para educator

elementary school teacher

teacher

high school teacher

senior clerk typist

San Francisco Unified School District

Dear Hiring Manger,

	I currently work with the San Francisco Unified School District as an instructional aid for special education. Throughout the school year I get the wonderful opportunity to sub at different schools within the San Francisco school district. On my subbing assignments I get a chance to work with students who vary in special needs. Being in this position can be challenging and rewarding. The challenging part of this position is being a new person to a student who I am assigned to work with. The student is unfamiliar with me as I am to the student. A student with special needs may react positively or negatively towards me. In these situations I try my best to support the student in his/her academics following the teacher’s instructions. The rewarding part is witnessing the student complete his/her academic task or meeting a goal. The task could be color and shape sorting (which can be a difficult task for a student with special needs).  
	Being a substitute allows me to work with students with special needs from preschool through high school and young adults enrolled the transitional program. Each week of work will differ from student to student from school to school. I am able to transition and adapt to different classrooms with ease. I learned a lot about teaching and special needs through working as a substitute each day.  My patient levels and communication with students improved tremendously. I am able to support students academically, physically (i.e. wheelchair pushing), emotionally (i.e. emotionally disturbed), and mentally. I am able to work with the teacher and other supporting staff. It is very important that the teacher and supporting staff are in sync and working in unison. 
	My past experiences are working at an afterschool program as an afterschool teacher and a support staff at a child development center. As an afterschool teacher I worked with 5th graders who needed help in math, science, grammar, and homework correction. Sometimes it was overwhelming with the amount of homework help that was needed. I was glad to help the students learn. At the child development center their model was to promote the child’s independence and encouraged the children to explore the interests that attracted them. I would help the teacher create a lesson plan that catered to the children’s interests.  

I look forward to meeting with you to discuss in more detail about my other experiences. I appreciate your consideration. 

Thank you for your time, 
Cynthia Tam


Very competitive to be hired at a school that is pleasant to work for, and they proudly use their own weird system for applying instead of EdJoin that is infinitely easier and better. Pay is "good" relative to the rest of the US but not enough to rent more than an okay 1-bedroom in an okay neighborhood in San Francisco. If you have high other expenses like childcare or medical needs you will not be able to afford it without a second income. 

The schools are a hodge podge of whatever the families demand. Teachers are not really respected and you will be at the mercy of the current cohort of families and the principals. Guidance from the top is completely disengaged from actually working in a classroom. There is a vague "restorative justice" management system with no help or tools to put in place. Some curriculum is provided but is not always relevant to your students. Thankfully I haven't heard of anyone needing to submit lessons plans, but you do need to waste your time posting the standards.

HR is very hard to get a hold of and routinely messes up paychecks and benefits. Know all your rights and keep advocating for them. The union is strong and very good. 

This is an okay district to work for overall. It will not be as cuishy as a nice suburban district where the families respect teachers and the education system. There is a lot of pushback and scrutiny under the name of including and empowering the families. There are a lot of problematic systemic factors in San Francisco that this indebted public education district is somehow expected to solve. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at SFUSD was working collaboratively with other educators, families, and students to contribute to the community.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working with SFUSD was that the size of the district made it difficult for oversight at the site level.  As a result, incompetence (mismanagement) went unaddressed and unchecked.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment and culture vary from site to site. I experienced a disconnect between the mandates of the administration and the needs of the teachers, students, and families. The financial fiasco added another layer of stress to the worksite.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day included working to meet students' academic, emotional, and social needs in an unpredictable and fast-paced setting while maintaining professionalism. The work was often isolating and emotionally taxing. The relationships with a few colleagues and families made it bearable when I was there.

SFUSD is kind, flexible, and supportive employer. I find the HR office responsible, I have had excellent supervisors/managers, and I work with positive idealists. I have learned the union can infringe upon the benefit of the students; it enforces contracts despite how individual adults serve the student population.

The toughest part of counseling is the on-going discipline responsibilities. A counselor tends to spend 50% of his/her time at a large site suspending students or participating in Restorative Circles. The most unfortunate piece is the personality conflicts between adults expectations, and the district protocol.

