Staff culture is toxic. Feedback is unprofessional, abrasive, and does not contribute to development as a teacher or as a professional. Teachers are disrespected and leadership will, at times, tell you to your face that you clearly don't care about the students or the mission. You will be constantly told that you should provide feedback but when you do, you are told, once again, that you are not aligned with the mission and don't care about the students. Many of the members of leadership have little teaching experience. There is a principal in the network who only taught in a classroom setting for one year and several deans who only have 2 or 3 years of teaching experience. It also doesn't matter if you are a content expert in a specific course. If you are a physics teacher but they need someone to teach math, they will make you teach math. If you are an English teacher and they need someone to teach Spanish and you just so happen to know how to speak Spanish, they will make you speak Spanish. They will move you around how they see fit.
Students with IEPs are not supported, even though AF will claim that they do support these kids. They will force students to take AP classes even if they are not ready. Students with special needs often feel insecure and unaccomplished as a result, even with teacher support. If a teacher brings up concerns like this to leadership, leadership will say that the full responsibility is on the teacher and that the student's IEP does not matter and should not impact this student's learning, which is an awful statement. What is even more disappointing is that teachers they claim to be less effective are removed from being lead teachers and are shoehorned into becoming learning specialists, which are co-teachers who work primarily with students with IEPs. As a result of this, students with IEPs do not get the support they need and are taught by teachers who are not trained in special education.
I would not recommend teaching here, especially if you care about special education.
