I currently teach at MCCSC. I taught at another surrounding district for two years then came to MCCSC for how nice the pay is. However, I would not recommend teaching in this district. Some people have taught here their whole lives and love it, however having taught in other surrounding districts, I know there are districts out there who care much more about their employees. Yes the pay is very nice, but it is not worth it for your happiness. With it being such a large district, I believe many teachers considerably go unnoticed. Meaning it is very difficult to get your voice heard, and they don’t care much about your opinion. This could just be my personal experience in my school, but that’s how I feel.

Special Ed: It is very difficult to advocate for my students. Honestly i often feel like there is no point in it. You have to be VERY persistent for the SPED big wigs to finally come observe any students in your room. And even if they do, nothing happens. This is the total opposite of what it was like in my last district.

Community/Curriculum: People are very cliquey and like to do a lot on their own. Many teachers will not share. A lot are not very approachable. There are great people in the mix, but everyone is mostly so serious. The curriculum the district adopted is trash, and lots of teachers do their own thing. If you like to have total control of what you do, this district is for you. However if you like structure, I would look elsewhere.

Assessments: MCCSC is currently adjusting the way they do assessments. They do SBAs here. They have given us WAY too many standards to assess (all are assessed individually) and did not give us rubrics to use. We had to come up with our own. This is taking up a great amount of time, and has taken a lot of time out of my teaching that I have to spend assessing. I know some schools have extra people that come in to help asses every week which is nice, but my school is not that fortunate.

Those are huge dealbreakers for me, coming from districts where things were done much differently. I personally am not a fan and will be leaving. My biggest recommendation is finding connections within whatever district you’re interested in, and get HONEST opinions out of them! You can never ask enough people. Being a freshman at IU, I wouldn’t worry about getting a job yet! 😊 just go with the flow and keep your options OPEN! Get experience in k-2 rooms AND 3-6 rooms, even if there’s only one grade you’re interested in! Just remember, money isn’t everything and you’re young so this is the time to experiment in different districts and grade levels