KIPP SoCal predominantly serves children of color and yet that is often not reflected in the leadership (both regionally and at each school site). Class sizes are huge and there is often little to no support for struggling teachers. School administrators will only promote their friends, even when other better-qualified teachers should be moving into leadership positions. Teachers often feel overlooked for growth opportunities and career advancement positions. Favoritism is huge at this organization and the organization as a whole was hesitant for a very long time to offer pay scales for any position. This allowed for some teachers to negotiate their salaries while other teachers were told that negotiating was not possible. Students were often disciplined harshly and schools implemented discipline models that were not aligned with students' developmental needs. Data is huge! During my first year, all students (starting with kindergarten) were assessed every single week for improvement. This led students and teachers to have assessment fatigue. The turnover rate is high and it is not uncommon to have a new principal every 1-2 years. I left because, although I loved my students, my school's culture was toxic. Feedback was not anonymous, which led to administrators confronting teachers and staff if they dared say anything negative about the school. I saw many teachers leave to other schools or other districts to get the leadership positions and growth that they were denied at KIPP SoCal. First year teachers often struggled to feel supported and were instead constantly reminded to work harder and to "find a way or make one." At some point, the region had a goal of opening 20 schools by 2020. This goal was short-sighted and unsustainable, so the region quickly gave up on that goal and stopped promoting their desire for exponential growth. KIPP needs to focus on the schools that they already have before opening new schools and setting them up to fail, especially considering that a lot of those schools do not even have a permanent site to call home.