My wife decided today after 10 years of being an educator, that she will not sign her contract for next year. The last few years have been terrible and I don't think it would be better anywhere she went in education. Weak principals, administration and crooked school board members all being the cause.

I'm glad she's leaving and will be paid thru August so she has time to find another job, but it's also a little scary to only have one guaranteed income unless she finds something. She decided trying to stay for another year wasn't worth her mental health and I get that after I found myself in a toxic work place for seven years before taking a leap of faith (which has worked out great for my career/salary. The unfortunate part is that it seems harder for teachers to find something out of the classroom.

My wife has busted her ass and will continue to do so and she's great at everything she does. She's just not quite sure what she wants to do moving forward.

Just curious if anyone has similar experiences and wondering what you did after leaving education. I hope and pray she finds her calling.

I hate to see good teachers leave the field, but completely understand. My wife made the switch the year she was pregnant with our first, and things have only gotten tougher in the classroom.

You may have her look at marketing coordinator roles with architecture & engineering or construction firms. We've hired several former teachers and they've largely made the transition really well. It requires good organizational, scheduling, and writing skills, which most have. It does take wrangling busy professionals for resumes and project information, but their parents won't send your boss nasty emails!

Has she considered looking at different districts? My wife is in admin in central texas and left one ISD that was a toxic workplace environment and went to another and she's enjoyed her job significantly since then, but then again she's not a classroom teacher - which I imagine would be more difficult -- but as you said its the board, super, admin, and principals that really matter -- if they suck, is there another district close?

Also, she should look at places in ed-tech companies or textbook publishers.

Amplify, Eduphoria, Udemy or HMH (Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt).

They really look for candidates that have in-classroom teaching experience.

Good luck, wish her the best.

AgsWin2011 said:

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My wife decided today after 10 years of being an educator, that she will not sign her contract for next year. The last few years have been terrible and I don't think it would be better anywhere she went in education. Weak principals, administration and crooked school board members all being the cause.

I'm glad she's leaving and will be paid thru August so she has time to find another job, but it's also a little scary to only have one guaranteed income unless she finds something. She decided trying to stay for another year wasn't worth her mental health and I get that after I found myself in a toxic work place for seven years before taking a leap of faith (which has worked out great for my career/salary. The unfortunate part is that it seems harder for teachers to find something out of the classroom.

My wife has busted her ass and will continue to do so and she's great at everything she does. She's just not quite sure what she wants to do moving forward.

Just curious if anyone has similar experiences and wondering what you did after leaving education. I hope and pray she finds her calling.

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My wife and I have both left teaching. She works as an Admin/Trainer now for an environmental firm. I'm going to be working in higher education.

If she has her masters in something - she could teach on the community college level. That's what I'm going to school for (getting 18 graduate hours in Biology above my masters degree to be able to teach on the community college level).

I'd start by looking for Admin / training positions. Also, check out staffing agencies - that's where my wife found her current and former job.

I'd be happy to talk with you offline if you'd like.

Good luck.

SIL left teaching after COVID around 2021 for a small regional bank in a compliance role and loves it.
Had to start at entry level, but has been able to get at least two promotions since and is currently working on some certification to get another promotion. Couldnt tell you more than that though, not very familiar with the industry.

Thanks for the info. My wife got her degree in Biology from A&M and just completed her masters in Leadership Technology last year. She was kind of led to believe she'd be the new communications coordinator for the school district but that role never was created.

She's taught AP Chemistry, Biology, Anatomy and On-Ramps college courses. We're in Denton county so maybe thought she could do something at UNT, TWU or a community college like you mentioned. It's just frustrating to see all she's been through and I'm glad she's not returning to her current employer. She works 10x harder than I do and I make nearly triple what she does.

If she's looking for another industry, let me know. We've built a God/Family/Country centric insurance agency with 60+ offices in 7 states. We have account manager positions that are rewarding, interesting, and very desirable. We're always looking for the right kind of people! Shoot me an DM if interested.

I hope she will be able to find something, but I hope you are prepared to live on one income for awhile. I'm trying to leave teaching and it is extremely hard to even get an interview. One problem is that so many teachers are leaving the field and we ll have the same basic skill set. I have a business degree and CAPM, but those don't seem to be helping at all.

I know, it's definitely a scary feeling. Luckily between my career and her dad's, there should be opportunities for her, just not sure if it is something she will want to do long term.

Also, here is what I did during my job search:

Set up an Indeed account. Set up searches with certain key words which sent me jobs daily to my email acct. Applied for specific jobs on company websites. Called hiring manager when I was really interested.

Also, talked to everyone I knew (other than present employer at the time) letting them know I was looking for a job.

Yes, school nurse wife just left after 8 years.

