Vantaggi
Great coworkers, typically will only have one "prep" to plan for
Svantaggi
At this school, there is a distinct separation between admin and teachers. The teachers are mostly all in the same boat- burnt out, at their breaking point etc. Admin tends to be toxically positive. If an issue is brought to their attention, they will either cut you off before you even express what you're trying to say because they don't want to address it or they will blame you for the problem. The behavior at this school, across grade levels, is truly horrific. Kids run the school. There is no consequences. Parents will blame teachers for their child's behavior or not believe teachers at all, and admin will not support. Many, many teachers quit during the year because of the very poor working conditions. Subs walked out mid day or just refused to come to the school after previous experiences there. Special ed and language support teachers will then get pulled to sub gen ed classes because of the staff shortage. This will lead to even less support in the classrooms. For example, there will be days where resource teachers (kids who get pulled out of the classroom for special ed) will be in a meeting or pulled to sub AND the push in special ed teacher will also be pulled to sub, leaving the gen ed teacher with all of the sped kids, unsupported. If teachers express that they need support, it will be turned on them. Instead of acknowledging that it is actually illegal to have that many students with IEPs in the classroom without any additional support. Lastly, there is a strangely high level of micromanaging where teachers are very pressured and nagged to get very minute things done like filling out spreadsheets, contacting a certain number of parents, having students complete certain things for "data" etc, while completely ignoring huge glaring, foundational problems that need urgent support. It feels very much like rearranging chairs on the Titanic. Overall, would not recommend working here. Many schools have behavioral issues, high workload, etc, but knowing many teachers in other schools/districts, this one seems to really stand out with teacher unhappiness. Also, expect to have zero planning time during the school day. The prep period gets taken by meetings almost every day and lunch ends up being 20 minutes or less because the lunchroom is always backed up and you're required to wait with the kids until they're in the lunchroom and to come down early to pick them up. Hope this helps.