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Double duty

From waiting tables to painting houses, many teachers spend summer vacations working outside the classroom.

By SHERRI DAY and ELISABETH DYER
Published June 24, 2005

SOUTH TAMPA - On a recent evening at Six Tables restaurant in Palma Ceia West, the wait staff is abuzz. An art teacher has come to celebrate her birthday.

It is a pleasure to serve one of their own.

Three public school teachers, each moonlighting during summer vacations, make up the crew. They don aprons and dispense pleasantries during dinner hours to supplement their salaries, which dry up in the summer.

"It's the perfect job for teachers," said Amy Bottini, a Grady Elementary teacher who owns the restaurant with her husband. "They're well-educated. They're able to come in at 5 and be home by 9 with their families. They make a decent amount of money without working super hard."

While teaching is a noble profession, the modest pay scale encourages many to give up one of the job's greatest perks: an extended summer vacation.

Some teach summer school, become students themselves, or travel.

But getting a side job is common, said Hillsborough County Schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe.

According to Cobbe, the average salary for public school teachers in the district is $37,500.

"A teacher's salary is fairly low so some of them have a need to work," Cobbe said. "But teachers are pretty motivated people anyway, so it may just be that they like to be busy."

Mike Doyle, a physical education instructor at the Academy of Holy Names, delivers pizza for Domino's Pizza near his home in Seminole. Often, his former students answer the door.

"They were surprised at first," he said. "Then, they started requesting coach Doyle when they called."

What starts as a part-time summer gig can turn into a new career. More than three decades ago, Paul Deleo, a former college professor, started Teachers Associated Painting in upstate New York. Though he no longer teaches or employs educators, he remembers when he did.

"I was pretty big," he said. Deleo moved to Tampa in 1980 and now manages a 15-person crew of professional painters.

Most teachers with summer jobs said they have no intention of leaving their pupils behind permanently. They take great joy, however, in assuming a different role during the summer.

"In teaching, other than the brief time you eat lunch with other teachers, you're just with kids," said Sheila Palukaitis, a waitress at Six Tables who also teaches at Martinez Middle School in Lutz. "There's not a lot of adult interaction. This is the other side of the spectrum."

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 01:01:07]