Teacher looking for job near Orlando

[Mr Idealism]

Originally Posted by tinytrump

Clermont / lake county are the best schools I have come accross in a long time/

In your experience, they might be, however they're not looked at with high regard. Seminole and Orange have the best public schools in the area, with pockets of lower performing schools. Lake also pays their teachers less and has outrageous insurance costs.

[Mr Idealism]

Originally Posted by jecraigvt

I am moving from just outside Washington, DC. I'm moving from a top 100 high school. We've also had no raise or step for the past 5 years. My wife is going to be a Senior Industrial Engineer at Disney, so based solely on her income, we could probably swing about 2k per month, but would like to stay closer to 1.5k.

Funny, my wife and I left the same area 3 years ago, never to look back. Congrats on your wife getting a job making more than $8/hr with Disney. They're hard to come by! I would look into Dr. Phillips when you're ready to purchase a home. Unless you like the urban sprawl, super cookie cutter vibe of most of NOVA, I would stay away from Winter Garden and the new section of Windermere. Don't get me wrong, I like it more than NOVA, but it's still a sea of developments without much character. Dr. Phillips is older, and while they're are developments, I still think there's plenty more charm to be had. You might be able to rent a house in DP for $2k, but if it's just the two of you I would stick to a nice apt, and would consider the District on Universal Blvd. It's a DP zip code, and while you might not be in the heart of DP, you will get a feel as to whether or not it might suit you. As I said in a previous post, I would apply through the county and then get in touch with the principals from the schools you wish to teach at. Good luck and feel free to PM me with any other questions, as our situations were quite similar.

[Eric1026]

A great math teacher that is really engaged with the students and has a way to teach math that the kids seem to love........this can not be a real post can it?

Just kidding. We would love to welcome your family to Orlando! Like everyone else said put together a great resume and look for ways to distinguish or highlight the fact kids love the way you teach higher level advanced math. Get that to OCPS ASAP and then I think you should also still try to reach out to the local schools. High School wise I would try West Orange HS, Olympia HS and Dr Phillips HS. There will be a new HS opening in the Winter Garden area that is a relief school for West Orange - it is and has gone through a legal battle with where to put it but it is only a matter of time.....however that will take a few years to be build. The point is if you can somehow get into West Orange HS and/or Olympia HS you might be a shoe in for a promotion to the new HS once it is completed.....and now that I think about it you might want to try Bridgewater Middle School too because they offer all kinds of advanced/AP level math classes and from my own experience they could use one or two really good math teachers that have a way of teaching math that kids can understand better.

On a side note - if you want to tutor math to HS kids at your house for some income I might be able to put out the word to get you some business at least over the summer if not longer term. If you are interested I guess PM me and I can find out more about what you would like or can do and put out the word.

In terms of places to live = Winter Garden and Windermere is so nice and if you look at the google map you can see where the back end of Disney (near the castle) basically empties out right into Winter Garden (off of Reams Road /Ficquette Road). If you want to rent a house I am not sure how you research that......the only thing I can help you with apartment wise is that there are a lot of new apartments that have just opened up on the back end of Disney right off of Reams Road. I would assume they are offering some pretty good deals since they have just opened up so much competition.

Good luck with your move and we wish you the best with your wives new job at Disney!