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>So, were the older students being passed over because of their age or
>because the hiring principal just didn't find them suitable?
This is the crux of the problem. I completed my Connecticut Teacher
Certification program at 40, my first Masters in Mathmatics at 42 and my
M.L.S. at 49. I spent the first year after becoming certified as the Head
Teacher in a very small private school that closed.
I spent the entire decade of the 90's working for several area school
boards as a certified (only way our state will allow you to work more than
40 days a year) substitute for pay that was barely above minimum
wage. None of this decade counts for pay experience to a hiring
superintendent. Repeatedly, much younger less academically qualified (I'm
certified N-8 and Secondary - Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, General
Science, and Social Studies) and frequently male teachers were hired for
positions for which I was not even granted an interview. It was amazing
how conveniently administrators could find me "just not suitable."
>Or perhaps
>because the principal presumed (mistakenly, of course) that (by their
>appearance of age,)
Appearance of age? The kids I work with who don't know my sons (now 22 and
25) generally place me as being "old" like their parents -- about 33, not
their grandparents. But then if you don't even get interviewed because the
resume says you graduated from college in 1972.
>they would be starting at a higher pay level, even
>though surely the principal had the correct information at hand?
Well to some extent the higher pay argument might be right. They would
have to pay more for my two Mater's degrees and until this year when the
youngest graduated from college, they might have been obliged by contract
to pick up the cost of dependent medical insurance. Also, most contract
agreements in the state cap experience pay at five years for new hires, so
the age/sex thing gets covered by hiring a few transient, but
experienced(navy or corporate wives)teachers for bargain prices. These are
an even better bargain, because frequently they already have full benefits
through their husbands' employers.
>Interesting to contemplate, isn't it? And ironic that a principal WOULDN'T
>want a "fresh from college" teacher who ALSO had plenty of experience
>raising his/her own children, and was now past the stage when those
>children -now grown- would be cause for interference of their work
>attendance or performance!
I intend to start emphasizing my lack of family commitments and my much
higher than undergrad school graduate average of 3.90, though I hardly
think a 2.7 from an undergrad program with a 80% drop out rate was anything
to be ashamed of.
But for NOW this "old widow lady" needs to find a job that provides Health
Insurance. "Hi! How ya doin' today! Would you like a cart and a smiley
face sticker?"
Dorothy E. Tissair, M.S., M.L.S.
Library Media Specialist
Will Work for Food
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
dtissair@snet.net
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