Working for public school system??

If you wish to teach in an affluent public school system, stay where you are.

Have you used the search engine? Change the selection date to "all" and you'll find several related posts which will be of help.

I hope that wasn't how my question came off, because that wasn't the intention. I just wanted to get a feel for what the system is like.

Thanks, I will give the search engine a shot.

Sounds like the teacher didn't do his homework. Now he wants someone else to do it for him.

It sounds to me that working in public school system in the Caribbean would be too much of a culture shock for you, so if you really want to teach on St Thomas, you should only consider teaching at a private school like Antilles or Montessori.

It doesn't sound like the VI public schools are a good fit for you.

I have pretty limited experience with the public schools personally, but I would dare to say that they are going to be quite a bit different than anything you are used to. Just like in the states, some of the public schools are considered 'better' than others. But they all generally are working with a heck of a lot less resources than affluent district public schools. Most of the buildings are in need of repairs, some of them desperately in need of repairs. Teachers generally have quite extensive wish lists for supplies (even basic supplies like pencils).

There is no doubt that we could use a lot more dedicated, licensed, teachers in the USVI. And I welcome anyone who fits that bill. The teachers that I know who work in the public schools usually have another job as well to make ends meet. On St. John, a lot of the teachers in the private schools have a second job as well since it tends to be more expensive here.

One teacher that I know that has worked in both the private and public schools on St. John has told me she much prefers the public school because she feels that she is more supported there by the staff and even the parents. She lived here for a number of years before she entered the public school system though. I wonder if she would have felt the same way if she had just moved here and went straight into the public schools with little understanding of the culture.

I've also had a friend who had their child in the public school who had a pretty terrible experience...and it was at on of the schools that were considered 'better. There was a lot of corporal punishment being put on her young son that she didn't know about for months. Hands hit with rulers, mouth taped shut with duct tape, paddling, etc. Corporal punishment is legal, but it's kept quiet for the most part. People are working on changing that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it stuck around for awhile.

One thing I will urge you to do if you take the job, do NOT give up in the middle of the year. Make the commitment to the kids to at least stick it out for the entire year so you don't disrupt the lives of 30-40 kiddos and their parents too. Even if you came here and decided to just be a sub, you probably could work the whole year, maybe even in the same classroom, that is how short we are on teachers here.

Good luck! We could used some good teachers!

virginia is so completely different then the virgin islands, i would think especially as to the public schools.

Here's an article the OP should read:
http://viconsortium.com/featured/at-youth-council-senate-hearing-lack-of-teachers-low-wages-take-center-stage/

MS411: I have done extensive research into the VI school division. I did not mention this in my post, but in addition to lots of reading (on-line and on this forum site) I talked with many locals about their perspective of the division when on my pmv. I heard a lot of positive things. Perhaps my post was very broad, but I wanted to hear basic opinions from other people. Just because I work in an affluent system now does not mean that I will be unable to handle a move to a system such as VI. I am very aware of the financial issues and lack of teachers in VI and am not concerned at all about a culture shock. Yes, there will be extreme differences but I am mentally prepared for that. I could have been more specific in my post, but please do not pass judgment on me. I am not a teacher, I am a school social worker and I am very dedicated to the students I serve. In fact, the students/families I serve are the ones who stand out the most in my district because they are either very poor, need extensive community resources or have dual diagnoses. It is not unusual for me to do a home visit in the morning to a mansion and a home visit in the afternoon to a cinder block house with no flooring or windows.

StJohnJulie: Thank you. That information is very helpful. The information regarding corporal punishment is something I would never find out about in on-line searches. That is quite disturbing. I figured that a lot of buildings needed repairs and just assumed it was due to hurricanes (I read one school collapsed in one storm). The supplies are important to know about. It is great to hear that teachers feel supported. That is important to me, and again, something you can only learn from talking to people in the system. Everyone I have met and talked with at the district level have been extremely supportive and wonderful to work with. Also, I totally agree with not leaving in the middle of the year. I could never make connections with kids and families and then just leave them hanging.

EWilliams: Yes, this place is different, but you are needed. There is a great deal of culture shock when moving here, but we are here to help you. 😀 Please come on down.

The last major hurricane was 20 years ago. Most of the school buildings are old and not well maintained. There was a collapse a few years ago, but I don't remember that it had anything to do with a storm.

I hope you will read The Source and the Virgin Islands Daily News for information on living in the VI.

As a social worker for the school, you should probably be on the look out for the corporal punishment issues. Kids with special needs tend to get the most of it unfortunately. The boy I mentioned earlier would have fit in this category. He endured several months of it without his parents knowing anything about it (at age 6) because he was afraid to tell anyone.

And I appreciate you having the mind set of not giving up mid year on the kids. The private school my older son attended for 7 years has a practice of hiring people from off island and it just didn't work well for us. 4 of the years he lost his main teacher part way through the year. So disruptive for everyone.

And since you are a social worker.... I should also tell you (if you haven't already read) that we have a lot of uninsured people here. We are not part of the Obamacare and there is no one here that writes policies for individuals. Even if there was, affording health insurance would be an issue for many. This will impact you because you are going to see a lot of kids that could benefit from psychological services but don't have the the finances to afford them. Even getting a diagnosis for something like ADD or ADHD can be a challenge. Insight Psychological Services on STT might be something to look at. They work with a lot of kids, so there is a good chance you will be working with them on some level.

do you speak spanish? a lot of the kids do

In STX, maybe.