Pros
Opportunities to build community across schools The longer you stay, the more input you have in certain decisions Pay is above average (however, the horrible benefits package makes salaries feel lower than they should) Depending on your school site, you have the opportunity to work with some of the most dedicated and talented teachers and leaders The kids are awesome!
Cons
inequitable pay scales and HORRIBLE benefits upper management is invisible to school based staff and incredibly out of touch. Their policies very negatively impact the experiences of teachers and leaders in the building DSOs function as HR and are often not qualified to do so. Not an environment conducive to caregivers. Hours make it almost impossible to take care of your family. Lack of transparency results in the development of false and damaging narratives Women of color are paid less and have higher expectations Experiences vary depending on the relationships you may have with people in decision making roles School based leadership gets a bad rap but staff rarely see the chaos they are dealing with behind the scenes Policies/expectations for teachers do not honor teachers as experts and fail to prevent burnout, and school leaders are forced to implement these policies even if they vehemently disagree. AF continues to add ridiculously overpaid positions at the Network level and no one at the school level has any idea what they do. We say we have to make tough financial decisions but those decisions only seem to affect those of us in the building.