To give a sense of comparison, of the 8 original school leaders in the region, only 1 is now left standing. Everyone else has left, all with the same issues with corporate.
This company (on a higher up level) is a slash and burn design. I have had 3 different bosses in just over a year.
There have been 4 restructuring on the central team in 15 months.
At this last restructure, they cut our operations coach, our facilities team, and our prepared environment coach and telling our region's school leaders that we can bring them back to our team IF we can bump up enrollment numbers significantly across the region and justify their salary.
That was a really gross feeling to have, that our teammates' fate hung on our ability to fill spaces we didn't completely have.
So, this has meant that facilities requests go unanswered (the door lock, needing new windows, etc). And if I go ahead and call the people out here to fix the things, I get in trouble for it because it impacts our P&L and I should have asked the regional team, even though I had and my tickets and requests went unanswered.
Our programs support, is spread incredibly thin. They have one person to support 5 schools, 100 staff, and over 300+ students. To make that more complicated she has been instructed to put her primary focus on one school, and we were told in so many words not to bother her. They want her supporting that load WHILE helping with PMI.
When I stepped into classrooms to offer support or guidance, I was told by those above me that I did not follow the correct order of things and needed to ensure what I was telling you, my team, is in "alignment" with Guidepost. Not with research or best practices, but the Guidepost approach.
So for the past several months I have felt stuck. Stuck because I cannot support my team in the way that I am trained to do. That I know how to do. That I can do and do well.
I feel stuck that I cannot offer meaningful support and instead am forced to offer a "hurry up and wait" mentality that results in you all feeling frustrated, and myself feeling frustrated.
As well, watching the constant restructuring of things left me unwilling to want to ever reach higher in the company, as my job wouldn't be secure. Which meant my family's future isn't secure. And I will not gamble with that.
In terms of pay, I am not allowed to pay my team what you are truly worth. It feels like going in circles to explain to the corporation that if we can pay you all well, then you will stay after finishing PMI, which means that we have happier families and longer retention and a full school.
Instead, I am told I do not have the "right" people for the job, and the "right" people will be grateful for the opportunity. Opportunity does not pay bills. Opportunity does not allow staff to thrive and their families to thrive. Frankly opportunity can only take you so far if you can't pay your bills.
I was at our last THRIVE for leaders in TX and was struck by the fact that a majority of the school leaders there had been there 6 months or less. And I was even more struck by the fact that the dissent in the crowd was palpable and had a moment of "this is a cult" feeling.
Furthermore, the leaders of our company are not aligned with one another. Rebecca Girn is all for high-quality programs and doing what is needed to achieve them. She is a great support
Ray Girn is focused on the money. He said "I want to be like McDonalds. I want to be everywhere and I want to be a billionaire. Don't tell my wife I said that".
The company wants to open 25+ schools a year. They want us to over-enroll our schools, based on the thought of "we can make it work". Rather than pouring into the staff and programs we do have and building those up, we are told no.
I am told I need to see us as a "luxury brand" and that parents should want to pay upwards of $24,000/yr to send their child here.
Quality early childhood education, and education as a whole, should NOT be a luxury, let alone a brand. Quality education across the board should be the norm and not the exception.
