Submitted by cupcake142 t3_ylk96q in pittsburgh
Hi everyone, I’m moving to the Pittsburgh area (from out of state) in about a month and I will be looking for a teaching job for next fall. I hope to sub to get my foot in the door with different schools after the new year and hopefully long term sub. I’m an elementary teacher and I’ve been teaching for five years. I heard it’s hard to find a job in that area, so I wanted to see if anyone has any tips or suggestions? Thank you in advance!
Pittsburgh public has its fair share of issues but there is a teacher's union if that's your jam.
Don’t all Allegheny districts have unions?
No clue. All I know is PPS and Mt Lebo have them.
I haven't heard of a traditional public school around here without one. Charter and private schools are more of a mixed bag. For instance, Propel teachers just unionized in the last year or so, but prior to that was not.
Many districts use the standard teaching application, and collect their applications via PAEducator.net, so that's a good place to establish yourself for quick response to open positions. Other districts are one-off, so you'll have a bit of legwork in order to keep up.
Because of the relatively strong unions in most public schools here, there's not a ton of churn in the teacher base, despite the national news about teacher shortages. That said, my experience is based on my spouse seeking music teaching jobs in the area, which is pretty cutthroat given the size of most districts' music programs and the attractiveness of the career here in Western PA. You may have more luck with elementary as more and more boomers retire. Also, mid year can be a good time because there isn't a glut of new grads from all the teaching schools around here, and many established teachers did their re-shuffling over the summer. You could catch a long-term sub and/or mid year replacement position.
Also, despite the strength of the unions, most contracts don't have provisions to take new teachers' experience into account when placing you in the new job's pay scale, so you will *likely* start at step 1. My spouse just started at a new district in May and her 18 years of experience helped her get the job, but she's at step 1 on the scale again. It was a relatively big cut and will probably take about 10 years to get back to what she was making, but ultimately she decided the district/position were worth it over her previous spot.
Good luck in your search!
We will be living in the suburbs in the Clinton area!
Thank you!
This was incredibly helpful - thank you so much for taking the time to write that out!
You're out far enough that it won't be too too hard to break in. I know people who work in the Moon SD and Cornell SD. Moon's students as easier to teach but Cornell's probably easier to get a job in. Quaker Valley across the river is a top tier district, but very hard to get a job in.
Here's a map of the school districts: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Map_of_Allegheny_County_Pennsylvania_School_Districts.png
Worth just putting out feelers and checking job boards of everything around you. I'd hold out for a non-charter job, they pay significantly less and subbing will get you into a district faster than charter schools if you already have years of experience.
Good luck!
Thank you SO much!!
A lot of those districts are also going to hire people they like, so when you’re subbing make sure you’re personable and someone other people remember and want to work with. Most teachers are in a district for life so they’re going to go to bat for people who care and aren’t hard to work with.
There’s a lot of qualified teachers so the intangibles make a big difference. Good luck!
pittpanthers95 t1_iuzbnp4 wrote
Start out subbing with Kelly Services. They cover a ton of school districts in the area and is a decent way to get your foot in the door. You can work in as many districts as you want.