school program staff

group leader

tutor

school teacher

site director

AlphaBEST Education

When I first started with Alphabest, it wasn’t too bad. I loved my kids and the people I worked with. Over the last few months I was employed the work environment became toxic, overwhelming, stressful, and disorganized. I was often put into uncomfortable situations with no support such as being left with 3 year olds on my own with no support and ratios were not being met, despite expressing discomfort. There lots of issues with staffing and inconsistencies and that not only affected me but also affected the kids. Management did nothing when it came to providing adequate staff and they assumed if ratios were being met we were fine. The sites I worked at in particular had children with special needs and complex behavior issues that needed more direct attention and supervision and because of not having enough staff, these children often were not getting the support they needed. Behavior issues were not dealt with appropriately so these issues continued to fester making it hard for staff to adequately provide supervision because of having to deal with behavior issues on their own with no support. The company also makes really difficult if not impossible for a child to be removed from the program yet they’re quick to fire employees over simple mistakes. It was a risky work environment and for someone that wants to work with children in the future, I could not risk putting myself in a situation something happening and being fired. It felt like walking into a lawsuit waiting to happen simply because of disorganized management. I stayed as long as I could, but I was over worked, under appreciated and underpaid. This company values profits over the wellbeing of the employees and the families they serve.

Alphabest provides on site child care on school campuses, so experiences will vary depending on exact location. But it's not a good work environment.

Pay is poor and staff are expected to plan to stay for full shifts but sent home if the numbers of students gets low. Hence they can't keep employees. This creates a negative cycle:
When districts are under staffed, the staff have to shift from school to school so every site is adequately staffed. Staff then leave because it's very stressful both get sick/have an emergency and ruin everyone else's day and to have to shift from school to school on very limited notice.

The payroll app they use is very bad and payroll doesn't get the job done. This will affect you no matter where you work.

During breaks (spring and fall breaks) and summers they can get over staffed, which can mean that hours get cut. If they get over staffed you can have unlimited time off, but then when schedules have to work around everyone's time off that causes chaos. Staff can even get shifted from morning to afternoon shifts on limited notice.

Alphabest doesn't have the resources staff need to deal with extreme behavior issues, and again...staff have to deal with extreme behavior issues so they leave, and staff who stay have to deal with extreme behavior issues with fewer staff members.

Alpha Best is a before and after care for children and a typical day at work would start early in the morning where we would arrive, sign in, clean, set out morning snacks, and set up play areas.We would play with the children, read to them, help them with homework, and help with arts and crafts. After they would go to school, we would leave for the day, come back later when the later shift would start. If weather permitted, we would go outside and have them play on the playground, otherwise we would spend time in the gym. We would provide afternoon/evening snacks and the same activities that were set out in the morning are set out in the afternoon/evening.

My co-workers were great to work with and really helped to make the job easier to do and even more fun. As far as the management, it was great but confusing at times. There was one manager and 2 supervisors, but all of them acted as they were managers. So if there was an issue and I went to one of them, I would receive an answer and then receive a different answer from another later on. It seemed that they all lacked communication skills. 

The hardest part of the job is that it was split shift. Although we had most of the morning to early afternoon, knowing you had to come back to work was hard, especially being a college student. But I have to say the most rewarding part of my job were definitely the children. To see them grow and be able to help them was the most fantastic part of my day.

Working with the kids was great. I really enjoyed my time I spent with them each day. However, Alphabest is the most disorganized company I have ever worked with. The people at headquarters have no idea how a classroom environment works. They give a single set curriculum for K-5 grade. I had to prepare my own curriculum because the one they provided did not work at all for each grade. They also do not take into consideration that the different locations do not have a set classroom or area for the kids. For one quarter, they wanted each school to make a giant rain forest in a classroom. Our location was in the cafeteria, which we clearly could not do. And the curriculum each week was catered towards building said rain forest.  

One of the last days of the school year, it was a half day. We were all instructed to be at the school at 11:30. I was on time. I waited, and tried to set up as much as possible. The kids were released. No one showed up, including the site manager. For TWO hours I had to watch over 100 kids by myself. 

Also, on my last day of work, as I had found a new job and was leaving. For a petty reason they said I could not work that day. I was then proceeded to be EXERCISED by the two managers. They rebuked the devil out of me. Absolutely HORRIBLE company to work for.  This was the Midway Elementary location if anyone was wondering.

