An Uncertain Future

Alex has a job interview on Friday morning.

Sure, he currently "has a job," but Beaverton School District is enough of a clusterfuck, and Alex is a new enough teacher, that he is at serious risk of being riffed, and won't even know about it until the end of next month.

Although I haven't taken any time to write about it, mostly because it's difficult to articulate, and Alex and I spend several waking hours actually discussing the matter, his job security, or lack thereof, is a major player in our current lives. The most frustrating part, to me, is what a perfect candidate Alex is; he sincerely loves his job. There are SO many teachers who appear to hate teaching, resent their students, or are in the profession for the wrong reason (ie summer). He has two years of teaching under his belt, and is new enough that he still possesses the enthusiasm and energy required to keep kids motivated. He has multiple teaching endorsements - language arts, social studies, ESL - and is on his second career, having previously worked in a field that contributes to his current subject area. He is a good, reliable employee, and is involved in activities beyond the classroom. He's the advisor to a disability awareness club, he is the JV boys' soccer coach, and he helped start a multicultural soccer league, which he now coaches (and doesn't get paid for it).

But let's remember, in this country, merit serves no purpose in the education system. Seniority only. So instead of rewarding a young, dedicated teacher with a pinch of job security, we prefer to keep those higher-paid, "experienced" educators employed, regardless of their classroom performance.

I'll step down from my soapbox for just a second here. The point is, on a personal level, we don't know if and where Alex will be teaching come September. He still officially has his job at Southridge High School, but because he's low enough on the totem pole and the district is cutting 350+ teachers, he's been looking for backup employment. He had an interview with Wood Middle School and West Linn High School, and is now on his second round of interviews. But he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. West Linn is likely to offer him a job - but he won't hear from Beaverton for another few weeks. So does he resign at Beaverton, where he loves his current position, losing his seniority, in the name of job security for one year? Or does he decline the job offer, hold out hope for Beaverton, risking having no job at all?