Vantaggi
The people that you work with are absolutely incredible. They are dedicated to their careers, their students, and the community they serve. They are the heart of the operation. The students are wonderful, and most families are very invested and involved in the school community. The main facility in East Harlem is beautiful, but not utilized in the most effective ways.
Svantaggi
The leadership team is made up of young teachers who thrive on a toxic positivity mindset, and who have zero regard for staff’s work-life balance. Due to their limited experience and knowledge, they are learning how to effectively lead and coach at the expense of educators who crave enrichment, challenge, and trust in their abilities. Instead of constructive criticism and next steps, educators are met with unrealistic expectations and constant feedback in the form of a “glows and grows” list (with the “grows” always outweighing the “glows”). The leadership team micromanages their teachers and causes them to feel incredibly anxious, inadequate, and helpless. HR is pointless. Do not go to HR with a complaint or in search of a possible solution to a problem because they will always side with DREAM and once again make you feel helpless. HR is just a DREAM goonie, willing and able to do the dirty work and push anyone that dares to complain or question their decisions out. Also, HR has no idea how to professionally handle difficult emotional situations amongst employees, and they also do not follow the correct legal protocol when it comes to discussing employees personal information. If you are a passionate social justice educator with a growth mindset who identifies as an assertive ally, do NOT work here. Any time you push back, question decisions, or attempt to hold people accountable you automatically become a target. You cannot question the higher ups, although DREAM claims to have a “culture of feedback.” Your opinion does not matter, even if you have research based information, decades of experience, or personal knowledge about a topic. There is also no transparency in the creation of roles at DREAM, which allows them to indulge in nepotism regularly. And if you dare to question, attempt to alter or improve the current curriculum, you are met with a hard no and told to just keep doing the same thing that hasn’t been working for the past several years.