teacher

paraprofessional

elementary school teacher

special education teacher

special education paraprofessional

Atlanta Public Schools

If you are applying for a teaching position please heed my warning; avoid the south region!!!! There is still a lot of bullying going on in this region. The principals lie and threaten teachers to make them feel as if they will lose their jobs. They lie and tell teachers that people are going to come from the department of education and observe them when in actuality the people from the department of education who come in teacher's classrooms are observing the principal's ability to assess teacher performance. The south region is racist towards Caucasian employees. The administration is very unprofessional. If you disagree with anything they do and voice your opinion the principal will punish you by transferring you to another school in the south region that is worst than your current schools. The school where I am employed treats teachers horribly. A lot of times they cancel lunch and specials and teachers do not have any lunch or restroom breaks. The assistant principal will announce "pack your lunches tomorrow." One time they canceled specials and lunch for 3 days in the same week! This is not in compliance with the policies.  My school also has no discipline. Field  day was a circus. The hallway was crowded and kids did their field day activities in the hallway. It was no order at all. The salary is good but it is not worth losing your peace of mind. If you work in a good school system do not leave because the pay is better in APS. Be smart; research the school where you are going. Do not leave a good school system that pays less to come to APS; you will regret it. Apply for the north region or do not join this circus. The principal at my school is VERY lazy and delegates most of her duties and responsibilities to the "leadership team" while she collects the principal's salary. I really hope that this new superintendent brings positive change. The administrative assistant is THE WORST she disrespects teachers over the intercom all the time. You may be in the middle of teaching and she will chime in and tell you that you forgot to do something in your grade book. If she runs the report cards off wrong she will put you through a lot to correct her mistakes; the administrators let her do it. I could go on forever about the foolishness I've endured, but I'll stop.

A typical work day for me was co-teaching Social Studies for all grades, servicing students with Emotion Behavior Disorders and interacting with all students whether they were Special Needs or in Regular Education who needed support with behavior and social studies academic work. For nine years my day was spent in the capacity of Program Assistant for Special Needs Students. I learned that all students can be successful. Students are polite, congenial, and self-assured they just need lots of practice. Management-Students need to be motivated to stay focused. Consistency  and flexibility is key. Students needs must be identified and met. Visual props and reflective questioning made all the difference in keeping  my students on task. Individualized Instruction/Differentiated instruction helped each student think outside the box.Co-Workers-I had a very good working relationship with my co-workers. I helped a lot of regular education teachers with classroom management due to my certification Behavior Specialist. I was able to help teachers understand students and their needs.More classroom management workshops are needed for teachers.The hardest part of my job was not being able to follow each and every student throughout his/her high school career.The most enjoyable part of my job was that I was able to enhance the lives of every student that I came in contact with. I was able to teach the children who were interested in learning and motivating the students who were not interested in learning to help them understand the importance of knowledge so that they could become their  total self.

A typical day in the Atlanta Public Schools System was one of great anticipation and challenge. I simply enhanced what I always believed and that is, to deal with the "least of these." In other words, I always gravitated to the students that most people had given up on. The forgotten child. The child whose parent(s) rarely frequently the classroom. I clearly found out that these students always excelled to their fullest potential. What was utmost was my expectations. Classroom management was never a real big problem. To me, love and my strong faith in God made my days very light. When it comes to my co-workers they were like family. I had more good days than bad and always looked forward to school the next day. Many of my days overflowed into the next simply because of my love for teaching. The hardest part of my job was having to leave. Abraham had to flee and so did I! I was able to land a job in a charter school for two years since leaving Atlanta Public Schools.All of my third graders passed the third grade writing assessment with the exception of one. Their writing scores were off the chart. Incidentally, when I left APS I had the highest percentage of increase in all of SRT4 on the 8th Grade Writing Test. Another teacher shared this accomplishment with me. The most enjoyable part of my job was always striving to do my best in making a difference in the lives of the children. Lastly, although I am a retired teacher I still am very capable of teaching some low achieving students in the Atlanta Public School System. This is where my heart is. I really do need to work.

The job is enjoyable and gratifying if you love children, which I do, but the compensation and lack of benefits is terrible. Most nurses are part-time, one hour shy of being able to recieve benefits. I'm sure that's intentional. We work short shifts (29 hrs weekly at the most-sometimes less) and whenever there is a school inservice day or holiday break, nurses are not paid for that time off like teachers and other staff. That makes most nurses have to have a 2nd job just to earn full-time pay and to fill in the gap when the schools are closed for long holiday breaks, inservices and snow days. Nurses don't recieve any PTO or sick time, or vacation which is unreasonable considering that we are exposed to illnesses every day from children we see. The support is great from the staff but the pay and lack of a benefits package creates a high turnover rate and leaves the schools with new nurses all of the time or no nurse at all. APS need to do better with prioritizing. These schools have children that come from a low income demographic and rough home life. They are sick constantly, we bathe and treat children at school, comb their hair, provide clothing and shoes, we are more than nurses. We are a safe haven, we are nurturing and provide so much more to these babies. APS budget cuts make it difficult to stay in these positions for long. We do full-time jobs, but are forced to cram it in short shifts so that they can avoid spending money on salary. Nurses are needed in our schools, APS should do something more to ensure that.

