If you'd like to email (sharon@art-rageous.net) I'll be happy to answer
any/all questions you have about boarding schools, though I'll just be
speaking from personal experience about one school :-)
Basics, though--only about 1/4 of the teachers live on campus (not enough
housing for everyone, and not everyone would want to live on campus. I live
close, about 4 miles away, but some teachers have a 45+ minute commute).
Pay is generally significantly less than public school salaries. And there
are lots and lots of extra duties: we're teachers, coaches, advisors, bus
drivers, chaperones, study hall supervisors, service group sponsors, class
sponsors, activity directors, surrogate parents and committee members.
Teachers also provide coverage for all the extra hours (including nights &
weekends). There's no such thing as duty free lunch or tenure and there's no
"union." It's a very demanding and very intense schedule for everyone--kids
and teachers.
Positives include really getting to know your students, in and out of the
classroom. Max class size is about 15; many classes are smaller. There's
generally more academic freedom for teachers (and thus for students) than in
public schools.
I'm in my 5th year of teaching at this school and I still earn less than a
1st year teacher at one of the local public schools. I teach middle school
through high school (including 2 different AP classes for the first time
this year) and I have a mix of Art I students and "Art Others" in every
class (with the exception of my Middle School, and I have a mix of 6th & 7th
graders in this particular rotation). I also have one student doing an
independent study in graphic design and between the two of us, we're in
charge of putting together this year's yearbook.
I'm an advisor to 5 students, I'm head of the fine arts dept, I'm the
sponsor of a service group (that meets every other week), and I'm the
school's webmaster. During the winter I'll be the assistant drama person,
involved mainly in set stuff for the big play (I didn't have to do that this
fall, though I have every other year, as teachers usually have some sort of
"coaching" responsibility 2 out of 3 sports seasons...)
It appears that within the next couple of weeks, I'll also be teaching for
an hour each Sunday morning! There were kids who couldn't get into art this
year due to schedule conflicts who really want to have the opportunity to
continue art instruction. (BTW, again this year I have *one* student in my
"planning period"!!) Anyhow, a student begged me to consider offering a
non-credit weekend class (and one of the administrators has asked me to do
this, too), and another student has also expressed interest. I know of at
least one more kid who will probably sign up for a Sunday class....
So...........it's totally crazy, but most of the time I really love what I
do and where I'm doing it! Please write if you'd like to know more :-)