My wife and her sister both left teaching after 18 and 20 years. They bought a restaurant together and it has worked out great for them.

Another good resource:

https://jobs.rwfm.tamu.edu/search/

Also, with her Biology and teaching background, check out nature centers, zoos, etc in the area. My former field. I used to work at the Fort Worth Nature Center.

And, I'd really encourage applying at all local colleges for staff positions. I'll get near 10 months of time off per year (vacation + sick + week of Christmas + extra holidays).

Unless she is totally over education, has she considered teaching at a private school? My sister in law left public for a christian based private school and says it has been like night and day.

She has kind of backtracked a little and is considering surrounding districts. She could drive 15 minutes in any direction and make $10-15k more so she's keeping options open. I got to go to our son's 5th grade graduation today and completely understand the toxic environment and complete lack of planning for even the most simple events.

Now I kinda hope she goes to work for another district so our kids can follow. Never seen a school district who doesn't have a clue or care in the world about anyone. Guess there's a reason she's on her second superintendent in 2 years and they ranked in the top 5 in the state for staff turnover (and we live in a small country town). It's all about who grew up here and who you know/sleep around with.

If things ever start to turn around in the housing market, we will probably move. We moved here because I'm in construction and jobsite change every 1.5-3 years so we chose to live here because she got a job here.

What town?

My wife just left teaching as well. After 19 years, the kids are terrible and admin doesn't stand up for teachers/punish kids. Sad because she loved teaching kids. She's thinking about doing some part time stuff while she thinks about long term options.

My wife turned in her resignation a couple of days ago. Same things.

5 years from retirement and just can't do it anymore

Thank you to each of you who DM'd me in response to my response!

Career Development is a topic for which I have profound passion, interest and experience. I know all about it b/c I've lived it. Career-wise, my wife and I were willing to take a substantial risk (VERY prayerfully) and escape the corporate rat race nearly 13 year ago. I look at the cultural rot gut happening nationwide and can't help but see big corporate's complicity (and often outright support) for what is ultimately steering our nation's culture off of a cliff.

God gets ALL of the glory for our personal story, and I am grateful beyond words for the providential decision making process we were able to faithfully navigate. Having been blessed far more than I deserve, I am a devout advocate for entrepreneurship and small business. There are obviously still "some" good big corporations out there...And there are clearly "some" folks who prefer that environment for a number of legitimate reasons. I'm not throwing shade at that. Simultaneously...There are just as many people (like my wife and I) who'd like to pull the rip cord on the status quo, if they only knew what to do or where to go. I'm actually about to launch a podcast broaching these topics from a lot of different perspectives.

Allow me to provide a real life example. While folks looking for traditional salaried positions are NOT the primary audience for this video, the over-arching message enclosed within tells you a lot about the content of the character of my business:

Needless to say...There virtually zero big corporate cultures who would think, speak, or function this way. Meaningful professional cultures still exist, but you've got to really search for them.

Independence H-D said:

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My wife turned in her resignation a couple of days ago. Same things.

5 years from retirement and just can't do it anymore

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Ouch! I'm not sure how the teachers retirement thing works, but if she makes $60k and gets 70% of her salary at retirement, that's $42k/year for life. That's the equivalent of over $500k in a retirement account.

I could be completely wrong about the retirement numbers. I just hear bits and pieces from teacher friends.

Can she do another job outside the classroom? Testing coordinator or something?

Independence H-D said:

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My wife turned in her resignation a couple of days ago. Same things.

5 years from retirement and just can't do it anymore

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She may want to look into community college or college staff positions. They should all be on TRS (or, a sister retirement system).

Troglodyte said:

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Independence H-D said:

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My wife turned in her resignation a couple of days ago. Same things.

5 years from retirement and just can't do it anymore

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Ouch! I'm not sure how the teachers retirement thing works, but if she makes $60k and gets 70% of her salary at retirement, that's $42k/year for life. That's the equivalent of over $500k in a retirement account.

I could be completely wrong about the retirement numbers. I just hear bits and pieces from teacher friends.

Can she do another job outside the classroom? Testing coordinator or something?

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It is based on age and length of service. So this person will still be able to get it, but will just have to wait longer to qualify (unless they get another position that participates in the TRS system).

BoDog said:

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Unless she is totally over education, has she considered teaching at a private school? My sister in law left public for a christian based private school and says it has been like night and day.

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this is the way. My wife will be moving to a private school this Fall. Smaller class sizes, parents and kids who want to be there, etc. Sad what is happening to public education, but it is what it is nowadays, and least in the bigger districts.

Or, look into county, city, or state positions. They are usually in TMRS or TCDRS, which are also sister retirements.

I second this! It is a pay cut for an already low paying job, but if she loves teaching...this is the way!