Pros
You never go to work on a Monday feeling like what you're doing is unimportant - no matter how small or tedious the task, it's for the kids and for improving educational opportunity in NOLA long term. People are amazingly team oriented, kind, and down to earth despite long hours and not insignificant stress levels. Schools and organization have strong leadership and many smart, savvy people - among the best, if not the best, among CMOs in the city.
Cons
Staff attrition, as at many charters, is very high - work / life balance is very hard to achieve and not helped by the constant influx of very early career professionals in their early 20s who haven't yet learned to focus on winning the marathon and not the sprint. The "whatever it takes" cultural bedrock of the organization allows for strong team and mission identification, but can obscure smarter day-to-day decisionmaking re: which battles are really the most important ones to fight in order to maximize long term impact.