Pros
Amazing teaching staff, dedicated teachers, partnership with families. Incredible deans and social work team.
Cons
EMKS administration cares about having yes-men surround them. They have 0 administrators who are certified in administration, much less who have degrees in admin. They use tactics such as gossip, bullying, straight up lying, and intimidation to get their way. They have a facade of feedback. They say they want teachers feedback, and want to make the school better, and in some cases, adjusting feedback does make changes. However a majority of the time, adjusting feedback is met with conversations about "mindset" or questioning if the teacher is on board with the organization's beliefs. As far as student progress goes, far too much attention is given to testing, data, and bubble kids. Instructional coaches only give feedback on routines and procedures and after multiple years, I could count on one hand the number of times professional development actually helped me become a more effective teacher in my content. The expectations of students in regards to their management and course work is abominable and if I was a parent I would never be okay with the way that teachers are coached to talk to my children. The guise of being "culturally responsive" has been lost on the decision makers of this organization.