tutor

school teacher

preschool teacher

teacher

program leader

Catalyst Kids

This is not a good place to work. Everything from a passive aggressive boss with a fragile ego, cliquey team members, and increased responsibilities without matching pay make this a terrible choice of career. There is absolutely zero opportunity for advancement, promotions, or raises.

Catalyst is an anti-disciplinary environment that gives disrespectful kids infinite chances. In fact, kids are rewarded with ipads and toys if they misbehave. The idea is to "calm them down" but the kids learn that they can get what they want through throwing tantrums and telling you that they will misbehave further. Dealing with daily behavioral issues are one of the worst aspects of this job, and management does absolutely nothing to remedy the problem. Instructors are left without any support to deal with problem students.

Attempts to communicate with the coordinator are met with skeptical and condescending remarks. I was told by the coordinator that we don't do discipline or consequences here. They would often go on rants and waste entire team meetings addressing a point I brought up about the repercussions of kids not learning that there are consequences for their actions. Our boss would redirect blame towards our teaching style instead of addressing the massive behavioral issues that plagued our organization, and the lack of effective follow up with student misbehavior.

I personally witnessed the coordinator for my site tell a parent that their child was being bothered by other students. He was originally supposed to be sent home for being disrespectful and not following directions, but that was entirely hidden from the parents by the coordinator. It is clear that this company prioritizes enrollment for budget purposes rather than running a safe and respectful program. 

Team meetings were often used by the coordinator to go on rants instead of allowing productive conversation to occur. They once got extremely angry and started confronting team members and asserting that they had 10 years of experience over any of us. They taunted us to engage in an argument with them right then and there. They then mocked the team when no one said anything. 

You would think your teammates would grow closer together under such poor leadership, but quite the opposite happened. The coordinator promoted cliques within the organization. They would create a sense of divisiveness by separating an in-group from an out-group. This separation had nothing to do with seniority or merit, but sheer favoritism. They would constantly praise the in-group and their accomplishments, and ignore anything the out-group did well. Anyone that appealed to the boss's ego got moved to the in-group, while everyone else remained part of the out-group, regardless of competence, education, attendance, reliability, etc. The coordinator once offered the in-group extra hours to cover while they were gone. The in-group refused the extra hours. An out-group member stepped up but was denied. The coordinator left the site without adequate coverage instead of just offering the hours to the out-group member.

As such, there is no room for advancement here. Favoritism and ego will override any hard work you do. Even if you make it to the in-group, there's no position to advance to. The company does not promote after school instructors to site coordinators. All coordinators are outside hires. Furthermore, raises are non-existent. I knew an instructor that had worked here for two years and never got a raise even once. They offer zero incentives for employee retention. Turnover rate is high because of this. This is a job where they hire you, expect you to go above and beyond, and do not compensate you as such.  If you value self-respect, I would not advise working here.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at the company was my program leader and coworkers. I am so glad that I had them to balance all the chaotic and unorganized from upper management! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
 Please find somewhere else to work, promise you will find somewhere better than Catalyst Kids. If you are an experience teacher and love what you do only want to focus on  and  be with kids, I would suggest work somewhere else for the pay that you will be getting. You will be working 6 other jobs under the title "teacher". To name some, being an assistant admin, a chef,  healthy and safety specialist, etc. Paperworks is nonstop, most of my time is being at a computer doing what an admin would do such as Newsletter, Family Communication, etc. On top of all the paperworks and doing 6 other job teachers are required to do childfolio nonstop and still need to update all board monthly. You will get burnt out. As well with online training, it does not help much, the fact that there  barely teachers to cover ratio!
Also wanted to add that every time when an upper management comes around, they walked in with a mindset of changing and judging. THEY DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE TEACHERS HARD WORK AND DEDICATION. Half of the time, they have no idea what children likes, interested in or how children are in that center. They just walked in as if they know every child in the center, what work best for everyone. No compliments whatsoever just picking on something that she does no like and want it change right away. They are disorganized, one person say this, one person day that causing teachers to be confused, unsure, with no answer. When a teacher asked for clear great example, they would say "Sharepoint." But whenever teacher goes to Sharepoint, it not even better more like worst example. Everyday is like waiting for what paperworks are next to be finish. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I loved my center. Thank to my program leader who is so kind, welcoming, understanding, always listening, and just being a great person overall! I loved my relationship with all staffs, no drama, no miscommunications!

