Many North Carolina teachers have to work second jobs to help provide for themselves and their families. This is no different at West. Here, many teachers have work two or more jobs to make ends meet.

“I’m not married so it’s just my income paying all my bills, all my house and car payments, and my student loans,” said West Brunswick High School teacher Kourtney Gore. “If I want any money to have a coffee, or buy a new outfit, or do anything I can’t do it.  I can only pay the bills on a teachers salary, I don’t have any extra so I can’t go out to dinner or something if I don’t have an extra job.”

 For North Carolina teachers who would like to treat themselves to anything outside of just covering their bills, they have to work twice as hard. Time can also be a concern, they are on the clock all day at school then go to their second place of work afterward. This gives them minimal time to get papers graded or to have any time to themselves.

“I don’t make enough money working here to support all my bills. I work a second job in order to make the money for extracurriculars for my kids and a lot of the extras so I work two jobs for that reason,” said West Brunswick High School teacher Stephanie Mclean. “I would love to not have to work a second job but as a single parent it’s absolutely necessary for me to work two jobs.”

Teachers who are employed at a second job often have to work with students from the school. During the summer most teenagers get jobs at places like local stores, restaurants, ice cream shops, etc.  These can overlap and cause former/future students and teachers to work together.

“It’s not weird if its during the summer, it’s a little weird if it’s during school because they can treat me as a coworker during the summer, and I treat them as a coworker, but then during the school year it’s a weirder dynamic because I’m also in charge of their grade,” said Kourtney Gore. “I don’t want them to feel like they have to listen to me or I’m going to change their grade but I also don’t want them to not respect me because I am their teacher.”

Having two jobs can be exhausting for teachers, while most people have the luxury of going home after work, they continue to work throughout the day to have another source of income. North Carolina teachers dedicate a lot of their summer to working so they can balance out assets and liabilities over the the long break.

“You get really tired when you are trying to work two jobs and I hate that part of it,” said  West Brunswick High School teacher Annette Harton.

North Carolina teachers work really hard to properly prepare and educate students with everything they need to know to succeed. Teachers salary should be made more of a priority.

“I feel like North Carolina teachers should be paid more, we should have a better salary a better living wage,” said Stephanie Mclean.