I am a teacher in Escambia County at Bailey Middle. I teach 8th grade science and have taught science for over 20 years. I am a biology major and have both a Chemistry and Physicsminor. I can teach any science course in grades 6-12. I could also teach math but then that's what science is for...I teach plenty of math in my science classes. There are openings in the county for teachers but the pay is among the lowest in the state. Average salary for a teacher in Florida is $45,000, in Escambia it is about $37,000. Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties pay considerably more and many teachers from Escambia wind up there for the increase in pay. We lost a band teacher from Bailey to Okaloosa County and she now makes over $10,000 more a year for making the switch. Check the district web site, they have job posting there.
Now...for the foreign language issue...you DO not have to take a foreign language justto graduate from high school. If you wish to work toward a college prep diploma or are in the IB program (both of which requires students to go above and beyond the general requirements)then you are required to take two years of foreign language. Sign language counts here, so does Latin (my choice in HS), Spanish, French, and any other language offered at the individual schools. It is considered to be a requirement for most freshmen entering college to have foreign language credits from high school.For those of you that might be interested in knowing what the graduation requirements are, here is a link to the district web site. You can skip right to page 43. This is where you will find them.
http://www.escambia.k12.fl.us/EDITED_SPP_2007_Appd.pdf
I enjoy what I do or I wouldn't stick with it because it is sure not for the pay. The time off is well earned and is one of the reasons I have stuck with it this long. The days don't end at 4:00 for me. I take a lot of work home and let's just say grading 130+ tests(25 questions) means I am looking at 3250 answers, plus recording...making comments etc...and it doesn't get done quickly. There are many nights I spend all evening grading papers and the pay clock stopped hours ago. Tomorrow is advisory day which means that I have to have all my grades averaged by tonight so I can send a progress report home to parents letting them know how their little darlings are doing. Let's just say I didn't wait until tonight to do that either...I spent part of my Thanksgiving holiday making sure that was done. I deserve my time off during the summer. And if you really want to know it is more like7-8 weeks, not the 3 months as most assume.
If you can read this then you need to thank a teacher. It really ticks me off when I hear people bad mouth teachers.