About four weeks ago, I received a phone call from a Math teacher at a local Middle School. Her Principal had asked her to find someone to help tutor some selected 8th graders who had been flagged as being in danger of failing the upcoming TAKS Math Test. Eighth graders must pass this test to go to High School. The job would be two (2) hours a week and would pay $10 per hour. The teacher found my name on the school district's tutoring list and contacted me. I had already been considering volunteering to help students prepare for TAKS, so this seemed to me to be a way to get into the schools and help. The school in question is just a few blocks from my home so I decided to take the offer.
A little background on me: I am a certified Math Teacher with 22 years classroom experience, 11 of those in this very school district. I left the classroom in 2005 to start my own Math tutoring business which I run from my home. Most of my business is done in the after school hours from 4:30-9:30pm. I charge $45/hr and work anywhere from 20-30 hours a week. So accepting a job paying $10/hr for 2 hours a week during school hours isn't that big of a deal to me .... but there are 4-8 kids in this Middle School who need help and I decided to try. In order to be on the district tutoring list, a person is supposed to be a certified teacher and to have already passed a background check, so I thought I would be able to start working with the students immediately.
Not so!
I had to go to a website a fill out a big job application, order copies of my college transcripts and teaching certificate, get referals, and fill out all kinds of forms. Don't they keep records of previous employees? Apparently not! Okay .... so I did all of that. Now at 4+ weeks later, the teacher who initially contacted me finally called to say I have been hired! Yay! Guess when the 8th grade TAKS test is .... THIS MONDAY! Have I seen the students I have been "hired" to help? NO!
But wait ... there's more .... NOW I need to go get fingerprinted (which I have to pay $50+ for) and then wait 10-14 more days for the results of a national background check AND I have to fill out stacks of paperwork and place my social security number at the top of each form and submit a photocopy of my social security card to the school hiring me. Plus I have to sign a form stating that I understand that this job is not a Social Security Job because they will be taking money out of my pay to pay into my Teacher Pension plan and I need to understand that this will affect the amount of Social Security I will be able to collect in the future, if any. And I have to fill out several forms declaring my Ethnicity AND my Race ... so much for MLK's Dream. (I checked EVERY box, by the way.)
By the time I get all this paperwork filed and fingerprints run and background checked the students will already have taken their TAKS Math Test!! But that's okay ... they are expected to fail anyway ... and they will have two more chances ... so maybe I'll be cleared to work with them before the next testing session! WOW.
On the other hand ... maybe at some point I will be able to make a difference to a student or two. Maybe now that I am "in the system", I'll be asked to help out at other schools. I know that not everyone can afford a $45/hr Private Math tutor .... but who knew that trying to help local public school students would require paying $100+ and jumpng through so many hoops? So it goes with Government work, I guess?
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