Heliotrope wrote:
> Worked well - leadership would take it seriously most of the time,
> especially where it wouldn't require a lot of extra money.

Ah yes. Faculty voices will be heard and considered, unless it involves money. If it involves money, then you are being selfish or not a "team player". Pretty much the MO of most schools.

LOL, are you working at my previous school? Or working for an admin from that school who has moved on? Sure sounds like it...especially the gaslighting. Yes, this was an "elite" tier school.

Do you get emails sent to you by certain admin timestamped at 3:17 am? Does that same admin pay lip service to wellness but doesn't actually practice wellness in their own life?

Current school has written behavior guidelines which are explicitly taught.

Previous school had no written guidelines and kowtowed to parents in all cases. Not surprisingly, this school had students involved in fistfights, sexual harassment, drug use (at school), online threats, you name it. It was so bad at one point that faculty parents were hesitant to send their children to the HS. And this was a "tier 1" school...

Well yeah, it's assumed that any pros/cons list is going to be highly personalized.

Another way to evaluate this that has worked for me is to look at 4 areas:

*The job/school itself
*The satisfaction with city/country
*The travel ops
*The savings potential

If all 4 are working for you, you would be a fool to leave (but this is rare).

If 3 of 4 are still good, you might want to just stay on until you get the itch for a new adventure (unless the job itself is a total nightmare).

If 2 of 4 have gone bad, you really need to at least start a "soft" search and have some sort of rough idea or timeline for an exit plan. You could possibly sign on for another year or 2.

If only 1 of these is working for you, get out asap. Your overall quality of life is probably suffering. Some may argue on this one, but I don't care how good the job/school is if the city has nothing to offer you, you can't save anything, and travel ops are limited due to geography or costs. Conversely, you could also be in the greatest city in the world, but if the job is an awful dead-end stress magnet and you can't save any money, you are kidding yourself if you think you should stay on.

If these have all gone bad, you have stayed too long already or are teaching back home in a public school.

- What do you not miss about your old school/situation?

The astonishingly arrogant and egotistical admin. The dysfunctionality. The dreadfully boring city the school was located in. The fact that the school was non-profit, but acted like a for-profit in so many ways.

- What is your favorite thing about your new school/situation?

Teachers are actually trusted to some extent and the savings potential is high.

- What advice would you give to colleagues who might be not sure about moving on, but know it is probably better for their emotional/mental health?

Make a list of pros/cons. If the pros list isn't significantly longer than the cons list, get the hell out asap.

Loads of factors at play here, but I also think your location is a big one. You are in SE Asia where the labor laws that are on paper are worth about as much as an m&m's wrapper, so I don't think you can play up the maternity/newborn angle (I've seen (female) admin harass pregnant teachers for taking maternity leave "too early"). Best of luck.

I've normally seen non-renewal done early on in the school year, around the time letters of intent are issued. Seems to work out best for both parties that way. Where it gets messy is if it's one half of a teaching couple being non-renewed as then the other half is essentially being fired for no reason.

booboo14 wrote:
> I wish I had the enthusiasm of others to go to schools in the ME, China or
> even Thailand. I just don't. After you subtract those locations there's
> really not much at the fairs.

This x 100 is why I will never attend another fair. China (mainland) is not even up for consideration. Going back to Thailand where you get taxed to hell and where 99% schools are complete garbage? I'll pass. ME I would only do again if it was a short stint for huge "you can retire" level money. Then you have the schools at fairs from Vietnam or other countries where the job description is 6+ pages long and they are paying you $32k gross a year...

These fairs are as good as dead, IMO. I won't be attending another one (been to 4 in 3 different countries). SA will have to morph into something else to survive although their database is useful. A friend attended GRC this year, said it was mostly just talk and schools connecting with one another.

Rumor has it you need someone in your field to either retire or die there just to get a shot at an interview, and even that might not be enough if you don't know anyone there. There is not a whole lot of movement. I don't think I've ever seen a position there in my field on offer in 10+ years of looking.

My experience - I applied and QTS rejected it, claiming the credential was not fully "professional-tier" (I forget the wording they used, but it was something like that). I still have this state credential (and others as well) and have not had issues with getting hired. Probably worth a try though as it is free.

PsyGuy wrote:
> You dont have to return to the US to generate SS credits you can teach
> remotely anywhere in the world at various US virtual DSs. You could also
> recycle some of your income as Self Employment income through a company you
> form. Its expensive though.
> Aside from that you want to find a nice EU country by around 50 so that you
> can get citizenship, and be vested enough to collect a social pension while
> taking advantage of the social health care scheme.

The self employment route is only realistic in very specific situations, I have researched it a bit. For most working expats, going this route is not going to be worth it, as you point out it can get very expensive depending on your situation.

All down to your specific situation, there is no catch all plan. I won't qualify for Medicare (barely over half of the required credits and zero desire to work in the US again), but also don't want to retire in US. At this point in my career I have experienced so many countries with better care than the US at a fraction of the price anyway...

The above reply is correct. I've seen faculty who would be very difficult to replace/recruit for announce early. This prompted leadership to convince them to $tay. In some cases is was not directly more money but extra benefits that were offered.

Flip side of announcing too early is that leadership WILL figuratively check out from you and your last year has a high chance of being awful because of it. It is VERY easy for admin to make your work life miserable if they want to do it. Ask me how I know...

Normally the best way to play it is to only announce when intent letters are due.

Regarding the "ugly" situation described by Psyguy, haven't heard of this happening in the schools I've been, but I wouldn't be surprised...in some countries local labor laws would disincentivize the school from trying to pull this off, but of course in many countries labor laws are on par with the tooth fairy for legitimacy...

Not a tax professional, but could you just MFS and that way her income still wouldn't be taxable in the US?