Cutthroat + Manipulative - Teach In Residence Achievement First Employee Review

- Everything. At least in my experience. I was very respectful and never spoke ill while working for the school. But now that I've had months to reflect, I see how negative my experience was and want to warn others. - Manipulative. I thought this job was going to be a dream career change, with lots of hard work and lots of hard-earned satisfaction. The whole interview process happened in one day and the principal made me feel like I was the most special candidate he'd ever met. He even said, "I never do this, but I'm so excited about you, I want to offer you the position on the spot". I was so excited, I went home and quit my current job that day so I could start as soon as possible - per the principal's dire request. Come to find out later, he uses that exact line on every single hire. Once things started to crumble, the leadership team seemed to turn on me. Not that my coach or principal ever had my back to begin with. When I formally and respectfully put in my notice to resign, the leadership team asked me to stay for an additional 3.5 weeks. Once I happily agreed (I'm bitter now, but at the time was truly optimistic and trying to be a team player), the Leadership Team stopped speaking to me altogether. My coach never met with me or even so much as smiled at me in the halls, neither did the principal. I had to follow up multiple times on when I was "allowed" to tell my team and scholars that I would be leaving them. Again, I was trying to act in respect for the authority of the leadership team and what I got back in return was "allowing" me to tell my 90 scholars that I would be leaving, 15 minutes before my very last day with them during a holiday party and in front of many of their parents. It was rushed, kids were crying, upset, and mad. And when I told my team I was leaving (again, speaking no ill or negative attitude toward anyone or the network - I adored my team and was truly sad to tell them) I was asked by the principal to immediately leave the room... so they could talk about me. Like, he told me that. There is no logistical reason to do things that way. It is just a psychological power play, manipulative, and cutthroat. I said and showed with my actions over and over again, that I was NOT attempting to sabotage anything and was happy to continue putting in all my work until the last day. I'm convinced the principal just wanted to put me in my place and was personally mad at me. - Time off and the "referral bonus". I literally had a teacher whisper to me "By law, you can take 15 days unpaid - whenever they give you a hard time." I don't know if that's the actual number of days, but I do know the school only allows you to take off THREE DAYS PER YEAR. You work 11+ hour days (only paid for 8 of them), expected to stay late for mandatory events, weeks of mandatory summer training, plus having to take a 2-year long graduate program (which is heavily subsidized but you do still have to pay $3k a year for out of pocket), etc. So, yes, you get paid time off for winter vacation and spring break but still, doctors appointments and family emergencies come up. I had so many people encourage me to push the envelope and call out sick while I was contemplating quitting because I was literally getting sick from the lack of sleep and extreme stress. Also, the referral bonus program is a huge red flag. The newtork, especially the school I was at, has a hard time keeping people. If a person has been there long term, their main reason was almost always "it pays more than other schools" and that they've bonded with the kids. But not a single teacher I spoke with ever had smiles on their faces (unless it was for a kid making an unauthorized joke) or said that they felt they had good work, life balance. - Terrible Training. I was hired mid-semester, with them knowing I had no teaching experience, and my coach did very little to help me learn or train. I was thrown into the deep end with all of their extremely regimented and not-natural standards crushing me. Which, days earlier in the interviewing, I was told would not happen. I was told, "It will be a gradual, year-long growing experience as we prepare for you to teach". Within my first three days, I was being left alone with classes of 30 children to teach math interventions and covering reading groups without notice. Then, when I failed to meet their expectations or expressed concern, I was put down and belittled. I had to ask on multiple occasions for training or taxonomy lessons because my coach was not providing them without me asking. Again, I was almost an entire semester behind and without any teaching experience. I wasn't even told by the leadership team that there had been a summer training program I also was at a disadvantage from not having been around to partake in until another TIR told me. I wanted to request a different coach, because there was one that helped me more than the one assigned to me, but was told by other TIRs that had already tried to complain about our coach - "It only makes it worse." So it was a chilling effect, I was just forced to accept it. In one instance when I was getting sick, was running on fumes, didn't know what I was doing, and it was the end of the day - my coach popped in to "coach me" without telling me. This was simply her interrupting my sentences and redirecting or restating things and then constantly asking me "do you get that?". I am not a prideful person but I couldn't take it. I had a slight attitude in my voice ONE TIME and away from the children said "I guess" and made an annoyed face. When she later tried to hold me after dismissal (when we are finally "off" officially) to talk about it, I explained, "Look, I'm so sorry, it's the very end of the day, I did not mean any disrespect. But I have to go - I'm dying." The next morning, I met