Teachers in market for jobs

Districts have pared summer school offerings, so faculty members are looking elsewhere for seasonal employment.

By KELLY RYAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 4, 2000

LARGO -- It is an annual rite of summer -- students who need some extra cash and something to do seek part-time work in movie theaters, restaurants and shops.

This year, they're finding unlikely competition in the job market: their teachers.

Thanks to a change in the way the Legislature funds summer school, districts all over the state have slashed their summer offerings. In many districts, students who want to work ahead can't, and fewer struggling students are eligible to stay in school in summer.

Fewer summer students means fewer summer teachers -- and those who have always counted on making some extra money in July are struggling to find another source of income.

Teachers are looking for jobs babysitting, working registers at Wal-Mart and helping customers at home improvement stores. Some are worried not only about the money they won't bring in this summer, but about how their teaching retirement plans might suffer.

"Most of the people I know that were put out of work this summer have not found anything," said Mary Diamond, a business teacher at St. Petersburg's Gibbs High School who has taught summer school the past eight years and is now seeking work at a beach resort.

"Even with business education skills, I couldn't go into a law office and say, "I have four weeks. Want to hire me?' "

In 1999, Pinellas County hired 1,616 teachers for the summer, out of 2,400 who applied. In 2000, only about 950 will be hired out of 1,517 applicants. Diamond is one of the hundreds who were cut.

"It's one of the casualties of the funding cuts," said Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association. "You definitely put a lot of people who were used to working over the summer out of work. It's really sad."

Other school districts, such as Hillsborough and Pasco, lack exact figures on how many teachers they will hire, though they know they will hire fewer. Hillsborough's best guess is that the district will have half as many students as during last summer. Accordingly, half the teachers who spent last summer in the classroom are looking for work.

In districts across the state, including Pinellas and Pasco, the philosophy of summer school has changed to meet budget constraints. Now, it's not for all students who are struggling -- just for those struggling the most.

Most districts have cut -- Hillsborough has only scaled back -- courses for students who want to work ahead and earn credit. Pinellas and Pasco used to offer extensive work-ahead courses, including health and physical education, for students who wanted to free their schedules during the year for electives, such as art and music. They don't anymore.

Both Hillsborough and Pasco say they have tried to give teachers other opportunities to earn extra money during the school year. For example, summer school teachers could sign up for pilot extended-day programs designed to help struggling students after school.

Hillsborough teachers were warned months ago that summer jobs might not be available, said Yvonne Lyons, assistant executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association. She has not heard from teachers frustrated by the changes and wonders whether they might like the break from school.

"Many of them are using the summer as an R and R opportunity," Lyons said. "Or sometimes they take other jobs or school."

In Pinellas, besides ending work-ahead opportunities and limiting the number of students eligible for remedial classes, summer school is being offered at fewer sites around the county. It begins June 26 and ends Aug. 3, with days off July 3 and 4. So far, enrollment is lower than the district projected. Pam Fisher, the district official in charge of summer school, said a committee will form in September to study how the changes this summer worked.

Any hope for more courses next summer?

"I don't know what the funding will look like," Fisher said.

To try to replace some of the work-ahead courses once offered, the district is offering "enrichment camps," which come with a tuition fee and can't count for credit. One notable exception is a partnership between the district and the Largo Cultural Center, where students will earn credit for tuition-free instruction in theatre.

Driver's education is another story. In the past, about 1,000 students enrolled in driver's education every summer. This summer, it's being offered for a $160 tuition fee, for no credit, at just three high schools: Palm Harbor University, Pinellas Park and Gibbs. It was going to be offered at four sites, but the interest has been low.

Students can still register through June 22. As of now, though, only six teachers were hired for the 105 students who signed up. In years past, 30 teachers were hired.

"We're disappointed," said Jim Ewbank, supervisor of physical education and driver's education. "Really, we stretched it to hire six."

Stu Higel is going to spend the summer painting his house.

Higel, a driver's education teacher at Lakewood High School, applied to teach summer school but didn't get the job. Around school, he says, teachers are worried that they won't be able to make ends meet until August, when school starts.

Higel is also worried about the students who had counted on extensive summer offerings.

"These kids are out of luck now," Higel said. "And I'm hurting. I've got two more years until I retire, and this is not helping."

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