Teachers look at careers outside classroom

They have worked in public and private schools on Long Island and in New York City. But the recession, millions of dollars in state-aid cuts and a looming property-tax cap have combined to affect the availability of jobs in their chosen field.

In the multipurpose room at Hofstra University's student center, the chairs at nearly every table Thursday held teachers, assistant teachers, substitute teachers and school administrators -- nearly 300 people drawn to hear lectures on reinventing themselves and the power of positive thinking.

Some were recent graduates who have not yet had the chance to work in a school. Others were veterans now intimately familiar with a dreaded word in schools Islandwide: They have been "excessed," or laid off, as strapped districts let go of about 1,200 "excess" people. A handful were teachers with jobs who are considering other opportunities.

Those recently laid off declined to comment, saying they remain hopeful that a classroom job will come through for them in the fall.

The conference was the first of its kind that Hofstra has offered, and so popular that another forum is scheduled for the fall. On hand were experts offering advice on jobs in government, nonprofit work, health care and business.

These are the faces of job loss among Long Island's educators, and their stories are as individual as they are.

Christianne Charles, 28, Long Beach

Charles taught special education at Stella Maris High School, a Catholic girls school on the Rockaway peninsula in Queens that closed in June 2010 after 67 years because of budgetary concerns and declining enrollment.

She has been looking for a job since, sending out hundreds of resumes. Charles holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Molloy College and has New York certification to teach students with disabilities in grades 7 to 12 and Spanish in grades 7 to 12.

She came to the Hofstra conference to see how she can use her classroom skills in other ways. As she looks for work, she has taken classes at Hofstra, published a few e-books and considered working in makeup artistry. She speaks Spanish and said she would really like to be working in a classroom.

“It’s very difficult. I like the idea of helping people and providing a nurturing environment in a classroom,” Charles said.

“Hopefully I will be gainfully employed and won’t be looking for anything for long.”

She said she would like to stay in her field but would consider a government job.

“My first choice would be teaching,” she said. “I put a lot of effort and time and also money into it."

Jerry Clark, 29, North Massapequa

Clark, a former music instructor, has one piece of advice for anyone trying to get a job as a teacher: “Good luck.”

He said he taught music for two years in private schools on the Island and in New York City before he was laid off at the end of the 2009-10 school year. He holds a degree in music education from Hofstra.

Clark said he hopes to find a new full-time career. Which field that career is in, he said, doesn’t matter much to him.

“I enjoy teaching a lot, but it obviously just didn’t work out at the time with the economy and whatnot,” Clark said. “If I was given the option to teach again, yes. But if something else came up better, I would take that and run.”

Clark, who plays saxophone, clarinet and bassoon, is striving to work as a musician and giving private music lessons. He said he has played in an off-Broadway musical and toured the Midwest with a Stevie Wonder cover band. He has a pharmaceutical printing job, and he plays jazz on his own.

His current job situation isn’t as enjoyable as his teaching gigs, he said. But be believes the numbers game is against teachers — especially music teachers.

“If you’re a music teacher, it’s one of those, what they call a ‘pigeonhole job,’ ” Clark said. “Basically what it is, is one position and 200 people want the job.”

Oslyn Rodriguez, 32, Freeport

Rodriguez is a former school administrator in Deer Park, having worked there as a curriculum associate, but her position was eliminated last year. She has been looking for a job since and has searched job banks online.

“I never thought of myself as anything else other than an educator,” she said, adding that she viewed the Hofstra conference as “an opportunity to open my eyes that there may be a career outside of education.”

She said she may pursue opportunities in business or in government.

Rodriguez said she has three degrees, including a bachelor’s in English from Hofstra, a master’s in educational technology from New York Institute of Technology and an advanced certificate in educational leadership and administration from the College of St. Rose. She said she has about $75,000 in student loan debt.

“The conference was very affirming,” she said. “It helped me to see that I do have a skill set that would lend itself very well to other careers. I entered Hofstra as a communications major, and some of those skills I use in the classroom, but I can use that in business or in sales or open my own business, or being a presenter for the government.”

The forum, she said, “helped me to see I am not as limited as I thought I was.”

Michael Russack, 26, Wantagh

Russack worked as a substitute teacher at Island Trees Middle School in Levittown this past year, but knew going in that the job he had would not be permanent. He holds a master’s degree in education from Hofstra and a bachelor’s from SUNY Oneonta.

He said he has applied to the New York City Police Department.

“I’m actually on the list for the NYPD and then I could be in the academy ,” Russack said, adding he would take “whatever comes along first.”

He learned about the Hofstra conference from a family member and decided to check it out.

Russack said he is not that concerned about his future. He is young, he said, and does not have a family to support or a home mortgage. He said he also had been accepted to law school but decided not to go. His girlfriend just graduated from law school, he said, and she doesn’t have a job either.

With Jeremy Schneider