Almost Made Me Quit Teaching... - Associate Teacher Success Academy Charter Schools Employee Review

If you want to work somewhere where you have zero work-life balance then this is the place for you. I was actually succeeding here and I still quit due to the enormous pressure put on you. As an associate teacher you do not receive a lunch break, only the lead teachers do, and you're expected to monitor lunch and recess. Everyone in leadership is pushing their workload on to you and give you ridiculous expectations and goals to achieve in such a short period of time (I was actually in trouble because I couldn't get every parent to take off of work to go to a school function). Everyday you walk in not knowing if you will have a bad day or the worst day of your life. The school I was at was a sinking ship, teachers were leaving by the dozen and no one was being hired to replace them therefore LT's and AT's were split up, classroom teachers were constantly shifted around, and the children suffered as a result. I had students getting 20's and 30's on exams due to the lack of consistency in the classroom. I was entirely scripted and told to yell at the children and get in their faces. The children were told to sit absolutely still, silent, with their backs straight, and hands locked in their lap. What child can maintain that for an entire school day? It was apparent to me that this was too much on a child in the 1-2 fist fights I would break up daily. Leadership makes you squirm and constantly scared that you are losing your job and just when you're at the breaking point they'll say something that can be interpreted as "nice" so you don't leave them. This place changes you and you either get out before it is too late or become a robot. They have an attitude where anything you do for them is still never enough. It also felt weird that no one, not even the principal, was over 30 and now I know why. I was an eager, bright-eyed, teacher fresh out of college and this place almost made me give it all up. Thankfully I got out before that happened and am much, much happier teaching where I am now. Leadership is out of control and power hungry and rule by fear. It's a shame because they could have a good thing going, but instead choose to squash their teachers which results in their shockingly high turnover rate. I can't tell you how many excellent teachers I saw fired or quit because they weren't Success standards (A.K.A scripted robots following protocol to a tee) It's sad really.