TexanScot

So the employee reimburses them for however much they are on the hook for in legal fees and then what?

It still doesn't prevent the employee from walking away.

carcajou

Though Alaska has hard-to-staff schools, they are not currently offering sponsorship for foreign teachers, or at least weren't 2-3 years ago. The utility of that as a stepping stone for OP would also be tenuous; school systems are very insular and parochial (the world over) and while teaching remote in Alaska would be a foot in the door to get a job in a nicer area on the Highway System in Alaska, it wouldn't help much in getting a job in the Lower 48.

Some years ago there were a few posters investigating options in Nebraska and Kansas, but they never reported back. That might be a better bet.

Salary scales differ from town to town and district to district in the US. New Mexico offers some of the absolute lowest teacher salaries in the country, though the top steps in New Mexico are higher than the top steps in London unless you are a leading practitioner. That is why American teachers haven't flocked into New Mexico, while Arizona has done better with recruitment.

MMcD

OP:
I’m sorry the replies to the question posed in your thread title are so uniformly negative. It must be a disappointment, although - from the way you framed the question - I sense you anticipated that would be the response you’d receive.

Rather than persist in obsessing over a goal which may have slim to no possibility of being realised - it might be helpful for you to do a little reality check by taking stock of the following:

America has changed dramatically since you first became gripped, fifteen years ago, by the notion of moving here !

You explain your determination by asserting “it just feels like home”.
I wonder:
How do you know that?
Have you actually spent extended time in the States?
When?
And for how long?
I don’t mean to be overly personal but am asking because the America that lives in your head, animates your “dream” and beckons you to pull up roots, may very well be a fantasy:

In many respects, America in 2019 has metamorphosed into a dystopia.

Even for me ( born and raised in the US ) this Country has become unrecognisable. A scary, toxic environment:
It’s an America that no longer “feels like home”
Nor is it a country to which I’d opt to move in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps you and your OH should pay a long visit (unless you’ve been here recently?)
And if you do - be sure to leave any rose-tinted glasses behind.

If you did that you might come to realise the intractable Visa situation is actually a saving grace:
It protects you from making what could turn out to be a disastrous move to an America you had never imagined, the Real America, an America which would not “feel like home”.
Perhaps the Visa situation means a fantasy “dream” won’t segue into a reality nightmare.

In summary…’the grass is NOT “always greener”
In fact, because of “climate change” (both metaphorical and actual) the grass here now is stressed and withering.
Greener, it’s not!

Wish my input could be more positive but…alas, that’s my honest, tho admittedly subjective, assessment - for better or worse.
And, well...you did ask for “help/experience/advice” , didn't you?

carcajou

. . . . . . . . don't know about that. The pay is generally lower. It's not seen by teachers as being compensated by better working conditions or any sort of special intangible "status."

US Government High Schools do a very good job catering to high academic kids through AP, IB etc, and those with specialist sport and arts abilities, so there isn't the rush by American parents to put kids cut from that cloth into a private school like there is in other countries. If you are a teacher wanting to teach a specialised elective you are far more likely to be able to get the funding and the student numbers for that in a public school than a private one, and if you want to get into athletic coaching, public schools are the more likely option as well unless you are in what are real niche sports in the US, something like fencing or rugby etc.

There are some one-off exceptions but no there is not a rush of teachers trying to switch from the public to the private system.

Professional advancement opportunities are also limited in the private system, because you don't have the enormous central and state office structure behind you. Ambitious talent usually won't go to the private system for that reason, they want to eventually have a chance at landing one of the senior or mid-level executive or management roles, and to "climb the pyramid" you really need to be in the state system (and, have your network there). The private system, is like a career trapezoid, not a pyramid.

carcajou

OP, I think the best play for you would be to try and take a whirl on the International and/or International-American School system in Western and Central Europe. They will have staff, and in some cases administration, who have tennis-balled across the Atlantic and will have connections in the US Private/International School Sector. That is where you start building your network and that will be invaluable for when positions you are interested in come open.

Jerseygirl

I am only talking about the experience I have of having a daughter at 2 US private schools (3 years in middle and 4 in high school). and having a good friend who has been a teacher at one of them for around 30 years.

SMSH

Agree with above comment. In my area, teachers at private schools are generally paid about half of what they get in public schools. Pay for a starting teacher in my district is about $43,000 now, and a couple of thousand higher if you have your masters.

I believe the reason some private schools do not pay as well is that they just don't have the funds that a large school district does (particularly some of the parochial schools), though this may not be true in all cases.

On another note, the OP might want to check into International Baccalaureate schools -- many hire internationally, though I'm not sure how much this is true for schools based in America, but might be worth looking into.