 8th grade) when we were first married, but when the kids came along, we could not afford to continue with those poverty-level wages. I tried to find a teaching job in a public school in our area (with much more liveable wages), but if you don't know anyone on the school board (or aren't willing to grease anyone's pockets), good luck getting hired here. I was actually told by one principal that because I had a Bachelor's degree in psychology from an Ivy League university and also a Master's degree in education, that I was overqualified to teach in his district. What the hell is that supposed to mean? I still teach at night through a local university as an adjunct professor, but my day job is no longer in education, which is sad. For the sake of my kids (I needed something steady with solid benefits and a guaranteed pension in the future), I adjudicate disability claims for the state during the day now. It can be challenging dealing with all of the medical and legal issues involved, but you don't get the same rush pushing papers across your desk as you do in front of a classroom of students each day...but it is stable work and our family is doing well, so I am thankful for that.

Good luck finding whatever you are looking for out there, brother!

[Djfan]

Thanks Ruth. I'm teaching at College American in our area in the evening. I might just turn that into a full-time-ish thing until something breaks out. Mrs. Fan is very close to having her degree in accounting, so that should be good for us. I am getting very proactive about returning to ministry. It seems like that is our direction.

We came here three years ago for this job. Truth be known it was a downer from the first. I kept hoping it would turn around, but I guess it was not to be. We're not too worried, but I am being VERY proactive. It's sad what education has become, huh?

[fordfixer]

Thanks Ruth. I'm teaching at College American in our area in the evening. I might just turn that into a full-time-ish thing until something breaks out. Mrs. Fan is very close to having her degree in accounting, so that should be good for us. I am getting very proactive about returning to ministry. It seems like that is our direction.

We came here three years ago for this job. Truth be known it was a downer from the first. I kept hoping it would turn around, but I guess it was not to be. We're not too worried, but I am being VERY proactive. It's sad what education has become, huh?

Look on the bright side you got to meet me . Will be prying for the right job to come around for both you and Mrs Fan

[Djfan]

Thanks FF. We haven't called you guys for no reason in particular. We REALLY hope to stay in this area, but are open to whatever God does.

There are no coincidences, and so hanging with you all was a great thing on many levels. You and I are still doing the "antelope eradication program" this year.

[focosteeler]

For the last few months Mrs. Fan and I have been hoping for a career change for me. I even want to go so far as to say that I think God is leading us on to other things.

Well, today we got that confirmation. I had my annual review, and my principal said I wasn't being offered another contract for the future. There were lots of reasons, but the bottom line, IMO was politics. Those of you in education know who thick the politics are there. For a reason I still don't know, I was on the backside of them this time.

Oh well. If any of you know of any professional jobs open, let me know.

Here we go again.

I'm really sorry to hear about that. What types of jobs are you looking for? I havent been back to foco for a couple months now but I can ask my family/friends to see if they know of anything.


What type of Ministry are you looking at getting back into? My father was involved with different types of ministry in town before my mom got sick. He might know some good people to talk to.

[flippy]

Sorry to hear this. I always try to look at these things as a positive. I'm sure you'll end up 10x happier doing something new. Sometimes we get into ruts and it takes a forced change to get us out of the rut. Sucks in the short term, but in my experience it always works out in some better way for some reason.

I don't ever think I met a teacher that wasn't frustrated in some way. It's a never ending commitment with relatively little pay for what you put into it. And you don't get to see the rewards for your work unless one of your students thanks you 20 years down the line. Not to mention kids are more screwed up than they were in our day. Seems like many come from single/busy/uninvolved parents. If you want to be involved with kids, you can always take another type of job and volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. And you can probably make a more noticeable and rewarding impact on a child through a program like that anyways.

I was listening to the radio the other day and they were saying something along the lines of the average teacher pay in WI is over $100k/yr. That sounded crazy high to me so I'm sure I must have misheard it.

I also saw a list of the 10 fastest growing cities over the last decade just yesterday on CNN:
[url]http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2012/real_estate/1204/gallery.US-Cities/index.html[/url]

If you're looking to move, there's a lot happening in these cities in terms of growth, so they may be good locales for jobs. I suspect most people move to them for work.

What kind of ministry are you interested in?

[Djfan]

Once again, Flip, your words are good.

I agree that it is going to be good. I had a meeting with a place in our area just today. He wants to continue the discussion very soon. Could be good.

I want to return to pastoral ministry. I was really good at it and it was probably the happiest time of my life. As you can imagine, I was an atypical pastor, and it was well received. I'm trying hard, and Mrs. Fan is in favor of it.

To be continued.

Foco, did you get my PM?