6 years and still nothing

[mortensorchid]

I have been trying and trying to get a non- tax teaching license for the last 6 years of teaching (officially 5).  No on will sign it.  This will authorize me to teach in non-public schools - as in private and Catholic schools.  NO ONE will sign it.  I have tried and tried to find someone to sign it as in to hire me and give me the chance to be a full time teacher instead of subbing and having to work other jobs.  I worked at a boarding school 2 years ago, I asked someone in the HR department to sign it, they said no.  I was a long term sub at a Catholoc school 3 years ago - the principal promised me he would sign it.  Instead he fired me via text at 10pm the night I sent the request into the state department of education.  And a week later the school closed and I never heard a word from anyone ever again.  

I don't know what to do other than what I have been doing.  A gal I went to high school with got hers by lying to the hiring manager- she had a man who she said was her father call the hiring manager at home and told him she was left at the alter, can you find it in your heart to give her the chance /  job?  And the answer was yes.  She didn't get left at the alter, btw - she ended up being the first in my high school class to get married and first to get divorced.  And she hasn't senor heard from her father since her parents divorced when she was 2 or 3 years old.  Is that how you get things done ?!??!  Apparently. 

[basil67]

This must be so frustrating for you.  Have any of the people who refused to sign it given you a reason?  

[Happy Lemming]

6 hours ago, mortensorchid said:

  NO ONE will sign it.

Have you fulfilled the other requirements for this non-tax teaching license?? I don't understand why a State governing board would require a signature from a random individual to allow you to obtain this license?? Perhaps there is a way around this requirement?? Is there an appeal process??

I think I'd do some research as to how to circumvent this signature requirement.

[ChatroomHero]

It seems like a lot is left out that would allow anyone to offer any advice.

1. What is the requirement and why would anyone say no? Is there something tied to them if you turn out not to be qualified or good and they signed off? 

2. you say you basically asked 2 people and they said no. How many others have you asked in 6 years? Does it have to be HR, a principal etc., and someone you actively worked with...?

3.. Why did they tell you, specifically, no? ...assuming you asked several people other than just the two you mentioned in 6 years.

With little to go on, assuming you can just ask random people in the profession, I bet there are forums dedicated to that. Assuming you have to ask someone you work for or with, they are probably not going to sign it if they know it means you are looking elsewhere. It would be kind of like working for Factory A and telling your boss if they write a letter that you are a good employee, you can get a better job at factory B. Probably not going to happen often. If you are a good employee, they don't want to lose you and if you are a bad employee they are not going to want to do it.

I would think if there is an arbitrary requirement to get someone to sign off, there must be some kind of appeals process where you would tell them who you asked. Usually when they have a requirement for something like that, they have a process to take into account that maybe the only people that you could ask to sign off don't want to for reasons other than bad ones. Without enough information I would say if you have been trying for 6 years, others have had the same issues and there are probably groups or forums with suggestions for this specific issue. If it were me and it were important enough, I would try to contact those people you need to sign off and ask them what you need to do to get them to sign. Bribe them if you have to, plead and beg, whatever. It alls sounds arbitrary and frankly kind of a pointless process if there are not protections for someone that has to get a signature for someone that can refuse just because they don't feel like it. 

[mortensorchid]

I took all the required classes for it.  It's a new hire thing.  I have been teaching for 6 years approaching my 7th and no one will hire me to be a full or even part time teacher someplace.  So I have to be a sub and driving all over the place.  I just took a job with a Catholic school nearby who wanted a building sub.  When you're working as a sub you're an employee of one public school district or the employment agency (if you are a multi district sub, which I was).  I am no longer with the 2 employment agencies (3 strikes and you're out, we all have bad days and whatever else) but I am with an independent public school district.  I want to be a teacher in a non public school and no one will sign it.  I have subbed in other Catholic schools, when I asked their HR department if they would sign it they also said no because I wasn't working there full time.  That place where the idiot principal promised me he'd sign it was just using me to babysit until the place closed.  And they did and he probably went underground with all he was skimming off the top.  Left everything and everyone high and dry.

I have to resort to the evil manipulation of that evil gal I went to high school with?  Never.  She's evil and has that whole little girl lost without her daddy thing going for her which she used to her advantage.  She was evil and always got what she wanted.  I guess that's what it's about.