I overall loved being a part of Catalyst and its mission, but employees don't seem to be valued by upper leadership. I was with Catalyst for 8 years before they announced a layoff within our department and was shocked to discover there was no severance pay. The process did not seem to be handled well at all and we were given very little information on next steps until the last minute. I expected HR to handle the offboarding process in terms of paperwork, but they gave this task to the office admin, which didn't sit right with me.

There were new positions opened to which they encouraged all employees to apply to and promised equal consideration would be given if you were qualified, however, I believe they already had folks in mind for these positions based on the locations posted. 

More than anything I will miss the people I worked with. My direct managers have all been amazing people. There were several managers  who seemed to be pushed out of their positions and this happened every 2-3 years. They don't seem to know what they want in terms of structuring. They went from building the department up to tearing it down and outsourcing positions within just a few years.

They do offer growth opportunities in terms of training, however, there is little room for upward mobility. 

Some locations had frequent office potlucks to boost camaraderie and morale, but our office did not despite the mandated return to office 3x per week. Most of our meetings were still on Teams. It also felt like at times that some employees got special privileges over others in terms of working remotely and for many years, prior to covid-19, they did not have a specific policy in terms of working from home. 

If you have a specific issue in the workplace, HR doesn't really seem to do anything about it. I had a concern that had never been followed up on.

Pay is OK but definitely not competitive. We started out getting bonuses, but hadn't received any reviews or merit raises in 2 years. It was flexible and stable until it wasn't.

Afterschool Program typical day is checking in children, snack then small groups/ planned teacher directed activities than physical/outdoor play then it was pick up time. The center I worked for was primary 99% low-income children and making a difference in those children lives was the most rewarding! 

Since it was a state-funded center the hardest and most demanding part of the job was paperwork...ugh! Not enough time for planning was given, only 1hr day and sometimes it was split in 30min. increments. Often times our planning time would be interrupted with the demands of the children, site supervisor or coworkers. Most teachers were responsible for 14+ children portfolio which includes 6 sections and in those sections included 3 items a picture with an anecdotal note, anecdotal note & work with an anecdotal note. 

Math;14 children x 6 section = 84 piece of paperwork x 3 picture, note & work = 252+ piece of paperwork to complete within 6months time frame. 

Our Site Supervisor at that time would threaten to write us up if we did not complete our paperwork so even though we were not supposed to take our work home, a lot of us did in fear of being written up.

Lastly, we did not get very much supplies for the children, just the basics to get by. Sadly our Site Supervisor was very frugal and have a feeling she did so, so she can collect a bonus check or she kept items for her own personal use. It was pulling teeth whenever we asked for a reasonable item for the center/children to use. 

Honestly, I last there for so long because of the children and the wonderful teamwork I created with the staff there.

First, I love my community and children.  It is what has kept me here.  But sadly, I am starting to look for other jobs, as are my peers.  I work at a private center where my families pay a high price for quality care.  I have always prided myself on the quality of my program.  The children still receive care and compassion, as they are like our own children.  But the programming I was able to offer before, I can no longer provide, even though my parents pay even more this year in tuition.  The higher up management has changed the ordering system to where everything now needs to be placed by a ticket.  Which is fine if they had a system and the man power in place that works.  They moved forward too fast before they had systems in place.  During summer, I did not receive any of my orders I placed.  So, I had to change all of my programming for what I could pull together from my cabinets (not what I advertised to my families).  Now, in the school year I am still not getting my orders.  We are heading into the fourth month of this new system and they still have not figured it out.  Myself and others have resorted to using our very own hard earned money to buy things for our kids (because the program is suffering).  It is hard to do emergent curriculum when your shelves our bare and you are not allowed to go shop based on your teachers observations of the children.  Everything is communicated through email (used to be high touch communication).  Also, in the past seven months, there is no longer a connection with management.  People do not communicate.  There is no more authenticity.  This company has become very frustrating to work for and making it almost impossible to provide quality - what the children deserve.

