Summer isn’t full of lazy days for teachers with second jobs

Posted on Aug 09, 2009 by Meredith Hines-Dochterman.

Melissa McMullen, an elementary school music teacher with the Cedar Rapids School District, helps Jarrod Crabtree of Urbana as he looks for new running shoes at Running Wild Wednesday, July 29, 2009 in Cedar Rapids. McMullen works 20 to 25 hours a week at the store as a summer job. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Brian Jeffords spends the school year in front of a classroom and his summers on a roof.

Jeffords, an eighth grade science teacher at Franklin Middle School in Cedar Rapids, operated a summer roofing business during the summer months for 10 years. He gave up his business last spring to accept a sales position with Eastern Iowa Construction.

Jeffords works every day during his summer vacation from teaching, as well as after school in the fall and spring.

“That’s just the kind of person I am,” Jeffords, 42, says. “I can’t stay home and do nothing.”

Jeffords is one of many area teachers who work during summer break, dispelling myths of educators lounging by the pool until the first day of classes.

“I grew up in a house full of educators,” says Melissa McMullen, an elementary music teacher with the Cedar Rapids School District. “Both of them worked in the summer.”

McMullen does, too, putting in 20 to 25 hours a week at Running Wild. McMullen, 32, began working at the Cedar Rapids store in Jan. 2008.

She schedules fewer hours during the school year.

“I like to be busy,” McMullen says. “Running is another passion of mine, besides music, so its fun to work with people who have the same passion.”

The extra paycheck is nice, too.

“It’s actually my fun money,” McMullen says.

Jeffords, who begins his 11th year teaching this fall, has never taken a three-month summer vacation. Neither has McMullen. Both couldn’t name a colleague who has.

“Those who don’t have a summer job are in their classroom half of the time, prepping for classes,” Jeffords says. “A lot of teachers are taking classes all summer if they aren’t working.”

That’s what Courtney Nelson did. Nelson, 31, has taught Iowa City school district summer school since 2001. When the district cut classes this year to save money, Nelson lost her summer job.

“I was kind of bummed,” says Nelson, an elementary teacher with the district. “When you do something for so many years, you look forward to it.”

With teaching off the table, she opted to be the student. Nelson took two classes this summer, both of which will help her maintain certification.

“The whole June, July and August vacation thought is not valid
anymore,” says John Frazier, a second grade teacher at Tilford Elementary School in Vinton.

Frazier, 48, used his summer vacation to further his own education, eventually earning his master’s degree. Now he spends his summers — and practically every weekend — outside.
Frazier owns and operates Frazier Nursery, a tree and shrub nursery in Vinton.

“Trees are a lot quieter (than children),” Frazier says. “During the summer I can recharge my batteries and start fresh in the fall.”

That makes him a better teacher, as does his interactions with the public, he says. Retail reminds him of how hard people work for their money and that the tax dollars to  fund education don’t fall out of the sky.

“Knowing that, I work harder in the classroom,” Frazier says.
Jeffords loves being outside, making his second job perfect for someone who works most of the year indoors.

“I love the mix of physical labor versus the mental work of the school year,” Jeffords says.

McMullen’s second job eases the pressures of teaching.
“It’s so different, it actually takes my mind off the stresses at school,” she says.