Pros
Working with wonderful children, great benefits even for a new hire, coworkers that are passionate about working with children and truly want to be the best teacher that they can.
Cons
I couldn't even make it through the new teacher training because I was so disgusted with this place. Just some of the more questionable practices of Success Academy that I learned from training are: - Because it's a charter school, success doesn't need to adhere to state mandated hours. Many schools require you to get there at 6:30 in the morning and prevent you from leaving until 5:30 at night. If you're in elementary school, that's a school day that's three hours longer than public schools for children as young as 5. - You will not be placed in the school you request. Upon hiring, success tries to make it seem as though they have your best interest in mind by asking you what areas would be most convenient for you to get to. These are completely ignored and they'll place people from Long Island in the Bronx or Harlem, asking them to sit in hours of traffic to get the work and hours of traffic when they leave every day. - A death in the family is not considered a good reason to be absent from school for a length of time. Children who experience a death in the family are permitted ONE excused day off from school and this is if the OBITUARY is provided to the school. After that, every day absent from school is considered unexcused and add up to a suspension, even if a parent passes away and even if the child needs to travel to attend a funeral. - The financial situations of parents and families are not taken into consideration. Many of the neighborhoods that success is in are economically disadvantaged. A look at the New York State report card website states that some schools have economic disadvantage up to 85%. We were told during training, that if a parent says their child is wearing different shoes to school because their school shoes are ruined and they cannot afford new shoes to not empathize, to not offer to help the family, but to say "When will you have the shoes?". - Dismissal. Parents and guardians are given a ten minute window to pick up their child. Ten minutes. If they do not arrive on time to pick up their child, the child is punished and the parent is grilled on why they couldn't make it. I know very few parents that are able to pick their children up at 3:45 every day because they're working. Again, take these as you want. But these were all observations I made JUST FROM TRAINING. I can't imagine how it is in an actual classroom and school. If you're a certified teacher, you're too good for this place.