What should I do if I will not have my certificate by the time school starts

It is it the final stages i.e. application done, university approval, and just waiting for the state's review. Thanks!

 

You need to talk to your principal or the HR department. When does school start? You could also try calling the State Department of Education.

 

Ask your school. I didn't get my license until December of my first year teaching- my district understood that our state dept. of ed is ridiculously slow and only required that we had applied for it by a certain date.

 

You should have received/or can get a letter from your college stating you meet all requirements. In my state a school that hires you can expedite the process with the state to under two weeks.

 

I was in the same boat last summer - except I was transferring certification from one province to another.

I called the certification board and they told me all they needed was a letter from my school board stating that I had a position starting in September and they would fast track the process.

Call the state and see what they say

 

My state sent a letter to the school so I was able to start without it actually being in my hands.

 

This happened to me my first year teaching. My HR person told me I was in violation of my contract and I had to take a personal day in the beginning of the year to go to the state DOE.

 

I think you need to talk to HR. In my district it's a violation of your contract to be in the classroom without a valid teaching license in hand. You'd have to wait to start teaching until you got your license. It happens at my school every year where a new or out-of-state teacher isn't able to start teaching until October or December or something. A long term sub is placed in the classroom until the certification comes in.

 

Sometimes the school will pay you as a long term sub until your certificate clears, sometimes they understand. It depends, so talk to your principal.

 

You can ask to see if you can apply for a substitute license and teach as a substitute until you get a teaching license. It should be much quicker to get the sub license.

 

Why don't they just place that teacher in as a long-term sub until the certification goes through? It seems silly to add a major transition in for the kids.

 

In my state the sub licenses take as long as the regular licenses. They put LTSes in the classrooms because they already have licenses in hand, whereas the new hires don't.