We Need a Football Coach...And By The Way, Can You Teach Fifth Grade?

Well it's that time of year. The job postings for teaching positions for next fall are out in full force, plastered all over the Des Moines Register, Iowa REAP and Iowa Education Jobs, not to mention every teaching website I seem to visit. For the first time in a long time, or 5 summers to be exact, I am not spending my summer perusing them and sending resumes, copying credentials, and creating a way to get to the moon and back in hopes of getting a principal to make a phone call asking me for an interview. In the education field that often is progress. I'm not here to vent about the job application process. That's a completely different story, of which I have many opinions about. But since it's second nature for me look at the help wanted section I noticed something else that I think bothers me more. Below are two actual postings from the Teach Iowa website...

Position:5th grade , AD, Boys HS Basketball Job ID: 13206Posted: 05/06/08
Job Description:5th grade math and science with athletic assignments Other:Salary commensurate with experience based upon state base salary and placement on district master contract salary schedule.
August 18, 2008 starting date.
Send resume and cover letter to Superintendent's Office along with letters of recommendations.
Contact Information:Seymour Community School District
Contact:Dr. Gary Drummond 100 S Park Seymour, IA 52590 641-898-2291 Fax: 641-898-7500



Position:4th Grade Language Arts Job ID: 13254Posted: 05/08/08
Job Description:4th grade reading and language arts. Varsity Volleyball would be a great opportunity. Excellent Talent. Returning All State player plus 3 other starters off team that made it to Regional Finals. Great facilities and community support. Present teacher coach took position at Indianola HS as head volleyball coach. Other:Varsity Volleyball
Contact Information:Twin Cedars Community School
Contact:Brian VanderSluis 2204 Hwy G71 Bussey, IA 50044 641-944-5241 Fax: 641-944-5824 http://www.twincedars.k12.ia.us

So my questions for Gary and Brian are this...do you want a high quality fifth grade teacher or a basketball coach that can supervise 11 year olds when not at practice? And maybe more than one sentence about the 4th grade teaching position rather than waxing eloquently about your volleyball team. So the kids can bump a ball...can they read? I know athletics are a part of every school system and I'm well aware that they can do great things for kids, but what is a better focus? Is it possible to hire the best 5th grade teacher and look for a coach and AD separately? It is possible that one person could do both jobs well, but are you going to count out a person that could be a fantastic teacher for forth or fifth grade just because they are not athletic?

Listing coaching positions in addition to teaching positions is fine. But finding a classroom for a coach to occupy the hours before practice isn't. I think kids deserve much better than that.