teaching

You don't live far from me now! I used to be a teacher in St. Thomas (then went back to school to change careers)....I loved it.

I used to teach high school science at Antilles School in Frenchman's Bay. It was probably the best job I have ever had for more reasons than I can list.

Their website (which has a link for applications for employment) is www.antilles.k12.vi.us

The headmaster of the school is named Ted Morse (who was a social studies teacher at the time I taught there), and the head of the Upper School is named Marva Wiklund. I would send your CV to one of them.

Good luck! (I'm not kidding, you will love it there!)

try All Saints Cethredral School too

Hi,
I live in Fayetteville, GA. I go to Decatur once a month! Anyway, I am getting ready to move to stx and I am in the process of becoming certified K-8th grade and I am looking to get a teaching job as well. Check the website www.teachislands.vi/ they post the lastest job openings for public schools.

Peace,
Sunny

Sunny, you don't live that far from me right now! How cool! And how different life will be for you when you get to the islands...you're gonna love it! I taught in St. Thomas for 4 years before I went back to school, and it was one of the best times of my life. I hope you love it, too.

Ex,

The world gets smaller and smaller every day! I have some friends that live in St.T so I have been there many times and I loved it. My ex-boyfriends house looked out over Meagan's Bay - I told myself that one day I would live in the VIs. I also remember eating at the Grand Palazzo - great conch chowder!

I am curious as to why you changed careers? Do you miss teaching? Do you thin you will ever move back to the islands?

I have another question for you. How are the middle schools and high schools on the islands? This is probably a stupid question but my son is going into the 8th grade and he plays alto sax - do the schools in stx have symphonic or concet bands?
He is also worried that because he is caucasian that noone will like him. He is not racial - his girlfriend is african-american and most of his friends are as well. I think he just might be a little apprehensive about the move.

Peace,
Sunny

I decided to change careers not because I didn't like teaching, but I was about as far as I could go with teaching (moneywise at least) without going into administration, which is the LAST thing I wanted to do. I decided to go to nursing school (I already had 2 science degrees in biological sciences, so I just had to do the nursing specific stuff to get a BSN) and then to graduate school to be a midwife. Being a nurse is not that different in many ways than being a teacher....there is a LOT of education involved. Plus, the money is better, the hours are more flexible (I am so not a morning person), and to me, it's never the same day twice. When I am finished my master's, I will have also finished my teaching credit to teach nurses, so I haven't really left teaching....I have just gone a different direction with it.

As for schools, I am guessing that you are talking about the public high schools. Sadly, from what I remember of them, they have a hard time retaining teachers, they have a HUGE truancy rate (both teacher and student), and the SAT scores of the public school kids fell behind Puerto Rico in the verbal, and that's pretty bad considering that English is not the first language spoken in most PR high schools. The private schools on the other hand are quite good. I taught at Antilles, which is a Presidential award school and has a very high number of National Merit Finalists per year. All Saints is also an excellent school. Antilles is far more expensive, but they also have the benefit of free tuition for teacher's kids. They don't have band like they have band and music in schools in the continental US, and I don't think that any of the schools do. But, there are music programs through UVI and the Reichhold Center that he can participate in. I had a student at Antilles that when he was middle school age was a concert level pianist and he played quite frequently at events at Reichhold. SO, that said, there ARE things that exist. From what I saw, the public high schools are not very integrated (they more accurately reflect the population of the island...about 1in 10 kids are white.) I can only speak for Antilles, as I worked there...but they are about 50/50 in terms of white/other races. Race didn't seem to be an issue. The kids all got along really well, and the parents were very good in motivating their kids to do well. I had kids end up at Yale, Brown, Harvard, Naval Academy....these were kid that PERFORMED in school. They always managed to impress the living daylights out of me. I still keep in touch with several of my old students, and I haven't taught there now in four years.

Yes, my husband and I had every intention of returning to the islands when I finished school. He can pretty much do his job from anywhere, so moving for him was not an issue. I have an interview in five weeks in STT, so it's all starting to come together.

If you are looking at moving to St. Croix, try Country Day School....they were Antilles' rival, and an excellent school.

Yep...the world is mighty small.

Ex,

Thank you for all of your insight and info! My huband and I are very excited about moving to STX. He will be coming before me to start his new job as an aircraft mechanic (he works at Delta now) and will scout out the area to find us a place to live. Our friend lives in STX and has an extra room that hubby can stay in while we are apart. I will have to stay behind to sell the house - I am praying that it will sell quickly. It is not a seller's market right now so it could be months before our home sells.

Is Country Day School a private Christian school? I am actually a Children's Minister but I do not think there are many clergy jobs available, so teaching would be my second choice.

S-

No it's not religiously-affiliated

DL is right...it is not, but it is an excellent school.

I will see if I can find you some names of the parcohial schools on STX.

Sunny,

If you go to www.viphonebook.com, and go to the directory, there are names, addresses, and phone numbers of the parochial and private schools in St. Croix, starting on page 298.

Good luck!

Heather

Parochial school names, phone numbers, grades served, and number of students are also listed on the following Virgin Islands Moving Center web page:

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/schools/stcroix.php

Thanks everyone for the info. This board provided a wealth of information. I received my Settlers Guide, Island Trader and realestate listing guide today. I am psyched!