Kansas City Missouri School District

Some of you may have heard in the news about Kansas City Missouri School District closing 26 schools and lays off over 100 staff members. It is scary stuff to be a teacher in the Kansas City area right now. Most other districts in the metropolitan area are laying off teachers, or not hiring also. I work at a charter school that is backed by the University of Missouri Kansas City and has a very nice group of wealthy supporters. We are given bonuses based on our test score and a few other factor that can reach up to 3,000 extra dollars. Teachers bonuses in state tested grades are based on our state MAP test and on SAT10 testing. In others grades they look at SAT10 scores alone. There is lots of pressure to be successful however and you never really feel safe with you job. I am very glad to have my job however. With a new superintendent taking over last year all returning teachers who were not making what they should have been like me were given huge raises. You see we did not have a pay scale, but salaries were offered based on experience, who you knew and how much you impressed people. Salaries are more even now but there is still no schedule and no check and balance system. The Kansas City Missouri School district is moving slowly towards ideas like in play at my school and more schools across the country. They fired all principals and just recently announced who the new principals would be. Some principals were rehired back. I am wanting to know what the national take is on Kansas City in education.

Finding Teaching Jobs

How hard is it to find a teaching job right now. In certain areas it is very tough. Major metropolitan areas like Kansas City are letting teacher go because of budget cuts. Let me know what experiences you are having.