Teachers salaries in USVI

Teachers here are underpaid for the work they do... which seems to be the case all over the mainland, as well. If your friend has children and gets a job at one of the private schools, her salary would be enhanced by free tuition for her children at the school where she teaches. That's true for Good Hope and Country Day on STX. I'm not positive about how the other private schools handle this. But at over $10K per student for middle school and high school, it is a nice perk for teachers with children.

There is a fairly high turnover rate in teachers who come from the mainland. Many stay just a year or two before moving on. Quite a few of these teachers are recently out of college and are exploring the world a bit by working at several private schools in the Caribbean, Asia and elsewhere. Some stay longer and others head back to the mainland to get married, have kids and live the rest of their lives with a memory of a few years in the islands.

would she want to teach in the private sector or in the public system - very different

My friend is, like me, mid-30s, divorced, no children (and no specific plans for any). She is currently working in a public school in an upscale suburb of Boston. With an MEd and an MFA in creating writing, she does pretty well teaching Environmental Science but her true love is writing.

She makes about $50K, and while understands that she may need to take a pay cut, she also understands that the cost of housing and whatnot is going to be substantially less than it is anywhere near Boston (where a small 1 bedroom apartment starts at about $250K.) We might even try to find a place together to help save costs, although we agree that we're adults and prefer our own spaces.

Just give me a range - $10K? $20K? $30K? $40? Just curious

The salaries at the private schools are substantially lower, but the teaching conditions are superb at Country Day ( the only one that I have first hand knowledge of - my daughter graduated last year)
The kids are reasonably well behaved, motivated and very little chaos - diverse backgrounds and cultures - not all rich and white despite certain opinions to the contrary. That said - the extra curricular costs would make it a strain for families without a reasonable income.

The public schools on st croix ( especially in the higher grades) are not somewhere that I would want to work.
Very little opportunity to actually teach - lack of supplies, lack of classroom protection, lack of support from parents and community in general - lots of criticism - lol. Chaos and illiteracy are a problem in the high schools. BUT all that said, it is just my preference - some very good people teach in the public system and are certainly making a difference.

If your friend wants to check with the private schools on St. Croix to find out what her chances are of finding a position with them now or in the future, as well as their salary levels, she can visit their websites and contact the schools directly.

Websites are:
Good Hope School is www.ghsvi.org
Country Day is www.stxcountryday.com

While housing in Boston may seem expensive, when you take into consideration the cost of Windstorm Insurance (hurricane) in the islands, housing is still not exactly cheap here. There are some great deals to be found. Sharing a place with a friend helps everyone's budget.

I wanted yo ask you prior & keep forgetting, re: windstorm insurance. Can you give us an example of typical costs? I thought I read somewhere that it is a percentage of the home value? And I would assume it might also depend on the type of building materials?

I'm not an insurance agent (so I'm passing this on as a third party), but I have been told by various insurance agencies, that a good general rule of thumb to estimate, for hazard and windstorm coverage, is to use 3% of the home's value less 20% as the amount to pay each year (i.e., 100k less 20K equals 80K, times 3% equals $2400 annually). Of course this varies by the type of construction of the property (concrete, frame or mixed), and the amount of coverage required (at least the loan amount), and the deductible. I have found that when the deal is done, it is about 2-3%. I have noticed that the quotes will always have a low deductible for the hazard portion of the coverage, which means a higher premium, and many buyers are too distracted by the windstorm issue to notice. Windstorm has it's own deductible and most lenders require a maximum windstorm deductible of 3%. Some local banks will allow a higher deductible, but often the only coverage then is for the loan, and not the property.All properties will be expected to have full hurricane shutter protection.
For what it's worth...

Hello,

Check out http://stats.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_vi.htm, you can find stats on salaries there for various jobs in the VI. It might help some.

Also you can find the payscale for public schools on the Dept. of Education website at http://www.teachusvi.net/pay_scale.htm.

--Islander

Islander - that's exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

I don't know what "step" means but I assume she does. It's probably a union thing and standard in the business (maybe?) She's got a masters and has some seniority in her current school system due to a rash of retirings among teachers in her discipline, so I'm sure she'd do well.

The Public Schools in the VI have the same challenges plus as those that are challenged in the states. Especially if you compare to places like Washington, DC, Baltimore, Gary Indiana, and so on. When you are looking as a school/ school system. Look at the leadership, talk to the teachers, find out why they are they in the first place. As a parent, I would want to make sure that the teacher is not there simply to get free tuition for their own child but rather that teacher is committed to the challenge and is flexible and understanding that there is no one best situation when it comes to teaching overall.

Have her make sure that her stateside experience counts. I had heard that they only speak VI seniority. So if you come in with 15 years somewhere else, you start at square one. Not 100% sure, but check...

The link that islander posted said that 10 years of your teaching experience counts on USVI. It's sort of absurd - how are they going to attract good teachers if they take a person with 20 years exp. and basically demote them? I'm 99% sure it's union protectionism, which is just another reason why I dislike unions but that's a whole different story.

Thanks all for your rich discussion - I'm going to see my friend after christmas so I'll pass this info on to her!

Hello Ed, Is there any insurance company that you could recommend for the USVI? Thanks for the info.

Sure Kara,
PM me and I'll follow up with you.