Proximity Learning Reviews

No paid planning period but expected to respond to emails within 24 hours and make sure grades are current weekly and lesson plans are posted daily. Same thing with department meetings, you are expected to attend on your own time with no compensation. No benefits Classes can be canceled at any time with no warning. Expected to attend training with no compensation. When I asked about this I was told by one person that it is calculated into our contract but they expect you to attend training before you are assigned schools so I don't understand how that is true. Another person told me they are doing us a favor by providing PD. But you cannot even look at what classes are available until you complete the PD. This year after all of our contracts were canceled because of COVID and we were left with no income they are asking us to fork over $600 for a Virtual Teaching Certificate being given by a company that has no actual credibility. They have offered a $200 credit for the first 200 teachers who sign up. However, this is still not accessible to many of us teachers who have been unemployed since March. They also told us they would give preference to those who have signed up for the certificate program. How is the equitable to ask teachers who have not gotten a paycheck in 5 months to pay $600 for a certificate for something they are already competently doing? Terrible curriculum resources, you have to recreate everything if you want something decent that makes any sense developmentally for students.

Proximity Learning is a perfect example of a company that started with seemingly noble goals of providing desperately needed supplemental digital instruction and “putting students first.” Unfortunately, the last 2 years have proven that management is focused solely on profit and growth and does not seem to be concerned with how little they pay their own staff nor the sheer volume of work placed on them. As a result, teachers and management leads (the very people who brought this company from just an idea to reality) are starting to leave in droves while the company continues to sign contracts with school systems without making sure that they actually have enough teachers to perform the instruction. Of all these talented individuals who felt compelled enough to leave the company, they did so with the heart-breaking realization that Proximity could be a great company. At one point, they all believed that. The past 2 years have proven that the company did not believe in them. To quote the CEO “What got us here won’t get us where we want to be." And PLI will get there…no matter how many talented people they trash in the process.