teacher

high school teacher

special education teacher

supervisor

school principal

Ann Arbor Public Schools

You're on call and sometimes the hours are odd, uncomfortable. Transportation and parking is your issue even if the time scheduled for you ended wasted. Interactions with the community and students are mostly pleasant if you are keen on the education field and have a thick skin. Otherwise, it's not rewarding. 
Don't expect learn much because most people you will work with think you are trained and well versed. You have to decide if you want to do research for yourself and satisfy your level of understanding about how an educational district work or not.
Management is slightly better than what you can find at a plain retail job but with far less hours per week/worker. Grant coordinators treat translators/interpreters as pretty much retail people that likely won't stay in the position so there's then no motivation to stay in the job.
Workplace culture is mixed, some school buildings are more receptive and embrace a culture of respect, other buildings doesn't want more people messing with their already messy realities.
The hardest part of the job is to stay, there's no much of a culture of attachment.
The most enjoyable part if the job is to see you can change the life of a student or a family by smoothing their understanding about how education is provided in the US.

Working full time in the schools has it's advantages in that as their employee, the healthcare and other benefits are awesome! Was paid during vacations as my pay was spread out over 26 pays for the school year. Loved working together as a team. Love the creative aspect of working in schools in terms of planning fun, creative, therapy sessions. The most enjoyable part of the job is helping kids achieve to their full potential. My therapy session were varied between the classroom setting and the therapy room. The hardest part of the job was getting use to the new principals in the building and new teachers, their personalities, expectations, their understanding of the role that the speech pathologist played in the building. Some had high regards of speech pathologist while others needed alot of help understanding what we do and its importance. Some were micro-managers and while others left you alone to do your job and were very supportive. As speech pathologists in a school building, we have to consult with every teacher, including special teachers (gym, art, music), and parents. Our roles are unique because everyone has a different approach, style, and method of teaching. We have to learn how our speech students can best benefit in the varying classroom with different teachers.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Hit and miss, largely depending on your building administration. Having a supportive Principal is necessary in a school environment. There are so many things that make this job difficult, but if your principal has your back, that support can mitigate a lot of stress.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Like many public school districts, there is a lack of resources, particularly support staff such as social workers, community assistants,  behavioral specialists, and teaching assistants. (Many were laid off last year with the "surprise" $25 million debt. )

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
This depends on the school. Where I work now, the work is brutal, but the principal and assistant principal go out of their way for the staff's wellbeing, encouraging breaks and mental health days, and will actually listen to what we have to say. In my previous school, the principals (as well as their favorite teachers) went out of their way to set me up for failure, using requests for support as a reason for low evaluation scores.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A lot of verbal abuse in an EI classroom

I starting as a custodian and expanding in many departments.  Last position as a Custodial Crew Chief . I managed the custodians  and scheduled. I was able to communicate and build work relationships with building administrators , staff, parents and public.. Provide interview and training. Deliver equipment and supplies on demand. Experience with Kronos.  Met and work with a divers group of people. The hardest part of my job was to discipline the employee with the steps of union contract.
An area of enjoyment was the beginning of a school year when the entire building was shining. The visible evidence of all the hard work our school custodians provided over the summer .
It was pleasure to serve the district.

We are always last for everything. We are bottom of the barrel when it comes to pay, regard and professional development. We are on the front line with the kids (dealing with behavior problems, fights, students that we are not trained to deal with, getting beat up, chasing students who elope), but get the least pay in the district. And they don't care that most TA's have to work 2-3 jobs just to make it. They don't give you any relevant trainings (I have yet to be offered an ASD training).  We also don't get the minimum 3% cost of living increase that most places do. But don't worry, while we're in a financial crisis, the new superintendent got a pay raise higher than the super with experience and the board wanted to give her a higher yearly salary increase than anyone else on staff.

For background: I am both a graduate of the AAPS school district and was an employee. As a long-term building sub, I was told by the principal that "the only qualifications a TA needed was a brain in their head." That was definitely reflected by many of the staff.

Additionally, many of the students see the TA's are often BIPOC. They are in the background and many students do not engage with them. They are paid very low salaries, despite working with the most vulnerable age group.

The best part of the job: 
Hours are held to school hours. TA's do not get paid to do any work outside of those hours.

A typical day:
Includes working either one-on-one with a student with special needs, or a small group (no more than 5) in a resource room class.

Hardest part:
The constant feeling of being less.

I started teaching here just before the Covid Pandemic, so I've had limited experience with what a "normal" year here looks like, BUT what I do know is that I've been struggling and feeling very unsupported through the pandemic. I'm tired of being gaslight about how "things will get better" soon and how the district administration is "here to support us". Please note that the students are NOT the problem- they are pretty great! The other teachers in my building are very helpful and team-oriented, but my district Teacher Learning Network can be dysfunctional and inconsiderate.

A typical day as a middle school teacher is much different than most jobs.  You have student contact from 8:00-3:00.  During your lunch you 'lunch: with students who were absent or struggling with your class.  During your planning time there are typically special education or parent meetings.  After school from 3:00-5:00 you are either helping students after school, in departmental meetings, in staff meetings or meeting with parents. At 5:00 you still haven't checked any of the student assignments or prepared for the next day.
Even though management typically understood how hard our jobs were they still added more responsibility removing any responsibility.

Typical day starts at 8 am and ends at 3:03 pm. We have 7 hours of work and half hour lunch. 
I get to work with children who have difficulty in learning.  I get to go with them to different classroom and help them focus, learn, if necessary leave class with the students for the safely and to satisfy the needs of the students.
My duties were to see that children are safe, learn in a cordial way and help them to enjoy learning experience.
Took care of other work in the classroom to help teachers conduct their tasks without any difficulty.  


First if you can not get along with students this is not the place for you.  What I learned is to treat each and every student like my own.  Let them know you care.  They will test this but once you have their trust, it's for life.  This is a very fast paced workplace you have to be on guard every second.  You must be looking around at all times, be friendly and most of all have patience.  The hardest part of the job is Graduation.  After spending so much time with the students it is hard to let them go.  The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing their smiling faces run to you in the morning, at lunch or any sporting event.  To tell you something funny or just to stand near you.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 4 salaries reported	$61,000 per year
High school teacher 15 salaries reported	$41.59 per hour
Special education teacher 3 salaries reported	$25,487 per year
Supervisor 20 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour
School principal 4 salaries reported	$65.43 per hour

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