with her and sincerely apologized. No matter how much I clash with someone, she's in authority and me getting an attitude isn't appropriate. She accepted my apology and said all was fine and that she understood. For a moment I thought we really had bonded. That is until I was called into the principal's office for a meeting - MY COACH HAD TATTLED ON ME ROLLING MY EYES ONE SINGLE TIME TO THE PRINCIPAL. This was the clincher for me realizing I had to leave such a hopeless situation. No support or encouragement, just waiting for you to mess up and calling you on it. None of my wins or small successes were EVER brought to attention like this one single moment of attitude was. (My grade team DID uplift and encourage me but leadership never cared) - Belittling. For a school that is supposed to support communities of color and represent strength, respect, and dignity - my experience was exactly the opposite. There were clear tensions between the teachers of different races, including the principal, a young white man. Not only that, but the whole process ended up being both my coach and principal gaslighting me. Thankfully the team of teachers I was working alongside with validated that I wasn't crazy - my experience was normal but most people "just get used to it". - Relay is a joke. I know MANY teachers in many different states, from elementary teachers with Bachelors to University Professors. This grad school is not up to par for industry standards. No one has heard of it and all it teaches you is how to be an Achievement First teacher. Outside of these specific type of charter schools, that "degree" means nothing. I'm convinced it is a way to force the Teachers in Residence to stay working at AF long enough that they get used to the conditions and then remain a little longer. When I chose to quit, every single TIR I knew told me "I would too, if I weren't stuck in Relay". It is a large time and financial commitment that you are agreeing to before even knowing if AF is truly the place for you. A few of the longer-term (3-5 yrs) AF teachers I spoke with had actually opted to get their required master degrees from other legitimate Universities because they knew Relay was a joke. - If I wanted this type of cut-throat and manipulative work environment, I would have sought out working in a much more corporate environment. - Is this tactic even really empowering the children their supposed to be helping? The children in elementary were so over stressed and under so much pressure from NINE HOUR school days, with 15 minutes for lunch (only 5 of which they could talk, the other 10 were silence) and 15 minutes for recess, ONLY IF they did every single part of their homework - if they didn't? They had to sit out of recess and continue working. These children are taught very little independent critical thinking or unique exposure to developing the areas they are naturally more inclined to thrive in. These are beautiful black and brown children, forced to dress like a middle-class white man, and allowed no individuality in their answers to questions or actions. If the scholars do not sit with their hands folded, backs straight, and eyes glued to the speaker at ALL TIMES, for NINE HOURS a day, they are reprimanded out loud by the teacher in the middle of the lesson. (The teachers have to do this, if they don't they get in trouble themselves) If the child is tired or having a hard time paying attention, they face consequences of having their behavior clip moved down (causing them to miss out on important incentives) or being further scolded in front of their peers. When I interviewed for the role, the principal mentioned that some people think the network is actually perpetuating racism. From the outside, I didn't see how the mission of providing an education and getting these amazing kids into universities was a bad thing. After seeing it up close, I understand. These children are not being empowered to be life long achievers and learners, blazing any sort of trails. They are being reinforced with the message to simply follow the leader and that they are not good enough and must strive to meet unreachable standards of systems set in place above them. (Many of the teachers did set out and did a good job including wonderful aspects of black empowerment and culture in their lessons, but the overall system of the network is degrading and reinforces negative stereotypes). - Also, scholars lose their minds once they get to middle and high school because they are not prepared for the little bit of autonomy they receive. There were regularly fights and crazy issues in the middle school attached to our elementary school. Also, many of the teachers from middle school explained that a lot of the students end up dropping out of college once they get there - because they are having such an identity crisis and though their intellect is on par for the course, their education did not prepare them for the real world of University and professors that do not hold your hand, "teach the questions", or "narrate" when you are not paying attention. - Most parents had HUGE issues with the school. I worked the main lobby on report card night and 9/10 of the parents left upset and felt like their scholar was not being truly supported and that one thing or another was wrong with network as a whole. Many of the most frustrated parents were ones that had been in the school for years and were talking about taking their children out for the transition to middle school. - Practice Day highlighted how unhappy the teachers from across the network were. During exercises that were supposed to unite the teachers from all different schools, it effectively turned in to a giant argument where the only thing everyone could agree on was that there are many major issues and fundamental problems within the network. This was the last straw in my deciding to leave the network.