Why We Moved

Ok, so you might remember there being a post about being riffed a while back. By the way, I had no idea how uncommon a term that was until Steve got riffed. I remember hearing the term growing up because of being around state employment, but apparently - not a common term. Noted. I got to explain what it meant a lot, and Steve had to clarify to a lot of people that it isn't the same as getting fired - he did nothing wrong! Except perhaps be himself. And himself is a darn good teacher folks!

Anyway.... We had our usual ups and downs with job searching this spring. With the economy down and a number of districts and unions playing fast and loose with the rules and in budget trouble, a lot of teachers are holding on to their jobs and districts are looking for teachers who can teach multiple subjects. We don't qualify. We considered for a while a green energy position in Sunnyside which never panned out, a position in Ceour d'Alene, ID which would have been a beautiful area, a job in tiny Pavillion, WY which the state board actually told us wrongly Steve couldn't teach until it was too late to accept the position, and then there was always this job in the back of our minds - Pasco.

We really feel looking back like we were led to the Pasco job. Steve worked with one of the Pasco football coaches last year coaching in Mabton, who said he would love for him to end up in Pasco. I found a Pasco job listed online and for some reason always felt pretty good about it. Then we were suddenly prompted to look into a teacher job fair the day before the fair and jetted to Spokane where Steve talked quite a bit with the human resources representative from - Pasco. He said they were looking to fill positions and to fill out an application, which is where we found out that his online application never came through for some reason, so he filled one out on paper. Pasco gave us a job offer on Friday, June 9th, and luckily needed an answer right away which sent us to the Temple where we felt good about accepting the job the next Monday even though Coeur d'Alene was still up in the air. We are glad to have been so blessed as to find a job, and even more so to feel it is where we should be for now.

(This is the front entrance of the very LARGE Pasco High School)
So, here we are - officially employed by Pasco School District. Being in such a large district, Steve and I should have lots of opportunities to coach throughout the numerous middle schools and high schools in the district as we so desire. So I look forward to hopefully coaching some this year! Also, the vice principal who oversees Steve's department is named Charlotte, and she is awesome! She stole Ellie from me the first time she met me before we'd even so much as said hi or been introduced. She encourages the fact that we prioritize family first, and has said how much she looks forward to watching Ellie grow up. The science department is also the "crowned jewel" of the school and supposed to be fairly cutting edge in a lot of what they do. They have tons of resources for their teachers and seem very passionate about what they do. Everyone we've met has been great and we look forward to working with them.

Ironically, Steve's main color will still be purple, but with white instead of gold as the second school color. He is no longer a viking though, and has become a Pasco Bulldog. The school has over 3,000 students, which should be a nice - small - change from Mabton. He'll teach a 7 period day instead of 5 longer periods and be on semesters instead of trimesters. He'll also be working on aligning his curriculum with other biology teachers instead of being a lone wolf and will only teach biology and advanced biology to start out with. In other words, the whole world will change drastically for Steve, but hopefully all for the best.


We look forward to this new phase in our adventure! And go bulldogs!