Educator done with DMV, ready to come home

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Evanston/Wilmette. Love Chicago and Midwest in general. I eventually went to a Big12 (at the time) state school and have navigated Elementary education and now educational administration. I am ready to come home. Where do I go to make the 6 figure (or comparable) salary? Where can I show up to make an impact? My god. Our system is so broken.

[Anonymous]

Not an educator but I grew up in Glenview and found the entire north shore public schools to be known for high paying teacher jobs. I have no idea how easy it is or whether it's worse than DMV, but generally I'm frustrated trying to find somewhere in DMV to raise my kids (we're foreign service and coming back to the area) and keep comparing it to wonderful schools and communities of Chicago.

Congratulations on your move!

[Anonymous]

Hello! Yes, educators can make good salaries in the North Shore public schools, but it can take awhile. In Glenview, my son's 1st grade teacher with 5 years of experience made something like $35k. I was shocked.

I think you could make six figures as an administrator in the North Shore schools, or many other school systems in Northern Illinois.

What do you mean by "make an impact"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello! Yes, educators can make good salaries in the North Shore public schools, but it can take awhile. In Glenview, my son's 1st grade teacher with 5 years of experience made something like $35k. I was shocked.

I think you could make six figures as an administrator in the North Shore schools, or many other school systems in Northern Illinois.

What do you mean by "make an impact"?

5 years experience making 35K? Maybe 30 years ago, not now. Or maybe teaching half time.

But yes, if you want to be an admin in a public school anywhere in Cook County, you can plan on starting between 100-150K a year. Depends where you work. Wilmette, Oak Park, Naperville will pay you 150K or more to start. The south suburbs might pay you 75-100K a year to start. You probably won't have any trouble getting hired as there's a terrible admin shortage. Getting hired in a northshore district might be very hard. Those are plum jobs. Best of luck to you.

[Anonymous]

And all of Illinois, along with the entire nation, has public and private schools which are irrevocably damaged and dysfunctional. There is nowhere to go where things are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hello! Yes, educators can make good salaries in the North Shore public schools, but it can take awhile. In Glenview, my son's 1st grade teacher with 5 years of experience made something like $35k. I was shocked.

I think you could make six figures as an administrator in the North Shore schools, or many other school systems in Northern Illinois.

What do you mean by "make an impact"?

5 years experience making 35K? Maybe 30 years ago, not now. Or maybe teaching half time.

But yes, if you want to be an admin in a public school anywhere in Cook County, you can plan on starting between 100-150K a year. Depends where you work. Wilmette, Oak Park, Naperville will pay you 150K or more to start. The south suburbs might pay you 75-100K a year to start. You probably won't have any trouble getting hired as there's a terrible admin shortage. Getting hired in a northshore district might be very hard. Those are plum jobs. Best of luck to you.

This teacher was making $46k in 2019. I can't see data before that, so can't confirm her salary when she taught my son. But this is a full-time 1st grade teacher in Glenview district 34. I was shocked how low her pay was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And all of Illinois, along with the entire nation, has public and private schools which are irrevocably damaged and dysfunctional. There is nowhere to go where things are good.

Seriously? The whole nation?

I have one child old enough to be in elementary. And while not all of his teachers have been excellent, they were all at least good. And the principal is excellent. And the teachers my son works with this year all are committed to his success and regularly communicate with me. He's being challenged and not coddled. Expectations are high.

And from what I understand, the high schools in the northern Chicago suburbs are good to excellent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And all of Illinois, along with the entire nation, has public and private schools which are irrevocably damaged and dysfunctional. There is nowhere to go where things are good.

Seriously? The whole nation?

I have one child old enough to be in elementary. And while not all of his teachers have been excellent, they were all at least good. And the principal is excellent. And the teachers my son works with this year all are committed to his success and regularly communicate with me. He's being challenged and not coddled. Expectations are high.

And from what I understand, the high schools in the northern Chicago suburbs are good to excellent.

I wrote the quoted part. I'm a teacher. My point is that there is nowhere to go work in a school that is good. There are high scoring schools out there, yes. But good schools to work in? No. My teacher colleagues and admin where I work are amazing. But the district, like the other 5 districts I've worked in are royally screwed up. We've had a half a dozen teachers quit since school started this fall. That NEVER happens. Kids are absolutely out of control. It is really, really bad. I've had to evacuate my room twice this week. It's Tuesday.
I know dozens of teachers across the U.S. and only one is happy (and she's a librarian). There are 14 teachers in my grade level in my district. In a recent survey, 10 are actively looking to leave teaching or hope or plan to retire early. It's horrible out there.