From my preceding post:

“In the area of unintended consequences, teachers are currently being riffed or nonrenewed all over the country. My social media feed is a sea of men and women who find they have no job. I am certain that many of those teachers whose jobs evaporated are the victim of numbers — the numbers that making superintendents say that schools cannot reopen under the new guidelines because schools cannot afford to reopen. What do you do when you are a district running on financial fumes — as many districts were before the start of COVID-19? You tell newer staff members that they cannot rely upon a job in the fall. Maybe you even tell them they definitely have no job. Districts afraid they cannot afford their busses will cut staff, waiting until fall to determine the absolute minimum amount of classroom coverage they require. Many of the laid-off will be rehired. But right now, they are freaking out all over my social media feeds.”

First, I want to emphasize the penultimate line in the paragraph above: Many of the laid-off will be rehired. That’s riffing. A district dumps teachers to free money for the spreadsheets. Come fall, though, those teachers tend to be called back because student loads don’t allow the district to begin without some, most or even all of those riffed teachers. Keep in mind that riffed teachers are looking for work and not all the riffed will be available to come back, creating possible vacancies. I was riffed four times and I returned every single time.

Now today’s message: Get out there. Start actively looking for the next, better job. You will never find a better time. This is anecdotal but I would put a month’s mortgage money on my belief that panicked districts have been overly aggressive in sloughing staff. I have never seen so many scared, technically or genuinely unemployed teachers at this time of year. On the one hand, that obviously would seem to put a damper on employment searches. On the other hand, in August districts will require teachers. America’s kids haven’t been abducted by aliens. That school that had 1,500 kids last year will almost undoubtedly have 1,500 kids this year. They are likely to look at their numbers and they will know that they still require a full Spanish department or the usual number of 4th grade teachers.

Nonrenewed? Nonrenewals seem to be at an all-time high too. That’s in your favor right now. You will be lost in enough of a crowd so that your nonrenewal will be unremarkable. Get the best recommendations you can. I recommend using colleagues who will enthuse about you if you are concerned about what administration might say.

Be positive. Prepare a set of upbeat answers for why you want to work in District X, Y, or Z. Don’t talk about what went wrong. Talk about what went right and why you love teaching. And go for it!

One possibly large X-factor remains in this equation that should also improve hiring and rehiring prospects this summer: August will reveal a number of unexpected vacancies from teachers sitting on the COVID-19 fence, deciding whether to risk returning to the classroom or not. Not all those teachers will choose to go back into the classroom.

Eduhonesty: Don’t panic. I believe vacancies will be popping up all over. This might be perfect time for the big adventure, the move to Alaska or Hawaii. If you are rooted, don’t be afraid to drive, especially if you enjoy listening to books.

Put on your job hunting shoes and go for it.

P.S. It’s always good to have a couple of answers to those questions about what you can improve upon, something safe like “I would like to improve my management of transitions when changing groups…”