The owners of the Nest do not have a clue about the practice of actual teaching. They micromanage every single thing. Putting new coats of paint and refurbishing everything in a center does not make a center be successful. It helps masks the real issues… and there are plenty. Very micromanaged, down to lead teachers not allowed to rearrange classrooms. They take pictures of the rooms when they are complete with the new furniture and toys. Staff needs to sign a contract saying you’re not allowed to move a thing.
Everything about communication with parents is very odd. Teachers aren’t able to email or contact a parent first hand about their child if any issues arise. Even the website, we are told to put pictures up to please parents but there are a ton of guidelines in even doing that. All pictures must be approved by director. It felt like admin didn’t trust teachers to be able to communicate with parents due to being incapable of spelling words correctly or they just didn’t think they were intelligent enough. It was very insulting, especially being a college graduate in education. The staff also was very catty, cliquey, and two-faced. They would promote as a popularity contest and not seniority, college educated, or who would do best job. The Nest Schools spends tons of money on things like new furniture and toys… when demanding every single thing from old center must be removed. Perfectly good tables, play centers, puppet theaters, toys, big easels, they all had to be sold or thrown away. However, they don’t spend a dime on cleaning companies. The staff is completely responsible to CLEAN the entire center as well as be a teacher for their class and aftercare or beforecare, or fill in for breaks, or teachers who are out. On top of cleaning your classroom, you also had to clean bathrooms, vacuum, mop, clean kitchen, laundry room, even the bird cages. It’s not surprising that the center is filthy and they desperately need a cleaning crew at least 1 or twice a week.
The demands on the staff to attend pointless I -services (over 2 hours away and on a holiday is absolutely ridiculous. Hours and hours of listening to speakers blah blah about things that no one cared about and wouldn’t help anyone in any way as a childcare worker. No refund for gas money either. It was a joke and the fact that this was MANDATORY should be illegal to do so when many people have children or other responsibilities that did not warrant a 2+ hour trip one way on Good Friday when schools are closed and many have plans with their families.
The management does not care about the staff members or anyone that’s not directly linked to making them money.