Works 5 days a week 40 hours per day. 
Works with preschool children during preschool operation hours in Am/PM sections. 
Works with school age children during after school hours. 
I  learned to adapt CDI/CDC culture, learned to implement High Scope curriculum, and learned to work with school age children. 
I am learning to use positive leadership skills to take the lead in classroom and supervising other center staff when site supervisor absented. I am willing to support individuals who are not familiar the DRDPTECH-2015.  I am learning how to cooperate with community licensing personal to review the qualification and limitation of the center and ensure no healthy and safety hazards that could harm any individuals. 
I meet some great teacher, manager and supervisor individuals here, and I am happy to work with people who are kind, competent, and have great CEC knowledge. I am inspired by one teacher who has great people skills, and willing to support others about the CDI/CDC culture. 
I feel comfortable to take different work shifts to support other co-workers when needed.

We all were so excited to be hired by this company.  The two days of on line on boarding shared a passion for education, best for children and staff.  Once you enter the work site everything changes.  There are NO materials, there is no continual on site Director at any location, the person in charge of your site has not been trained and is clearly just hanging on.  The company terminated all of their employees in August 2020, then proceeded to ask them to reapply for positions below what they previously were.  Enrollment and revenue was low, Covid kept children out of the program.  Fast forward to 2022.   Building are old, ceiling tiles missing, rodent droppings through out, no materials and a budget of $300.00 maybe per month to replenish.  Staff hired has no experience working with children and is their first job out of college.  The program is EXPENSIVE and quality poor for families and children.  Other programs on the same campus cost 2/3's less and offer the same care or better.

If you ask for support, training or other it will not be given. You are told to find everything you need on Share Point.

Keep looking the turnover is huge, the stress high, and there are no opportunities to advance.

I started in May 2020, yes in the middle of a pandemic. Anyways the first weeks they just let me observe what all the day-to-day classes would do, getting to know the company teachers, etc. My position was  Preschool Associate Teacher, while I enjoyed working with the teachers and the children, and all the families were so welcoming, there was something that made me resign from my job 6 months later and it was that It was not teacher-child friendly, there were minimal to no interactions between the teachers and the child because the teacher was always busy trying to get notes for DRDP and the observation at the end was not to learn about the child it was just to finish the DRDP and the portfolio. That caused teacher burnout on me because I was not interacting with the child, I was not making connections, I was just focusing on paperwork. Also, it was too many notes and that needed me to work outside of job hours in order to keep everything on track which I was missing on family time just because I was trying to get all the notes on the track. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Knowing you’re making a direct impact on children and families. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Leadership is VERY top down. Instead of pausing and understanding the needs of their employees who are directly working in centers, they continue to make abrupt changes time and time again. As a company they consistently showed that they do NOT value their people. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment is high stress and the culture is very much ran by leaders that don’t fully understand what is happening with their employees and if anyone tries to tell them their opinion or feelings, they are looked at as bad employees. Which in turn creates fear and no one wants to speak up for fear of being retaliated against. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working more than 40 hours a week and having to consistently pivot to company changes without understanding the why behind any of it.

Covid hit this agency really hard, which is definitely having an impact. Most of this stuff is out of the agencies control (short staffed, turnover, pay, purchasing for the center). They recognize that these bring big challenges so they are flexible and accommodating with most deadlines when they can be, but some things come from the state or otherwise cannot be flexible. Lots of the staff do not recognize that the agency is genuinely doing their best, so there is an unfortunate presence of negativity amongst employees, but that is not a reflection on the company. Catalyst isn't perfect, but they genuinely care about their employees and do a great job of showing that. No place to work is ideal right now, so it is pretty great how well catalyst has done. 

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