Wow. You're a fucking monster.

Nice of you to assume that renter's insurance is affordable

Not the one I work at. TBH they're all struggling in their own ways, so everyone is going to have some kind of egregious problem.

lol go through the proper channels, but you can expect a reasonable turnaround time. Good luck applying and even more if you get hired!

Yep. That's how desperate the situation is.

Schools are DESPERATE for workers of all kinds.

I'm not kidding either. You can get a job as a teacher without a certification in a charter school. The only question is do you actually want to do it.

We talked about that in class actually in the context of Cory Bookers first run for mayor in 2002. They have no idea about so much of this history, up to and including the 1967 revolt.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure. From what I can gather, they feel like he's dishonest and doesn't actually do anything that helps them. I'm not informed enough to have a good opinion on the matter, but I do know enough to be suspicious of the city government and its...competence.

I know he was a former teacher and school principal, so he has to care at least a little bit, ya know? You don't do that kind of work to get rich.

No, this is the inevitable conclusion of capitalism: the capture of government by private interests.

I teach in Newark. All of my students hate Ras Baraka.

I glad I didn't have to die for the economy.

So, a capitalist.

"In this country we have socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor." -MLK Jr

Don't you love it when capitalists beg for the government to step in and prevent competition?

And Bill Spaeda is worthless. Why are we driving him traffic?

You didn't do anything wrong. Don't listen to these asshole haters.

Aye, but they call it the poverty trap for a reason.

Lack of local ownership of the community means the people who spend the most time in it are the least invested in it, so they treat it like shit because doing otherwise doesn't do anything for them (in their views).

These problems stem from issues that are bigger than any one mayor can fix.

I'm trying to get my school to organize a cleanup of the block we're on. It's filthy and sets a bade vibe for the school.

Which teacher school are you in? I saw you were doing social studies and special ed?

Everything you just said is 100% true

What presents as lack of motivation could be anything from lack of ability to not seeing value or a point in what we're trying to have them do. In Newark in particular, you must first convince the kids that you care about them if you want them to work for you. If they don't think you care, then they won't perform.

Oh yeah I'm in one of these schools. It's fucking awful, and the school I'm in very well may not exist next year if everyone keeps quitting at the rate that they are. We've lost at least 4 teachers and 2 office staff since August, and I expect more to quit before winter break. We're on our 5th art teacher so far this year alone.

We also exploit Americorps Fellows like no other.

> Most admins are absolutely ridiculous with their mandates (most are simply parroting demands from downtown admins), and I would say 80-90% of my colleagues throughout the District are experiencing extreme burnout. Burnout happens due to the never-ending list of new and ongoing asks from administration, and the nearly complete lack of autonomy brought about due to the punitive framework for evaluation and how it is used as a cudgel in the District.

Oh so it's not just us?

Newark teacher here! I work at a charter school though. I will tell you first and foremost, do not work at my charter network unless you want to be exploited and ground down into dust, or any school that calls their students "scholars". If you see that, run the other way.

The Bad: Those signs promising $62k are leaving out a huge caveat: you're locked in at that salary for several years. Most schools, public and charter, are incredibly understaffed and some are cracking under the strain. To be fair, schools all over the place are suffering from this, but in Newark it's definitely exacerbated. In Newark though it's especially sad and frustrating because of how much progress was made in the schools here before COVID, and that COVID basically set Newark schools back a decade in terms of that progress.

The Good: The kids here genuinely kick serious ass. They want to learn and care about their futures. They know they're getting screwed and yearn for something to do about it.

Overall, I'd tell you to not become a teacher in general right now, but if you insist, the fact that you're working in New Jersey will mitigate a lot of the worst possible parts of being a teacher because we have it the best here in the United States. Work in a union school; if you're really curious about charters, do your homework first: there are good ones and bad ones, but know that you'll be an at-will employee and have no union protections or tenure (and usually get paid less).

Check out Chalkbeat Newark for good news on what's happening in the district.