It seems to be surprisingly hard to get into the public school system for elementary ed. My wife is a certified teacher here in Michigan and has never found a public school job in the greater Detroit area since she graduated from college in 2003. She has been working in charter schools, which are non-union and pay considerably less, but at least its a job. So, if she has been focused on applying to public schools she might want to try expanding her search to other school types. Charter (if your state has them) and occasionally private schools seem to have pretty high turnover and are therefore always hiring.
If anyone has a connection in a metro Detroit public school (other than Detroit itself) for my wife, I wouldn't mind hearing about it either.
