Pros
My direct supervisors were always kind and thoughtful while I worked at Classical. They strove to provide empathetic feedback and listen to my concerns and needs. Many of the employees truly care about the children.
Cons
Despite efforts from management and from teachers, Classical continues to implement unethical practices that harm children and teachers. Children are only given 20 minutes of recess, which is often shortened by having to redo 'poor' transitions (non-silent transitions.) Struggling students are pulled out of Specials and made to do more work- this negatively impacts their self-esteem, mental health, and social life. Additionally, this job is not sustainable. 6:45 a.m. meetings, after-school meetings (ending around 5:30) and lack of prep time during the day made it impossible to keep up with the demands of the job. I was encouraged to take 'informal' meetings or work with students during lunch. Even if I didn't have a meeting during lunch, the time it took to drop the students at the cafeteria and pick them up left me with about 15 minutes to eat. The prep time during the day does not leave enough time to complete all the responsibilities of the job, and I either had to spend time working after school, or dedicate all of Sunday to prepping for the week. As far as I could tell, this was standard practice among my coworkers and supervisors. I was so drained of energy that burnout was inevitable. The demands of this job negatively affected my mental and physical health.