A typical day at work for me consisted of doing tasks before my students arrived. If I did not have morning duty, I would typically lay out the day's materials and tidy up the room. Once the students arrived, they would go about our daily routine which consisted of them using the restroom and getting water, sharpening pencils, and completing the activity that was on the board. We would then come to the carpet to greet each other and participate in calendar activities. My first graders spend a lot of time on the carpet, especially when learning new material because I find it helps them understand concepts better when in close proximity to me and their classmates. The rest of the school day would consist of the children working independently, in groups, or one on one with me. At the end of the day, we would reflect on our day. What did we learn that day? What could we have done better? What did we do a good job on? After reviewing the homework assignment, students would have independent reading time, then be dismissed to go home. Once my students were gone, if I did not have a meeting to attend, I would return to my room and prepare for the next day.

The best part of my job is working with the children. Children are loving, and excited about learning and I feel fortunate to be entrusted with such an important task- that of educating young minds. The hardest part of my job is having a finite amount of time to get things done and having more and more tasks added to that finite amount of time!

Work-life balance
If you like unorganized chaos and unprofessional leadership and staff then this is the perfect place for you.

Pay & benefits
My pay and benefits at Atlanta Public Schools are good. That’s the only good part.

Job security and advancement
In terms of job security at Atlanta Public Schools provides little to none. They ask you to do things that are unethical and non compliant with what the company stands for and the moment you stand up and say that is not ethical they will look at you as a problem and find a way to terminate you.

Management
In general, managers at Atlanta Public Schools are extremely unprofessional. Principals and other leadership rolls are extremely unprofessional and are not held to consequences. Nor does Atlanta Public Schools act on their retaliation policy.

Culture
Collaboration with my colleagues at Atlanta Public Schools is non existent. Leadership does not train your or allow you to go to trainings to better yourself in your role. They hand you a large list of “busy work” for the day. The moment you ask for training they make it sound like they are going to get you set you and never do.

Overall
My experience working at Atlanta Public Schools was horrible. I believe had I came in under a better principal and business manager that truly cared about their staffs growth then it would of been different. When you go on these interviews truly truly take the time to interview them.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It's a pleasure keeping others safe and meeting new people. I enjoy seeing the children's faces at my assigned school. They be so happy to see me throughout the day! I get multiple hugs daily  and their parents really miss me when they don't see me in a few days asking where I been! They make sure I don't go unnoticed and respect my Authority according to my position at work

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Atlanta Public Schools hinder my department from making money! They keep us on part-time but want us to work full-time duties. They don't allow us to make over 29 hours a week and only give us extra hours when they need us to work huge events versus us needing to take care of our responsibilities outside of work. Management also put us In Harm's Way and don't call and check to see how we're doing days following certain situation! They also give bonuses to other employees from different departments and leave us out because we're at the bottom of the food chain in the school system

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
At times it can be dangerous! At times it can be stressful! At times it could be joyful but the bad always the good some of stay employed with them so we can pay our bills until we find something better

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Sometimes these and sometimes overwhelming

Atlanta Public Schools hired me as a physical education teacher and for the most part, I was only a pe teacher.  Thinking outside the box, I helped build a playground, develop and implement a garden, established a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program and had a orchard installed at one of my elementary schools.  I also received numerous grants for equipment as well as nutrition and physical activity.  Throughout my tenure, I have worked alone and with other pe teachers.  I found that working with female teachers was a lot easier since we usually worked together.  However, male pe teachers were more involved with doing what was easiest, no requiring a lot of work.  This made for a very uncomfortable working situation.  The administration usually favored the male teachers since there were so few on the elementary level.  The hardest part of my job was the fitnessgram testing and inputting of scores.    If a teacher is teaching alone, monitoring students while testing is difficult.  Team teaching allowed one teacher to test while the other taught and managed classroom discipline especially when there were double classes.
The most enjoyable part of my job was the students and their love to play,  The students loved to learn new activities and just participate.  Many days the left the gym sweating and out of breath.  I miss that!

Initially working here, you were provided the opportunity to learn beyond your title. Proper training was provided, growth opportunities and a sense of pride in a willingness to achieve goals was present. 

Unfortunately, with the unlawful and unprofessional management practices being enforced daily on employees, blatant deceitfulness and dishonesty from management involving sitatuations that could cause harm to otherws as well as lawful reprecussions, constant threat of disciplanary actions for any and all minor infractions, and not having the opporutnity to utlize the knowledge and skills I obtained previously from my experience outside companies and from other departments in the organization, time has stopped here why the rest of the world continues to evolve.

The hardest part of this job now is enduring constant ridicule, micro management practices, inconsistent, unorganized and unrealistic goals, while keeping a positive demeanor and still providing the best service I can.

Bus drivers were primairly concerned with transportation, but during the course of each passing day, we also had many occasions when we had to spend a lot of time cousling with students about the rules that govern the overall safety asspects and privledges of riding the school bus on a daily basis. One of my most memoralble assignments was with Morning Side Elementary in Atlanta. The significants of this particular assignment for me was to see the faces of one-time reluctant parents turn into shere utter joy as their children began to learn the meaning of school spirit, and all the words to the songs I taught them to sing in a matter of weeks. Concluding the year, none of them would ever forget our journey together because my bus was the cool thing to do according to those whom had the pleasure of riding with Mr. Washington during the 2007 school season. I believe it was, in part, the reason why I earned the nomination for Driver of the month---that's what I remember when I think of my tenure with the Atlanta Public School Transportation Department.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 13 salaries reported	$77,141 per year
Paraprofessional 1 salary reported	$21.78 per hour
Elementary school teacher 4 salaries reported	$95,156 per year
Special education teacher 5 salaries reported	$81,584 per year
Special education paraprofessional 34 salaries reported	$114 per day

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