I find the school-wide activities most enjoyable: dances, assemblies, barbeques, and faculty celebrations. In these contexts, all individuals seem to share a goal and hopeful outlook for the future of our youth. Meeting with individual students is often the highlight of my day.

Your co-workers, supervisors, caseloads/students, and demands are all dependent on your site.

Will you be able to attend that PD that would help your practice or get that replacement post-it easel?  Well it depends on whether your supervisor or Principal signs off.  Is your school predominantly middle to upper income students?  Prepare for parents helicoptering all over.  Is your entire site on free lunch?  There's a good chance their parents' work schedule won't let them off for back to school night.  Bigger schools have more staff but that doesn't always mean more resources.  Smaller schools have less kids but that doesn't mean less needs.

SFUSD teachers get paid based on experience and education plus bonuses for "high-potential" (high turnover) sites and hard to staff positions, but otherwise the same from site to site.  While that extra $1000-2000/year may seem really tempting to sign on to a site you're not in love with, your longevity at that site may take a hit if you find yourself not fitting in.

San Francisco Unified School District, School Health Department is a great place to work.  The people are friendly and the work environment is collaborative.  

  A typical day at a school site can vary from children needing an adult  other than a teacher or administrator to talk with on slow days to fast paced with numerous kids sick or injured who require emergency medical services.  Other times may be spent providing specialized medical care to physically fragile children with medical conditions that  require tracheostomy, g-tube or colostomy care and insulin or seizure support.

The services provided are not limited to students.  Adult school staff members can come for health checks and first aid too.

More often than not, most children just need some first aid and a little TLC.

When I walk into the halls of a school, the first thing I notice is the quiet of the place. Then as the children and the teachers trickle in, the school takes on a life of its own. Voices echo in the yards as children scream and shout in play, and teachers are doing busy work in preparation for their day's lessons. At every turn, there is always something that needs attention. A late child needs a tardy slip, a frantic teacher needs the principal attend to a misbehaving child, teachers come in and out of the office to make copies or turn in their attendance. A student will come in asking for a band aid or an ice pack. Then as the day progresses, payroll needs to be submitted or invoices need to be paid. Parents call in to say their children are sick or ask about the minimum day. There is always something going on in the administrative office until the last minute, when I turn off my computer and say goodnight to the principal. I find all this very fulfilling and gratifying!

I worked at five different elementary schools each week and had to adjust to different schedules.  I worked with an array of students of different socioeconomic status, ethnicities and backgrounds.  The management, for the most part, didn't micromanage my program.  I met with fellow teachers for staff meetings monthly, and occasionally more often, as needed.  My fellow teachers were great to work with and  a very dedicated group.  The hardest part of my job was when administrators wanted to mess with the structure of my program.  The best part was doing what I loved, and seeing the growth of my students.  There was something special happening when students tapped into their creativity and made beautiful music, both individually and together.

Very worthwhile work with special needs students. Each school is different. All schools accessible by public transportation. Given no training or info about various  disabilities. Coworkers were kind and understanding. Administration okay, but difficult getting ahold of the correct person. Forgiving of mistakes. Need a lot of patience.  Good way to get experience to qualify to work in private child development center. 

Although the school administration, teachers, staff, and kids are amazing, this is the worst district I've worked for as an SLP. The other review is 100% correct, we have insane case managing duties, on top of working on multiple schools and having a caseload of at least 55 students. If you have any less, they will find more to fill up your caseload. On top of everything we do as SLPs, they add a ton of case managing duties which we should not be responsible for. OTs don't case manage, PTs don't..so why do we?? As the other mentioned, for some reason our "amazing union" fought for us to stay an hour after the kids leave for no reason. Expect your days to be full of administrative busy work, stress, planning meetings, and very little functional therapy. I would avoid this district unless you like busy work and staying at work for longer than you need to. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Para educator 31 salaries reported	$34.10 per hour
Elementary school teacher 84 salaries reported	$23.27 per hour
Teacher 38 salaries reported	$100,208 per year
High school teacher 118 salaries reported	$105,466 per year
Senior clerk typist 17 salaries reported	$32.85 per hour

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