Source
r/penticton•
spillyjilly

Teaching in Penticton

Hi everyone-

My husband & I are seriously thinking about a move from Vancouver to either Penticton or Kelowna next summer. Same old story: we want to buy a house/have a baby but can't afford to do that in Vancouver. He works for a tech startup and is fairly certain he can work remotely. However, I'm a (high school English) teacher so I would have to switch districts.

Is there anyone here who has insight into what teaching is like in districts 67 or 23 (specifically, are they shrinking or growing? hiring? etc). Kelowna seems to have some on-call openings on Make a Future but there's nothing for Penticton. I don't want to move without having a good sense of the job climate. I'll take any insight I can get :)</p>

Thanks!
cross-posted in r/teaching

Posted Aug 18, 2018, 12:06 AM UTC · edited

36
jscram•

We just moved from Surrey to penticton a month ago, or I should I say I moved a month ago and my family is coming to join me this weekend. She’s a high school English teacher/special ed teacher. She was hired on as a TOC right away in penticton and then was able to land a full time posting in the special ed department of Sakha middle school for September.

Obviously I can’t say for certain how it will go now as she applied and was hired a couple months back for this coming year, but from my conversations with her it sounded like even as a TOC she was going to be getting pretty steady hours and it sounded like she would be able to get on full time in not too long, which obviously did happen for her.

In my short time in penticton I have fallen in love with it. The pace is a million times better, the traffic and commute is a million times better. We couldn’t be happier with our decision. Even if my mother is mad about us taking her only grandchildren away. She will come for visits and fall in love as well.

Any more questions let me know.

Good luck.

2
spillyjillyOP•

That's awesome- thanks for sharing!

2
regnimalia•

My wife was in a similar situation a few years back; she moved down here from Salmon Arm, and was looking for a teaching position.

She interviewed with SD67, but because she's at the top of the wage grid with a master's, they wanted nothing to do with her. She turned her attention to 52 (Oliver/Osoyoos/Keremeos/etc) and was hired on the spot. She started as a toc, got a mat leave within a month, then got a full time position that summer.

Basically, be open to living here but having a commute.

1
spillyjillyOP•

Thanks for sharing! I appreciate it :)

1
sunshine052•

Hello! I am a teacher here in SD67. I have been with the district about 5 years, and just got full time continuing. If you can teach something that is relatively uncommon (Special ed as one of the other comments mentioned, tech ed, music, etc) then getting into the district is not super hard. Otherwise your best bet is to get onto the TTOC list first, as most jobs posted in SD67 are internally posted on the district website before they ever make it to Make A Future. I have also worked in SD53, and I think in general it is easier to get hired there. If you're from Vancouver you might be used to somewhat of a commute, and in that sense the drive from Penticton to Oliver is not that bad (around 30 minutes). Please send me a private message if you want any more specific details or information!! Happy to help 🙂

1
spillyjillyOP•

Thank you very much! We are leaning towards Penticton rather than Kelowna, so it sounds like I should apply to 53 and 67 when the time comes. I've been thinking that TTOCing might be better at first while we settle in, etc.

First step is to visit and see the area for ourselves (haven't visited the Okanagan since childhood and my husband hasn't been at all).

Thanks again!

1