Yeah, sure, happy to help. Health insurance sucks for Jersey teachers. Your district pays for a large percentage of the monthly premiums, and you pay for the remainder. The percentage you pay is actually governed by the amount of money you make, so not only do you pay more because you're calculating a percentage of a higher salary, but the percentage you are responsible for also increases as you make more. Former governor Chris Christie fucked us over with the law that implemented that policy. To give you a ballpark figure, my monthly premium is $500 for 2 adults. It would be about $300 for just one person.

Oy. Hopefully it was just a mistake and everything's cool, but remember that there are going to be a ton of openings in the next month or two and that ESL is super in-demand in Middlesex County in particular. Trust your gut and don't talk yourself into something that feels off.

Oh, I misread that, sorry. I thought it was September 2022-June 2023. No, that's definitely weird and I'd firmly request an explanation about that before I signed anything. There's zero reason why they should be prorating anything if you're starting in September.

Yup, also pretty standard. I think it's a byproduct of the fact that teachers' unions in NJ are pretty strong, so there's a lot of attention paid to abiding by the salary guides agreed upon in 3-year contracts. So let's say you're step 3 with a BA, and the contract says that position with that qualification gets $58,000 per year. You're hired at exactly that salary, but because you're starting midyear, it's prorated so you actually only get a portion of that. That's my best guess anyway, but I have seen it before.

Have you done any research into how your pension will roll over to the NJ system? You may have to pay the state department of pensions to buy credit for the years you taught out of state, and they're pretty expensive. Watch out for that.

You got it. For what it's worth, there's an ESL opening in South River right now, which is about 20 minutes away from Plainfield and is a much smaller and safer district. It's still not a great district academically and the pay is almost certainly a lot lower, but there's much less crime and it's a cute town. Big Brazilian population, though, so they might be looking for a candidate who speaks Portuguese.

Plainfield is a tough district. There's a lot of great stuff in that town (people, food, culture) but it's a major port of entry for Central and South Americans, so it's very densely populated and the tax base is heavily eroded due to all of the white flight. There's unfortunately a lot of issues with crime and gangs in town, and that stuff makes its way into the schools. Expect metal detectors and armed police presence, at least in the high school. From what I hear, the pay is good, but it's a hazard pay kind of scenario. A lot of immigrant families start out there and then save up to move to safer neighboring towns like South Plainfield, Middlesex, and Dunellen. I've heard some folks say that some of the Latin businesses and civic organizations have been revitalizing parts of the downtown, and that may eventually improve things, but it's still in the early phases. Just be prepared for what you're getting into.

The contract situation sounds pretty standard. My district also issues 1-page contracts that just list your position, step, and the dates for the term. You'll be issued a full union-negotiated contract once you sign on, plus a teacher handbook.