Thursday, July 28, 2005

What to Do?

Alright, here's the deal. I've posted before on my desire to leave this cess pool that is Southern Californina. I hate many things about it, from the 'diversity' to the traffic to lack of seasons, ridiculous housing prices, overpopulation,lack of greenery and oh yeah, did I mention the friggin' traffic!

Well, as I mentioned several months ago, my wife and I applied to some school districts in the Vancouver area in the hopes of employment...Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Complete and total silence. Not one phone call from an educrat saying thanks but no thanks. Now, we only applied to a very small number of places because given the reduction in pay we would be taking, we had to apply to the few districts in the area that could pay us more than others which I guess limited our prospects to begin with.

So, what do we do now? This was supposed to be the 'go to' year. If the move didn't happen this year then oh well syonara Vancouver, we'll just have to get used to the cess pool. There is just this big, growing part of us that questions the wisodm of that decision. The real epiphany came this spring. As department chair I had the privelege of helping to interview candidates for employment in my department. In all seven interviews I was part of, not one of the people was from out of state or even out of county. Only one candiadte was from another district. Could it be that other schools in other states have a similar employment filter? Locals only. Sorry, if you don't live here, you get the big cold shoulder.

That got us thinking.

Maybe our chances of getting hired in the PNW would be greatly enhanced if we already lived there. Maybe the ability to walk into a school and meet the principal face to face and say "Hi, I'd like to work here. Here is a copy of my really impressive resume. I've worked in the nation's most culturally diverse district, I can handle anything you throw at me." Being able to that might help.

Maybe proximity is the key.

Which got us thinking even further. We should sell our house, sell everything we don't want to carry 1,000 miles and move to Vancouver. Then maybe we'll get jobs.

Insanity.

I don't do things like this. My wife, well she's an artist, I expect this from her. But me, I'm the level headed one. I'm the budgeter(is that a word?), the planner. I have a biblical obligation to provide for my family, not fly off willy-nilly on some half baked, uprooting adventure in the hopes of getting employment somewhere I really want to live. My dad always told me, you never leave one job without another already waiting for you. He should know, he spent large portions of his life unemployed. I know financial instability. I don't want to expose my boys to that intentionally.

Still, there is this restless, discontented, adventurous side of me that thinks. . .


No, it must be insanity.


What to do?

6 Comments:

At 7/29/2005, Blogger Tenax said...

M,

brother, I left home in a rush, without your number and with no computer access until the final days of my trip...I wish we had connected, but then I was only in LB for two days and that was mostly S's family. Apologies.

Your blog is taking a new direction it seems, more political, and I like it. We'll suddenly lose the internal combustion engine when no more oil can be sold; then an alternative will become available to every consumer. In the meantime, the environment suffers, our politics suffer...yuch.

I don't know what to say regarding your move up north. I'm a cautious protect the family guy also. And I don't know if the PNW is that much different, but I've probably been gone too long to remember. One thing I like about the coast down there: great weather and no mosquitoes, not to mention year round sailing.

But I think you have a point: you could sell your house while the l.a. market is still ludicrous, stow the cash somehow (and I'd check with a tax guy on this) and go move into scooter's garage or something, well, okay, not that...get a cheap place to rent up there while you looked for work. Of course, I guess this would have to time with the academic hiring cycle. Or you could try to go up there by yourself for a week and walk into Principal's offices.

And it is risk. You might have to apply widely, within a larger area, and then once you got a job move if you didn't like it. I know in my own field, it's very hard to pick any one town or college. Maybe there's something else you could do if you weren't hired right away? Sub? Shoot, if you could invest whatever money you have from your house down here you'd pull in something. For sure, you have experience.

Whatever you choose, best of luck with it. In college, the far-off applicant is usually favored, but that's a whole different system. I'd look for areas of growth: where are schools getting bigger? Could I afford to live there? And any possible connections at all; nepotism is a constant.

But knowing you, you've thought of all this.

Be well man. And hope to see you somehow someday soon.

t

 
At 7/30/2005, Blogger KMJ said...

I'm thinking that the woes of the Oregon school system are bringing lots of teachers right over border into Southwest Washington. :(

 
At 7/30/2005, Blogger Lizzie said...

I came across your blog and just thought I'd say "hi."

 
At 8/01/2005, Blogger Montana Sherry C said...

Ok, not really understanding where the idea that Vancouver is "easily more expensive than So. Cal." is coming from. Is she thinking Vancouver, B.C.?

 
At 8/03/2005, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The day before we got "the call" about our girls, we sat in church counting the hours until we would know if we were chosen to be their adoptive parents. The topic? Stepping out in faith (when God calls you to).

The sermon illustration was about the Impalla (sp?) that can jump to amazing heights but can be kept in any zoo by a 6 ft fence...know why?

Because an impalla WILL not jump where it cannot see.

Of course the cautious voice inside me says "good for them...there could be a cliff on the other side of that fence", but then I realized how trapped we can become with that mentality. Sometimes it is really about having the guts to build an ark in a dry and dusty land.

Now I am not saying you should make a decision based on anything other than God's leading (of course we are hoping to have your family in the neighborhood) but please don't stay fenced in just because you can't see what is on the other side!!

We'll continue to pray for you guys and that God will give you clear direction.

Kat

 
At 8/03/2005, Blogger scooter said...

(in response to what Sherry said about Julia's post)...yeah, she's *got* to be talking about Vancouver, B.C. Prices in Vancouver, WA have certainly skyrocketed (much like everywhere else), but this sure ain't LA. And the air is breatheable, too. And did I mention the house exactly like ours two doors down that's for sale?

 

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