Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I'm Hired!


Yes, one and all, that's right:  I have signed a letter of intent with the Bering Strait School District for the 2009-2010 school year!  

The BSSD Personnel Director called me tonight and said that he had a good conversation with my references, and had only one more question for me. Here's how the conversation went after that:

My thoughts:  what else could they possibly ask that could make a difference in this phase of the process? 

His question:  "Are you ready to move to Alaska?"  

For a brief moment I was feeling a little overwhelmed and panicky, and so my response was the first thing that came to my mind.  

My response:  "That depends."

His question:  *surprised pause*  "On what?"  

My response:  "Will I have a job when I get there?"  *aka Are you offering me the job?*


Perhaps not the most eloquent thing to say when accepting a job, but he laughed and said YES.  BSSD sent me a PDF letter of intent within minutes, I have signed it, and tomorrow it is going to the post office.  

An official contract will follow in March once the school district knows which specific positions are open, and I will negotiate the village and 'grade' level assignment at that time.  However, the letter of intent is binding, so I have a job with BSSD no matter what.

This has been a few months in the making, and I am excited to begin my career with such an amazing district.  Though I have a small fluttering in my stomach which I suspect is apprehension, I look forward to learning more about my Inupiat/Yu'pik students.  I feel like the luckiest student teacher alive:  not only do I already have a binding commitment from an incredible district, I will get to travel and live in a land of superlatives as a first teacher!

It has been a long day, and I am going to sleep pronto.  I will post some information about the district tomorrow for those that are interested.  

-Megan

1 comment:

  1. Girl, your answer was just like you “When I get there, will I have a job?" beautiful!

    ReplyDelete