Pros
-Dedicated Teachers, Counselors, Administrators, Secretaries, etc. -The talent, experience, and knowledge that the teachers brought to the classroom each day was impressive. -Most Admins at our school would go above and beyond to help support teachers. Most teachers at my school would bend over backwards to help one another -Superintendent seemed interested in getting employee feedback about district ideas -Pay seemed better than surrounding small towns -Some free professional development was offered; sometimes it was valuable -Health Benefits started out really good 10+ years ago, but then covered a lot less the last 2 years or so.
Cons
-Senior management often put a great deal of pressure on administrators and thereby teachers to keep standardized test scores up. -Overcrowded classrooms and too many portables....some portables were extremely old. -Employees were not usually compensated for taking on extra committees such as science fair. -Teachers were required to use sick/personal days up before retiring/resigning or they would lose them...however, a previous super intendant was paid for his unused sick days....treatment should be the same for something like that. -Needed more classroom support for special needs given the large class size and load of speical needs. -Each year the district required more of the teachers but didn't give us extra time to complete the tasks. Many teachers resigned and retired at the end of the year as a result. -District Head Quarters should not be down town!...that real estate is worth A LOT of money where it is and could easily be sold and offices could be relocated elsewhere for much less money....seems impractical to keep headquarters in such an expensive area.