preschool teacher

preschool director

kindergarten teacher

elementary school teacher

support staff

Action Day Schools

I have worked for Action Day pre and post Covid-19, working with Infants, Toddlers, and Pre-K. 

The job provides no training. My very first day I was put in classrooms by myself, not even knowing the children's names. In my first classroom I became the lead teacher with only one month experience after my co-teacher left. Each time I moved to a different age group, they promised to pair me with an experienced teacher to 'show me the ropes' which consistently never happened.

Pre-Covid, teachers and kids were shuffled around constantly to stay in ratio as they only ever have the minimum needed staff and have to move kids to different rooms (Often back and forth multiple times a day) to stay in ratio. Parents would often come to pick up and you would have to call multiple classrooms just to find where their child is at. 

Post-Covid, kids are not allowed to be moved outside of their pod (Pod is one or two classes of the same age group) but teachers are moved frequently to counteract this. They have told us when in a pod that is not yours, to try and distance yourself from the kids but you are often the only teacher in the room and doing so is not possible. Mask-wearing is not being strictly enforced for teachers or parents dropping off. Schools are short staffed, meaning breaks are often given either very early or late, causing you to have periods of 4 hours with no breaks. If you need a bathroom break you might have to wait an hour before someone can step in for you. 

Classrooms are kept at max capacity with no extra staff to assist. When I worked with infants, there was often a child crying because we did not have enough teachers in the room to help every child meet their needs at once. Being part of the staff in the infant center was like being in high school again, each age group was a clique and there was a lot of gossiping and drama. Some teachers would be rude to you just because of the age-group you work with. Some co-teachers can be lazy and not do much, but most I have worked with have been great.

When I moved to working with older children, I was offered no support in learning the classroom routine or curriculum. Anytime I asked the office staff for help they would laugh it off and say welcome to preschool. There is no help from office staff with managing challenging behaviors (other than telling you that you must be doing something wrong, but offering no support or training on how to manage challenging behaviors). 

The schedule is not age-appropriate, you have 30 minutes to take 24 kids to the potty and have snack eaten and cleaned up before the next activity. They have assessments and tell you that if a child fails it's because you are doing something wrong, but the schedule only has about an hour for academic teaching (Circle Time/Learning Activities/Art), and with so many kids in one class you are not able to help them 1-1 at all. It's really hard to see a child struggling with something and not be able to help them, but we just don't have enough time to help all of them. And you have to stick to the schedule strictly or it will interfere with the staff lunch schedule/Other classes schedules. 

If a parent makes any sort of complaint, they will lecture you about customer service, even if the complaint was not directed at you. I don't want to post details of any particular incidents, but they would rather you lie to a parent about something than risk the parent being upset about it. Anytime a parent is concerned about something we are supposed to direct them to the office staff rather than speaking to them about it ourselves, which makes it difficult to form positive relationships with families.

Overall, I love the kids, but the corporate office is more focused on making money off them than their well-being. Staff turn-over rates are very high, I've had 12 different co-teachers in 5 years, with most leaving due to the low pay, high stress, or wanting to work in an environment that is better for the kids. 

Action Day prides itself on continuing to earn a spot in the “Best Places to Work.” How they continue to achieve that is beyond me. 

As a teacher, you will be overworked and underpaid. Classrooms average 12 to 16 students on a daily basis. You will be expected to handle all of these students either on your own (1:12) or with one aide. You will also be expected to change anywhere between 5 - 10 diapers every two hours, institute curriculum, take photographs, upload photographs, input updates in to a tablet, clean and disinfect tables, sweep, potty train, and handle any accidents students have. With all this in mind, support is minimal. For every person in management willing to come and help, five others won’t. 

Pay is minimal. Raises are promised yearly after a review, but good luck actually seeing it come true. Management is evasive when confronted about this. Dental and Vision benefits are fine but Medical is terrible and extremely expensive. As in, a good plan will take half your paycheck. Seriously.  

As many say, the families, kids and the people you work with are what making stay at Action Day worth it. Nothing else. 

I worked at Action Day and it was the most miserable time of my life. They play favorites. If you are not one of the directors favorites then you'll know. They pass children frequently. Passed teachers. Some teachers don't watch children the way they're supposed to. If you're supposed to shadow a child, there's a good chance that the teacher who's shadowing is off to the side gossiping with other teachers and on their phone. Some teachers are rude and mean and the way they speak to the children would anger me if my children went here. Other teachers are lazy and do the bare minimum. I only liked this job because my classroom teachers and the kids, other than that I disliked most coworkers. If they don't like you they try to tell management you don't do your job or know how to. If you have children and have to call out to care for them they get upset and hound you via text asking you to come in. If you miss ONE day they ask for a doctor's note as proof. And not to mention the amount of time hand foot and mouth goes around here cause some teachers don't clean properly is disgusting.

