The New England Center for Children reviews

Now onto the real stuff you came here to read, NECC like most residential facilities does not differ. The schedule is awful, you will for sure work 12-13 hour days at minimum once a week (most likely on a Saturday or Sunday), you will have to work most holidays, you will have to come in during the middle of Massachusetts blizzards, and you will almost always be in a situation where you are severely understaffed. The pay is awful (38k) for all the things they expect of you, your job will not stop at teaching, do not be fooled by the job title and description. You will have to cook, clean, do laundry, give meds, on top of all your other responsibilities. You get paid "breaks" but don't let cords catch you not doing work on your breaks. You do not get lunch breaks, and often you will not get to eat because you don't have time, because you are too busy caring for your student. NECC really backs you into a corner and takes advantage of you for all you have. They know this is your first job, they know you have a one year contract, and they make you well aware that you cannot say no. I have stayed up countless nights completing things for my role as "case manager" a role that sounds very appealing, and for sure looks impressive on a future resume when you get the heck out of this place, but will come with, no surprise, zero compensation. You will be responsible for things at times you have absolutely zero time for in your workweek, things like preparing for IEPs, writing progress reports, and preparing for educational meetings. Sure, these are all things expected of every other special educator in Massachusetts, and I for one would have no complaints about doing any of these things if I got paid the salary of any other Massachusetts educator. Higher ups only care about the image of the school and will constantly make excuses for the problems brought up by many employees as you can see in their various responses to these reviews. Take what you will from this review, and there is someone out there, perhaps like me, who thinks that the master's program will be worth the 3-5 years it will take to complete at the reduced rate. After working here a year, I have decided, it is not worth the emotional and physical stress this job has caused me. The masters, in my opinion, is a ploy, and you will, in one way or another, pay for it, at the end of your time at NECC.

The senior staff tend to be very conceited and are far from open to newcomers. I noticed that they have their cliques and think they're the greatest thing ever if they use the phrase "positive reinforcement" on a daily basis. SMH. If you plan to start at NECC, chances are you'll see this at some point. Their orientation program is a joke and they openly admit that you leave new employee orientation not knowing jack about the kids. Furthermore, they higher ups that have any influence have difficulty seeing outside their bubbles and, although they claim the opposite, are far from open to new ideas. You'll fill out a little survey after some of your trainings that will surely end up in the pile of the last ten-years' surveys waiting to be compiled. That or scrap paper. The hours suck and they'll take advantage of you, especially when you start out (and you'll probably start out as a floater, meaning no set schedule and your hours often change week to week. I worked 12 days straight without a day off once). If you have no experience in the field, I think this would be a great place to start. I, however, came from an organization that valued innovation and novelty when dealing with challenging situations with students--here you're just expected to follow student guidelines whether they work or not. OH! And don't get me started about how liberally they use time out. I can't.