I had vastly different expectations for this job based on the gaslighting of the school leaders with whom I completed interviews, which adds insult to the injury of these cons.
1. High amount of turnover. When I was hired, they were looking for another English teacher, several other subject-level teachers, another nurse (they have one in only two days per week), principal, and assistant principal.
2. Unbelievably, the leadership team is massive. If there were less admin members and more teachers, maybe they wouldn't have class sizes of 33 students.
3. Students are so disruptive there is a Culture Team who responds to classroom calls to escort kids out of the room - they are so backed-up, sometimes they never respond to the call, completely derailing class for the rest of the students.
4. Student get in physical fight so often that there is 30 Days of Unity (or Peace? Can't remember.) community goal of going 30 consecutive school days without a physical altercation, and they had only achieved it once when I started in May. It was immediately broken on the 31st day when a fight broke out directly outside of my room on my first day.
5. Drugs are a huge problem. The lower level of the school reeks of weed, and students disappear to the bathroom for extended periods of time despite being written up, calling Culture for a bathroom check, and having bathroom/hall monitors.
6. Many students are straight-up mean...like cussing out adults and peers, booing you while giving directions, yelling at adults and peers, dramatically negative reactions to pleasantries, and entitled levels of disrespect (ex: "And I expect to see an A (in the gradebook) by the end of the day." // "I KNOW you're not talking to me/talking to me like that.")
7. There are faculty and staff meetings EVERY TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, AND THURSDAY before school and EVERY FRIDAY after school. All meetings could be emails. Or not important at all.
8. Curriculum is an afterthought. Test scores, data, and stats are the only things that matter. Compliance is the name of the game.
9. I was observed TWICE within my first week of teaching. Observations occur randomly on a weekly basis. Student behavior dramatically impacts your scores.
10. There are so few teachers and admin who have education and/or experience in a school (especially one outside of the Noble Network). Everyone goes by their last names even when kids aren't around - it's like a cult.