Preschool office can be clique-y and unhelpful. Preschool director is cold and unapproachable. Pay is average for the field. However, pay is not worth the huge amount of stress you will face. The pay matrix is arbitrary and subjective. If you make the mistake of working here, make sure you negotiate a higher pay, as they will try to get away with paying as little as they can get away with. High classroom numbers due to over enrollment. Your classroom will be extremely chaotic every day due to excess students and not enough teachers. High teacher turnover due to stress. Huge dishonesty about your job duties. When licensing comes, management “warns” us and makes it seem like we have better ratios. Strangely enough though, here you will meet your absolute favorite and funniest coworkers. The families are also hilarious, warm, and understanding. I have had a lot of fun here but it is not at all because of management—it’s because of the teachers and families. I believe the they deserve better than this establishment. I wish action day would do better because there are amazing people here.

When I first started working here i could not wait to start doing what i love the most and was also encouraged to to get my certification, that they could help me get. But once I enrolled for my classes and informed management about I was told that i should have that other teachers had already turned in their info for the class that they are taking so i have to work and that the collage that i was going to wasn't as important as the other teachers and then told me that i have to work with the time that they give me. They never worked with me, but was all ways willing to work with everyone else and that always rubbed my the wrong way, even with assignment that i needed to do at work for my class and they would make promises to you and never keep them. they don't like being questioned and they expect you to read their minds on what they want you to do after looking you face and letting you just walk off, and if you get sick they do not care! you still need to be at work and they love to play favoritism and they have a break room but teachers can't use the kitchen only the office and take the sign down when corporate is visiting and they like to be vindictive.

I had the pleasure of working for this company for several years, and while my early experiences were positive, I’ve recently become disappointed with how things have changed.

Initially, I truly enjoyed being part of this organization, working alongside many wonderful colleagues and having the privilege of teaching incredible students. The school had a strong sense of community, and the families were equally amazing to work with.

Unfortunately, under the current leadership, the environment has shifted. The new principal, along with some members of leadership, has demonstrated behavior that I feel is unprofessional. The principal often creates an atmosphere where others—employees and even parents—are made to feel undervalued. Compassion and collaboration seem to have been replaced by criticism and rigidity, with little room for differing perspectives.

Many families I’ve spoken to have expressed similar sentiments, which is deeply disappointing, given how exceptional this school once was.

They don’t care about educating the kids, as long as you bring them in money

A typical day at work included nurturing and documenting the needs of children, such as feeding, changing(if needed), and giving TLC. We also did art, sang, danced, and reading to the children.
With a 1 to 4 ratio, we as teachers, worked in teams to assure a smooth sailing classroom.
Working for Action Day has definitely helped my team working skills as well as my problem solving skills, where i've had to manage the needs of more than one child at a time. I have almost perfected my communication skills making sure that i keep a great relationship with the parents of my children to make sure we are on the same page as far as whats best for the child and how they are developing.
The hardest part of the job would without a doubt be one of your kids moving up to the next level and out of your classroom after you've spent so much time with them, but of course this is also one of the most enjoyable because you realize you've had alot to do with them developing and being able to move up to that next level.

Rude and disrespectful management. Revolving doors of teachers. TERRIBLE pay. Make promises they can't keep. Bully employees to coming in when sick.Unqualified teachers. Expectations of daily curriculum and what is supposed to be done can be unreasonable. Office staff gossips around other employees. Never get off at expected time. No follow through with teachers requests. Not compassionate for teachers that get sick at work and request to go home early, they would rather have sick teachers around little children then to have to step into ratio themselves. Company meetings are always negative and teachers never get any recognition for doing good deeds. Forced to work after hour functions, even if we have other commitments.

 Working here was definitely an experience. I met some wonderful people who turned into friends. Most of my co workers were pretty helpful and supportive. Although there is also alot of drama and gossip that makes its rounds throughout the school. Some management plays favorites and some teachers are just plain rude. I for the most part, didnt let it get to me.  If you can look beyond that, the children are what make it all worth it, they truly put a smile on my face daily and kept me busy where most days flew by! I would love to come into work for the day and see the little smiles on my childrens faces when they would see me, made me feel great and made my job most enjoyable.
Since covid happened, they closed the school in 3/2020 and never called some of us employees back when they reopened in 5/2020, two months later.

Before covid great coworkers, worked with school schedule and very supportive by management and staff. After covid went back to orginally location then moved to different location bad idea. Orginally location was much better with being supportive of staff and didnt tolerant bullying of teachers. New location doesnt care about the staff you are pretty much a body. Both location dont let those with the child development classes be primary will put an unqualified teacher in your position and then move you to where is need for the day so basically you are qualified you are just a body to them.They also dont follow doctors notes and say they cant guarantee it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Preschool teacher 116 salaries reported	$24.29 per hour
Preschool director 22 salaries reported	$79,633 per year
Kindergarten teacher 8 salaries reported	$24.84 per hour
Elementary school teacher 6 salaries reported	$29.33 per hour
Support staff 8 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour

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