[mortensorchid]

But I have done 1001 other education /teaching jobs as a sub, in aftercare as a monitor, a private and online tutor teaching ESL to people in the US and people in China.  And about to start as a driving instructor and thinking of doing a teacher training thing as well.  But no traditional job as a teacher.  I have a friend who made it and she's taught in boarding schools all across America.  She doesn't understand why I don't sell the farm and leave my home state.  I said I have applied and no one responded.

[basil67]

6 minutes ago, mortensorchid said:

I have to resort to the evil manipulation of that evil gal I went to high school with?  Never.  She's evil and has that whole little girl lost without her daddy thing going for her which she used to her advantage.  She was evil and always got what she wanted.  I guess that's what it's about.

I think 'evil' is a stretch.   Yes, she lied to work the system, sure.  But she's hardly an axe murderer.

[clia]

11 hours ago, mortensorchid said:

I took all the required classes for it.  It's a new hire thing.  I have been teaching for 6 years approaching my 7th and no one will hire me to be a full or even part time teacher someplace. 

This seems to be the real issue -- they have to hire you to teach to sign it, and no one wants to hire you.  Do you have any theories about why no one wants to hire you?  Do you interview poorly?  Are they just not hiring and are relying on subs?  Or are they hiring certified teachers instead?  Is there enough demand for what you are trying to accomplish?  Have you received any useful feedback from anyone who you've interviewed with over the past 6 years?   

[mortensorchid]

10 hours ago, clia said:

This seems to be the real issue -- they have to hire you to teach to sign it, and no one wants to hire you.  Do you have any theories about why no one wants to hire you?  Do you interview poorly?  Are they just not hiring and are relying on subs?  Or are they hiring certified teachers instead?  Is there enough demand for what you are trying to accomplish?  Have you received any useful feedback from anyone who you've interviewed with over the past 6 years?   

I do - They want someone with full time teaching / classroom experience which I do not have.  

Interviewing - I am a good interviewer. 

They rely on subs a lot more than you think they do.  As a sub you are certified as a sub, you ARE a teacher.  

Useful feedback?  90% of them never even bother to respond to tell you if you got the job or not.  And the one place I was a long term sub for?  Well, that's a story ... The principal said he was going to sign the license for me, I went home that night, filed it on the website and dropped him an email telling him I had put it in.  At 10 pm that night while I was up chatting with my neighbor in my building, he fired me via text message and threatened me with legal action.  I had put some things on my Twitter account that I shouldn't had.  One week later was the last day of school.  The day after that the school closed.  As in CLOSED for good.  Out of curiosity I drove down to the place (it was about 75 miles away), the fire department was next door.  I walk in and talk to the firemen on duty there and asked if they could tell me what happened to the place next door.  They said they saw moving vans in the parking lot, people came in and took things out, and that was that.  Even the church was abandoned.  I have no idea what happened to their final grades.  The 3rd grade was so far behind they didn't know division or the difference between a city, state and a country.  I never heard a word from anyone - a student, parent, teacher, etc. - ever again, let alone a legal department.  Everyone and everything literally scattered to the wind.  My summer job started a week later....  I remember once posting about how relationships don't seem to last anymore, and I guess this is another example.  Life is certainly fast paced, I think people don't really care about longevity or whatever else anymore.  They also don't care about others much, they come first, and we're just flying by the seat of our pants half the time.  This applies to teaching as well as other kinds of jobs.  Meh.  Life goes on apparently. 
 

[basil67]

14 minutes ago, mortensorchid said:

I went home that night, filed it on the website and dropped him an email telling him I had put it in.  At 10 pm that night while I was up chatting with my neighbor in my building, he fired me via text message and threatened me with legal action.  I had put some things on my Twitter account that I shouldn't had. 

At least in this case you know why you didn't get the signature.   Any of us in any workplace would likely lose a recommendation if we did such a thing.

Were there any personal issues at other work places who've refused to sign it?  

[Pastypop]

I’d just be unethical and work with that evil girl.  Remember, it all comes down to your money and stability.  I’ve lied like a dog to my temp employers over the last four years to support my family.  I have no regrets about any it.  I do what I have to do.  

[mortensorchid]

I think everyone lies to some degree whether it's in print on your resume or in an interview.  When that long term subbing job ended, I just eliminated it from my resume.  Life went on - my summer job started 2 weeks later, I got a proctoring job at a boarding school which I loved (the eliminated the position at the end of the year), then my next summer job started the week after the last day there, etc.  I put it back on my resume because it's been 2/3 years since that job, place is closed, there's no one to verify anything other than me.  But hey, if they're going to be that cowardly to fire me via text message and I have no idea what happened to the final grades, then ... That's that I guess.