Pros
The woman who recruited me was very pleasant and the process was easy. The hourly pay offered was not great, but not horrible, and benefits were available. The process of logging your hours was very simple.
Cons
ProCare does not honor the contracts it signs, and does not protect employees from bad working conditions. I signed a contract to work for a particular district from mid-September to the end of the school year. I was told I would be filling in for one teacher while she was on leave, but instead, I was assigned to work at two schools, doing a job that had been filled the previous year by two teachers (a full time and a half time). In addition, while there were two half-time aides for this caseload last year, I was assigned one aide who worked with my students three hours a day. I did not have a room to work in, and sometimes had to go from room to room looking for a place to see my students. My assigned caseload was higher than the legal limit for resource specialists in California. It was an unworkable situation. I asked for help many times. When the kids didn't get their services and parents and teachers complained, I was terminated without explanation or a chance to defend myself. In short, the district was allowed to avoid blame by blaming me instead. ProCare never discussed this with me; the company simply started advertising for a replacement. The contract apparently is meant to bind the employee, but not the employer. I also haven't received pay stubs for my pay checks which were automatically deposited, or my W-2 form, even though it's February.
