The first thing one might have wanted to ask the folks milling about Saturday's Santa Clara County Teacher Recruitment Fair was: "Are you nuts?"
After all, local school districts are handing out pink slips like hall passes. Because of a crushing state deficit, South Bay districts are preparing to ax the equivalent of 700 full-time positions -- a number that's almost sure to swell if Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to ask voters to extend temporary taxes fails.School officials at the event acknowledged the seeming contradiction of hiring amid so much red ink, yet state law requires them to fill certain positions, such as slots for special-education teachers.
The dire budget outlook didn't stop Genia Orlova and hundreds of other hopefuls from trolling the job fair's kiosks.
Orlova, 37, was a physician before she and her husband came here from Siberia in 2000. Armed with a master's degree in special education from San Francisco State, she worked for several years with preschoolers before leaving the work force to raise her daughter.
With little Uliana set to start first grade this fall, Mom is ready to work again full time.
But as Orlova surveyed the first of several sprawling conference rooms where people waited in lines 10 deep, she said: "I think I don't have many chances."
Her first stop was the desk manned by the county Office of Education, which hosted the event at its San Jose headquarters. Though the county has
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Guerrero said this is one of the toughest financial environments she's seen in her 32 years with the county. Added co-worker Darci Hammond: "We've cut the fat, we've cut the muscle, and now we're scraping bone."
Orlova, meanwhile, weighed her odds, afraid that standing in the longest lines would mean less face time with recruiters. She finally queued up in front of the Alum Rock school district's table.
While waiting, she chatted with Jonathan Franey, a special-ed teacher from San Francisco looking to move out of the city with his girlfriend, another teacher.
Franey, 29, admits he's wondered in the past about his career choice, given that it seems so fraught with uncertainty. But after five years in the classroom, he said, "I'm sticking with it." He and Orlova agreed that working with kids gets in the blood.
Franey, certified to teach in K-12 schools, came away with an invitation for an interview from Alum Rock. Orlova, whose credential covers only preschool, got a polite thank you.
As Franey wandered over to a Franklin-McKinley School District table, where a sign advertised $9,000 signing bonuses for qualified special-ed teachers, Orlova headed to an even bigger conference room with balloon-festooned tables and more lines of people. She got off to a promising start at the Evergreen School District kiosk, where Millbrook Elementary Principal Leila Welch said: "Early childhood special-ed? Oh, very good."
Orlova filled out an application and had a quick chat with Evergreen's head of human resources, who told her the district will have several openings in June. Orlova killed time swapping classroom tips with Mary Halatsis, who's been teaching special-ed in elementary and high schools since 2005.
"When I went to my first job fair, within 10 minutes I had a job offer," Halatsis remembered. "Last year, I went on 30 interviews before I got a job."
Orlova seemed a bit deflated after finally getting her chance to chat with a Campbell Union assistant superintendent. "They don't have positions right now," Orlova said. So she decided to stump upstairs to the third floor.
She and her husband, who works for an online video startup, live in Menlo Park but, stymied by Peninsula housing prices, are looking to move to the San Jose area. His salary will sustain them if she can't get a job -- and besides, Orlova knows things could be worse. Her grandparents fled central Russia for Uzbekistan during the bad old days because, she said, their one cow and one horse defined them as wealthy.
Then she reached the top of the stairs to see at least 50 people waiting in front of Santa Clara Unified's table. "Ohhh, look at that line," Orlova gasped. "Unbelievable."
Orlova fared better than the aspiring French teacher who spent all day hoping in vain to land a spot. Santa Clara Unified expects to have three special-ed openings this fall, and counting Orlova, four people on Saturday filled out applications for those positions.
A district official told her to check back in June, and Orlova headed home with a small smile: "Maybe I have a good chance to get a job."
It was an emotional five hours for the job-hunters and school officials alike. Welch, the Millbrook principal, said her biggest challenge is keeping up staff morale.
Surveying the room of tired-eyed applicants, Welch said: "I tell them, 'Don't give up. Eventually, you will get that spot.' "
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