The white board in Jessica Goldman’s kindergarten classroom counts down the days until the end of the year at Sunny Isles Beach Community School.

 But Goldman, the ‘rookie teacher of the year’ in this the school’s inaugural year, wonders if the white board is also counting down toward the end of her teaching career in Sunny Isles Beach.

Jessica Goldman, the "rookie teacher of the year" at SIB Community School, is one of 10 left wondering if she'll have a job next year.

She’s one of 10 Sunny Isles Beach teachers caught in the netherworld of budgeting in the Miami-Dade School District. It’s a tense time with health insurance, paychecks and future plans on the line. Each of the 10 is on a one-year contract that ends June 5 and the future is cloudy at best.

But the patient Goldman has experience traversing this kind of uncertain ground.

After getting her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Florida International University, she moved through an internship at Bay Harbor School and was in the right place when the school needed a substitute teacher to handle a first grade class for six months.

She spent last summer hunting jobs with little luck. Even encouraging words were hard to find until an FIU connection helped her land an interview with Dr. Annette Weissman, principal of the new Sunny Isles Beach Community School.  The school was being staffed mostly with teachers displaced from other schools and the odds were long, but something clicked.

When Weissman found herself barreling toward opening day with not enough hands to set up classrooms, she invited Goldman back to help out – first as a volunteer, then as a substitute teacher. It was October before Goldman actually had a job, and then only because the school found it needed to expand from the planned seven kindergarten classes to eight and then finally to nine to keep class sizes manageable.

At last, Goldman had the job she’d dreamed about as a little girl. As the middle of three children growing up in Miami, she’d been teased by friends who had taken to calling her ‘mother.’ It’s a name and a role she takes seriously. She smiles as she recalls one of her students giving her a felt flower for Mother’s Day and saying Goldman is her “second mother.” 

 “That’s when you know you’ve inspired,” she says.

 She’s enjoyed the experience of helping open a new school but admits handling 19 kindergarteners without a classroom aide and few parental volunteers is a daunting task day after day. She credits a tight-knit group of kindergarten teachers with helping her through the rough spots. Downstream, she sees herself teaching middle school students reading and technology. But today, she’s willing and eager to do whatever Sunny Isles Beach Community School needs. 

It’s that kind of team-first attitude that helped her win the ‘rookie teacher of the year’ honor. But will it be enough to land her a job in this tough economic climate?

This summer, she’s committed to visiting family in Colombia and leading a tour group of 15-year-old Argentinian students through two weeks in Orlando. After that, there is no certainty beyond knowing she’ll have a roof over her head as long as she keeps living with her parents. 

Weissman recognizes Goldman’s value, saying she “is truly one of those individuals who were ‘born to teach.’  Her excitement at finally being a ‘real teacher’ is evident every day as she moves around her classroom.”

The principal describes Goldman’s classroom as a showcase for her creativity, her organizational skills, and her enthusiasm for learning.  “The children are always engaged in meaningful hands-on activities that motivate them to learn and grow,” Weissman says. “She encourages her kindergarten students to be involved in their learning.  The students are thoroughly enjoying their education.”

But Weisman acknowledges being good isn’t the determining factor in securing a spot next year.

“It is most unfortunate that the current funding crisis in education places teachers of Ms. Goldman's caliber in a position where they may not be hired for the following year, “ the principals says. “I am going to do everything in my power to keep Ms. Goldman as a member of the SIBCS faculty because she is such an asset to our school.  However, there are many teachers both at SIBCS and throughout the system who are in jeopardy today.”

One scenario apparently under discussion would eliminate a kindergarten section by placing 22 pupils in a classroom next year

, three more than the 19 Goldman managed this year. But that too awaits final budgets decisions.