Working with the kids and interacting with parents almost make this job worth it. Almost. It is clear to me that many Area Managers are not receptive to criticism from site directors, zone leaders, or teachers assistants. My zone leader and I have brought up multiple concerns about company procedures regarding behavior management and curriculum issues to different levels of management and have been told to deal with it because the alternative is too expensive. Employee benefits are almost nonexistent. If there is a snow day or holiday, you will not get paid 9/10 times and will hear many excuses as to why. PTO generates very slowly so don’t expect to be paid much when missing multiple days. Call outs and coworkers coming in late is common place and there is never a guarantee someone will be able to replace the missing staff so be prepared to improvise. They expect you to give a 24 hour notice if you plan to miss work, which is unreasonable, and if you don’t; you can be written up, guilt tripped, or disrespected by your manger. The health insurance is not good and very expensive when you have kids. Site Directors are expected to keep track of student accounts and balances, and are punished if parents do not pay on time or at all. The only benefits of this job are working with the kids and the hours honestly.

If you love kids, you’ll love the job. This isn’t my career path so I find it often times very difficult to be motivated by this job. It pays well and have been offered an opportunity to advance within the company under a year within working here. My major problem is with *some* of the area managers. They can be a quite unorganized at times, which I try to be understanding at most. But sometimes it’s highly frustrating. There’s some favoritism with certain sites, and site directors while other sites are left short handed. The teacher to kid ratio is overwhelming at the larger sites. Some area managers fail to make sure sites are properly stocked with supplies. I’ve witnessed a site director who had to come out of pocket multiple times for supplies such as art, paper, and even snacks sometimes, after asking and trying to follow up with the area manager multiple times. They tend to drag their feet with certain things. And lastly, some area managers have forgotten to make sure site directors and their sites are aware of new students and making sure that it’s updated through EZ track (the check-in system). But overall the hours are very flexible, and it pays pretty decent. There are most definitely some flaws with the organization though.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The children. They good, bad or indifferent are the best job in the world.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Management. Upper management is run by 1 family ( mother and her children- in-laws ) so you get only 1 way too do things. Their family way. Although they are apart so a larger corporation SC is the lost division. No rules and no order!

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Toxic. Your time and dedication is always in question and you are so micro managed the environment causes real physical stress daily. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Coming in setting up for the students, dealing with the bogus inquiries from upper management while trying to make sure you're payments are in and up to date. MAKING SURE YOU ARE STAFFED with enough people to cover the students and are actually able to teach the program ( mind up they don't hire teachers most only have high school education ) to the students. Then trying to balance the needs of ALL these kids and not really able to. You've been set up too fail!

Working at this company is very interesting to say the least. I think the regional manager is super sweet & fit to lead! My experience with some of the co-workers & area managers were not the best. To be a site director the pay is significant low. There’s not much for job advancement the only position after site director is area manager (which seems significantly low in pay as some of the area managers still work a second job!) 

Try to set firm boundaries as you’ll be working a split shift (5:45am-9:00am & 3:30pm-6:30pm). They will blow your phone up and have you working (not getting paid) during your free time after your split shift. 

The work culture is interesting to say the least. I’ve observed the jealousy of people desiring to “advance”. I’ve observed how certain coworkers purposely created drama just simply because they enjoy it. I’ve watched people remain at the job for 5+ years making the same pay/no desire to advance further.

I sensed a lot of anger/resentment from staff as the topic of desiring to move on but feeling “stuck”. All I can say is the kiddos were the best part however, my life purpose was not attached to this job.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay and hours was the best part. Spending time with the children and field trips

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I worked multiple summers at Alphabest. Stayed longer when staff was short. I even substituted during the school year. They recently got a new area manager and the  regional director only does what works for him. They hired more staff and gave me bottom of the barrel scheduling for this summer a site I isn’t pick and shift I didn’t pick, when I stayed late and helped whenever and wherever I was needed. They use you until they don’t need you anymore. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s unorganized chaos but I always made it better with keeping everything organized, clean and separated. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Everyday is different. 
The number of students is different daily.
The staff is different daily. Teacher always call in. 
I had adjusted and was always ready to problem solve when I came to work.

I have worked at AlphaBEST as a Site Director for 3 months now. It's one of the highest paying companies within other child care facilities and after school programs. Site Director's are paid $21/hour and Zone Leaders are paid $11.25. They are also implementing a bonus pay structure for SD's based on job performance beginning the fall of 2019. In addition to this employees receive paid sick days and paid holidays which is unusual for many part time employees. 

A typical day includes checking students in, snack time, outside recess, indoor activities, and a fun, structured curriculum in the areas of art, stem, language, and fitness. I have found the management to be supportive - they really love their job. They put in a lot of extra time and effort because they care about the program and the kids. 

The only positive criticism I could give is that there could be a little bit more structure in training and overseeing Site Director's. I do think they are organized overall though. 

I would def recommend working at AlphaBEST in the DFW area.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
School program staff 11 salaries reported	$19.32 per hour
Group leader 6 salaries reported	$15.02 per hour
Tutor 5 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
School teacher 3 salaries reported	$15.00 per hour
Site director 2 salaries reported	$22.38 per hour

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