1. Have a great supportive administration. 2. Great community support. 3. We like the location of school. 4. We like our community in which we live. 5. Very ideal 'perfect' band director situation. 6. No issues with scheduling etc. 7. Have had success rebuilding another program. 8. Current school is having to rebuild. Had early success with them.
Now for the kicker.
Over the four years I have been here, the kids just seem to be fizzling out. They do not seem dedicated or wanting to try. After these seniors graduate, it looks very grim until my middle school kids take over the band program in 4 years.
Do I wait it out for four years? Do I sacrifice my mental health for four more years until the band program is mine throughout? Do I consider moving from a 'perfect' situation to risk another job? Am I just getting worse as a teacher (even though I feel like I have been getting better year to year?)
(Covid doesn't help in all of these issues, I understand. And with the TBA 2020 refresh gone and TMEA 2021 refresh gone, it seems like I am going to struggle by the time May rolls around.)
The positives you have mentioned here are hard to beat, in my experience. I've taught 17 years, and your community and administrative support sound terrific. I've worked in three schools, and never had that combination of positive factors. If you find another situation you really think would be perfect for you, I'd say take it. Otherwise, maybe just hang in there at your current school.
My advice...be flexible and patient with everything this year. Nothing is normal, kids are in a weird place. We're in weird places.
All the things you've listed are rare to be in the same place. All the things that have caused me mental health problems are in that list that you have checked off.
I wouldn't leave any job this year...the job market is gonna be rough this year.
If you see what the future can be, start building the framework for it to succeed when they get here. It can be rough, and not the most fun, but in my experience, sometimes a really good crop of freshmen and sophomores can motivate a subpar crop of juniors and seniors. You just have to get that framework built now.
I could have written this post minus the scheduling issues at the JH level, and that this is year 15 for me here. We made a first division marching this year for the first time in several years, but every day is like pulling teeth to get them to be engaged in what we are doing. It is beyond frustrating.
Covid has A LOT to do with it in my opinion. We never know who is or isn't going to be in class from day to day. We currently have more students at home learning than we did right before Christmas break, yet we are still plugging along.
