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Teachers moonlight for extra cash
By KENT FISCHER © St. Petersburg Times, published December 24, 2000 If you see teacher Melissa Richarz while you're out one Saturday night, please don't ask her about school. Just tell her how you want your burger cooked. Richarz, a full-time teacher at Marlowe Elementary, also waits tables at TGI Friday's in Clearwater. It isn't the most glamorous job, but the extra $500 a month she earns in tips has paid for graduate school and now covers half her monthly mortgage payment. That's the upside, but there are other times when she wishes that she didn't have to work two jobs. Like when her students and their families come into the restaurant and sit down at one of her tables. The parents always want to know why their child's teacher is also waiting tables. "I just tell them that it's something I have to do," she said. "Sometimes they want to talk about school, but I just say, "No. I'm not teaching now. How do you want your burger cooked?" Teachers all over Pasco County routinely find themselves in similar predicaments. While it isn't unusual for teachers to pick up part-time jobs during summer vacations or extended holidays, many teachers also hold down a second job year-round. According to local teacher estimates and a national teacher's union survey, about one-third of teachers moonlight during the school year. They tend bar, work at the mall, tutor, teach at community colleges and sell cosmetics. Some work just a few hours in the evenings, while others heap another 20 to 30 hours onto their full-time teaching jobs. They do it for a variety of reasons. Some are putting a child through college. Others are single parents just scraping by. For others, the extra money pays for family vacations or extra Christmas presents. Many do it simply to pay the bills. "They're forced into it either because of low pay or their family situations," said David Clark, a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, the state's largest teacher's union. "The worst case scenario is a teacher who works all day and then finds themselves working another four or five hours at night in a department store." The average Pasco County teacher made $33,660 last school year, with beginning teachers making about $5,000 less than that. Superintendent John Long said he doesn't like the fact that so many teachers are working two jobs, but he understands why they do it. When he first starting teaching, he worked nights at a local gas station. "I wish we paid teachers so much money that they didn't have to take a second job, but we can't," Long said. Debra Curley has taught school for 20 years and will make $37,000 this year. A single mom of three, Curley works 40 to 50 hours a week teaching first grade at Cotee River Elementary School. Then she piles on another 20 hours a week working nights and weekends at a local bookstore. Last year, she sold dog food to help make ends meet. "That was kind of embarrassing," Curley said. "Some of my parents came into the store and there I was, in my apron, trying to convince them to switch their brand of dog food." Teachers said the best way to handle such situations is to simply be honest with parents and students about why they're working two jobs. For nine years, Jason Joens taught industrial arts at Bayonet Point Middle School while also working full-time on the school's janitorial crew. He would clean the school from 5:30 a.m. until 8 a.m., when classes start. He then would teach all day and, when school ended, work again as a janitor until 8:30 p.m. Joens did it because he and his wife decided that she would stay home and raise their young family. His hours were long and included weekend work too. Sometimes students would snicker when they saw their teacher pushing a broom, Joens said. "I would simply tell the kids I was doing it because I wanted to provide for my family, and I was trying to be the best dad I could be," said Joens, who was recently promoted to assistant principal at River Ridge Middle/High School. "It was good, honest work. I just learned to survive on five hours sleep." Several teachers like Joens said working long hours after school can make it tough to be fresh in the classroom. Teachers who work two jobs often miss out on district-sponsored classes and workshops that are held after school and on Saturdays. "I know when I go into school in the morning, I have to be cheerful for the kids," Curley said. "I have to be in a good mood, because if I'm not, then I won't do a good job. Sometimes you just have to put a smile on your face and bear it." The extra jobs also mean teachers are up even later grading papers and planning projects. Marlowe Elementary teacher Mary Rozycki said her part-time job at Lowe's has taught her to be extra-efficient with her before- and after-school planning time. "If anything, it's made my teaching more focused because I don't have time to waste," said Rozycki, who works 20 hours a week in the Lowe's plumbing department. "When I know I have to go to work, I just shut my door and utilize the time I have." Rozycki, who has been teaching for four years, took the part-time job in hopes of earning some extra spending money and paying for an apartment of her own. She rented a one-bedroom apartment, but even with the extra $125 a week from Lowe's, she was barely getting by. "I could pay my bills, but that was it," she said of her days living alone. "I was always broke, so I ended up getting a roommate again. If there's any hope of going to grad school, I've got to put some money away." Like many other teachers holding down two jobs, Rozycki tries to use her second job to benefit her students. She has arranged field trips to the store to show students how math is used in the real world. Lowe's has donated school supplies to her class, and Rozycki's managers have been flexible with her schedule during report-card and parent-conference times. Curley used her dog food selling days to learn about animal nutrition, and this year she hopes to persuade her bookstore to showcase student artwork. Joens turned his janitorial job into a student work program for troublemakers. "I'm glad I did it," Joens said. "It helped me, it helped the school, and it helped some kids. I'd do it again." When Joens left Bayonet Point to become an assistant principal, English teacher Cliff Taylor picked up some of the janitorial duties that Joens vacated. Taylor has taught for 20 years and makes about $40,000. He coaches in the spring and also teaches an extra class into the evening as part of a new school program to help struggling students. His extra jobs pay for the little things his paycheck doesn't cover such as family vacations and his son's hockey league fees. With his oldest son heading off to college in a few years, Taylor said he doubts he'll be able to give up his part-time work any time soon. "I'll probably be looking to pick up a few more jobs once those tuition bills start coming," he said. "But I look at work like it's something you shouldn't be afraid of. I've always felt that you do what you have to do to get by." - Kent Fischer covers education in Pasco County. He can be reached at (800) 333-7505, ext. 6241, or at 869-6241. His e-mail address is kfischer@sptimes.com.
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