Getting Hired and Teacher's Maternity Leave

sarahmurray611

Hey y'all!!

I'm moving with my husband to Ft. Bragg in about another month after living in Germany the last few years, and I'm due in November. We've decided that I will go back to work as a teacher, but I'm really unsure about a few things. Please help!

1. I won't be available for in-person interviews until about June. Will that be a problem? I can do phone and Skype conferences, but nothing in-person until we move. 

2. Will being pregnant hurt my chances of getting hired, even with great qualifications and a nice resume? I know that I can't be not hired because I'm pregnant, but I'm worried that I'll just be passed over because of it. I would feel extremely dishonest concealing my pregnancy, but am I required to disclose that I am pregnant?

3. I researched and found that I'm only given 6 weeks of maternity leave. There were other ways to take leave, but the ins and outs of it all was very confusing. Being a new teacher and possibly having leave over Christmas break, how does it all work? What's the best way to take leave? What if I want to extend past 6 weeks of paid leave, how can I get more paid? Ideally, we'd love for me to have 8 weeks or so of leave, and I suppose having a small part of that being unpaid would be okay. Would that affect sick days for the rest of the year? This is just all confusing

Thank you so much for your help! I'm just trying to plan and figure out how this wonderful blessing is going to affect my job and the best way to make it all work

nyinnc25

Hi!  Congrats and hopefully I can help you with some of these questions as I've been teaching in NC for 6 years.  I just had my first last June and took off until this January so I know a little bit about the leave but not an expert haha

1. It shouldn't be a problem.  I have friends that were interviewed via skype and were given jobs.  Each school/county is different though so I can't be positive.

2. I would not disclose that your pregnant.  It's still early on in your pregnancy so no need to disclose.  I didn't until I was almost halfway through.  

3. You can get 6 weeks (vaginal birth) 8 weeks (c-section) paid.  You have to use all of your days though!  So any sick days that you have, personal days, and annual leave.  With FMLA (family medical leave act) you can take 12 total weeks (if you have the days, you can get paid for whatever you have, but if not they would be unpaid leave).  My county allows us to take up to a year and holds a position in the county for us (I'm not sure what it's like in Fayetteville).  

So for example from my personal experience - I was due May 31.  I went out of work on May 25.  May baby was born June 11 so I had off the whole summer (obviously not paid) and then I got a paycheck in August and then I was out of work unpaid until I went back in January.  

I hope this helps.  Feel free to private message me if you have any other questions! The whole process of leave is very overwhelming and confusing.  But the leave for teacher's here actually isn't that bad.

kedbach

I was about to apply for teaching jobs here (taught in va then moved after getting married, so had to wait for my licensure to transfer). It finally did, then I found out I was pregnant, so I didn't bother applying for jobs, I figured it would be too stressful being a FTM with a high-risk pregnancy and a new job! I also found out only two weeks later that I would not had been able to work with kids anyway, as it was discovered I am not immune to mumps/measles. I wish I could have! Best of luck!!

karmana

It's actually 6 weeks of unpaid leave unless you have days to use. If you've never taught in NC, you do not get any vacation pay outside of the holidays predetermined by the district calendar.

When I first started teaching here, I had to work all O days because I didn't have "days" to take them off.

NC is hurting for teachers. So many leave the state because the pay is terrible. I'm assuming your spouse is military. My husband is too. I wouldn't in a million years teach in this state if I had a choice. In fact, since I found out I was pregnant, I decided not to return next school year.

If you can, see if you can get a DoD job on base!