For Many Teachers, 2 Jobs a Prerequisite

By Kathleen McGrory, The Miami Herald

Feb. 11–When Randolph Chancy took a job with Miami-Dade County public schools last year, he expected teaching would be a labor of love.

But he wasn’t prepared for just how much labor would be required.

For Chancy, the $38,000-a-year salary he collects from the district is not enough to make ends meet. So every day after school, Chancy races to a pathology lab in Miami Lakes, where he works a second job as a lab technician.

“I’m a young, black male with a background in the sciences; I figured I could make a difference as a teacher,” said Chancy, 30, a favorite among students at the Linda Lentin K-8 Center in North Miami. “I just never thought it would be this hard.”

“It’s crazy. It’s all day, everyday: Go! Go! Go!” sighed Erin Hanson, a third-grade teacher at Sawgrass Elementary in Sunrise who also works two nights and Saturdays selling purses and accessories at the Kate Spade store at Sawgrass Mills. “You run yourself ragged.”

Chancy and Hanson are two of a growing number of South Florida teachers working second jobs outside of the school system. Their jobs run the gamut: Some wait tables, while others work as paralegals, sales associates — even grocery store clerks.

Despite the diverse array of jobs, most of the teachers share a common rationale: The cost of living is rising, and a teacher’s salary isn’t enough to cover the bills in an expensive urban area.

“It used to be that some teachers would take summer jobs for extra money,” said Josh Diem, an education professor at the University of Miami. “But more and more, we hear about teachers needing to take jobs during the school year.”

Nationally, about 16 percent of teachers hold jobs outside of the district during the school year, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Experts believe the percentage is even higher in urban school districts like Miami-Dade, where the cost of living exceeds the national average.

Beyond that, however, figures are limited — though most observers agree that the moonlighting trend is growing. Few teachers unions in the country keep track of how many members hold second jobs. Gathering accurate data is itself a tricky endeavor; many teachers are ashamed of or embarrassed about their second jobs. Several declined to be interviewed or photographed for this article for such reasons.

Yet, the phenomenon has infiltrated pop culture. In the movie Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan’s math teacher, played by Tina Fey, works part-time as a bartender. At one point, the students spot their teacher in the mall wearing her button-adorned restaurant uniform.

It’s a story Hanson, the Sunrise elementary school teacher, knows well.

“It’s getting to be too hard,” said Hanson, 24, who until recently also held a third job at the Sawgrass Mills Crate & Barrel store. She is considering leaving teaching to pursue an advanced degree in education. “It’s really discouraging.”

The debate over teacher pay is practically as old as the profession itself, with unions on one side, arguing fervently for higher pay.

In Florida, teachers earn an average salary of $43,095, according to the American Federation of Teachers, a national labor union. First year teachers in Miami-Dade earn $38,000; in Broward, the starting salary is $38,500.

“When you force teachers to work second jobs, you are actually stealing from their students, because then teachers cannot pay enough attention to their profession as they themselves would like,” said United Teachers of Dade President Karen Aronowitz.

Miami-Dade schools spokesman John Schuster said Superintendent Rudy Crew has made salary increases for teachers a priority. But finding the money to do so has been challenging, he said, especially since the state eliminated the differential funding that helped offset the higher cost of living in urban counties.

Schuster said the millions of dollars lost “would have gone a long way to making higher salaries happen much sooner.”

But according to Philip Robins, a professor of economics at the University of Miami, many economists believe teachers are fairly compensated.

“Many of the benefits of teaching are nonmonetary,” Robins said. “Their work in terms of number of weeks is lower than the standard job. They get summers and holidays off. Their benefits are typically better than the benefits for private sector jobs.”

Nicole Singleton isn’t convinced.

Singleton, a fourth-grade teacher at Boulevard Heights Elementary in Hollywood, also works one day a week as a front-end cashier at a nearby Publix Supermarket. She said she needs the money to offset her homeowners’ insurance.

‘The year after Hurricane Wilma, our homeowners’ insurance tripled,” said Singleton, 29. “For me, any extra money helps.”

Education experts say working extra hours could be problematic — both for the teachers and their students.

‘To think that it wouldn’t in some way affect their teaching and the kids’ learning is ludicrous,” said Diem, the education professor. “When does that leave them time to do their lesson plans? Teaching doesn’t stop when the school day ends.”

The argument resonates with Chancy.

The first-year science teacher says he needs all the time he can get to prepare lessons. On most days, he arrives at 7 a.m. and stays until after 4:30 p.m. He eats dinner in the car while en route to his second job.

“I push through as best I can,” Chancy said. “But sometimes I wonder if it affects me. Could I give my students even more of myself? Probably.”

Other teachers say working a second job keeps them away from their own children.

Jami Gatewood Sjogreen, a teacher at Sunset School Center in Fort Lauderdale, works an evening shift at a title insurance company. The 12-year teacher and mother of three young children rushes home every day for soccer games, cooking classes and doctor appointments.

“My lack of sleep really isn’t the issue, as much as what I’m losing with my three kids,” Sjogreen said.

Diem, the education professor, worries the trend is having a negative effect on future teachers, too. He said one of his students asked about second jobs in an undergraduate class last semester. The resulting discussion, Diem said, caused some students to think twice about careers in teaching.

Chancy is having second thoughts about his career.

He enjoys spending time with his students, especially when he can reach out to English language learners. Chancy himself grew up in Montreal, speaking French and Creole.

“It’s like I have 90 children,” he said.

But Chancy makes less money teaching than he would as a full-time employee at the histology lab. He and his wife are considering starting a family. And working 16 hours each day is becoming too much to handle.

At a recent dentist appointment, the hygienist pointed out that Chancy had started grinding his teeth — a common sign of stress and anxiety.

“I’m happy, I really am,” he said. “But being happy doesn’t pay the bills. I have a lot of decisions to make this summer.”

—–

To see more of The Miami Herald or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Miami Herald

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.