para educator

teacher

nutrition care associate

assistant

elementary school teacher

Chandler Unified School District

I was working as a Certified Teacher of World Languages at Chandler High School. The language I taught was German. Our school offered Spanish, French and German, and I always had to work very hard to keep up the number of students choosing German. I pride myself that I was one of the very rare German teachers who always had enough students signing up for my classes to be a full-time German teacher in Arizona. Our school offers AP (Advance Placement) classes,  IB (International Baccalaureate)  certificates and diplomas as well as Dual Credit classes (College Credit classes). I was trained to teach AP, IB and Dual Credit courses, and taught these classes every year with great success. As a teacher, you do not only believe in the value of lifelong learning, but you practice it continuously, which meant that I attended a lot of in-services, seminars and conferences which always gave me the opportunity to learn new strategies of teaching, engaging and making it fun for my students. At school, I had a good working relationship with my co-workers. We observed each other's classes, learned from one another and inspired each other. The hardest part of my job were long working hours. Since I taught all levels of German as one and only German teacher, I spent a lot of time for lesson planning, giving individual attention and feed back to each one of my students, and often did not have enough time to recuperate. The time restraints were the hardest part of being a teacher. The most enjoyable part was the daily contact with my students, the realization to be able to influence young people to believe in themselves, to set high goals and to work hard to reach them.

I felt my job was secure and I really liked working at my site, but the district doesn’t enforce some of the mitigation strategies like they say.  When a student has COVID and exposes the class, there is no sanitation done by the custodians.  They also said they would sanitize the entire classroom with a fogger machine after a positive case in the classroom and that has yet to happen at my site.  The teacher to student ratio is out of hand to the point of us having to result in pushing the desks together to fit all the students, despite the “cap” of students in each class.  In addition, the “plexiglass” they order for our students’ “protection” is only as tall as a privacy folder.  

For as much work as we put in each day and every weekend, and the amount of money we invest in each child and their educational experience, it isn’t worth risking lives to stay a teacher in this district.

Lastly, there is absolutely no follow through with the equity trainings and seminars we attend, but that’s based on my site.  I wish there were more opportunities for us to follow through on more extensive training on this considering the vast demographic we serve as a district.

COVID-related and equity discrepancies aside, Chandler Unified is a good district to work for.  

The phrase "make it up as you go" gets used like a badge of honor, and this results in teachers and students being expected to adapt to constant change without any support or clarity. Decisions are often made based on the school's image or popularity instead of evidence-based models or what actually works for students.

One of the hardest parts has been the lack of transparency and follow-through. Staff and families are left in the dark more than they should be. The teachers, many who care deeply, are frequently put in difficult situations, like being asked to look the other way on serious behavior issues, and hand out passing grades that haven’t been fairly earned.

When I first joined, I was drawn in by the mission and the potential to be part of something remarkable. There were novel ideas and a sense of possibility. But as the years have passed, it’s become clear that this vision has drifted. What was once exciting and purpose-driven is now disorganized and mismanaged. Whether the rules matter depends on who you talk to, and the priorities change so often that it's hard to know what really matters.

As I close out my last year at Arizona College Prep, I’ve thought carefully about what this school has meant to me—and why I’ve ultimately decided it’s time to move on. This school's culture has shifted in a way that is no longer sustainable. I need to be at a place where integrity, consistency, and actual support aren’t nice-to-haves.

I wish ACP well, but I also hope it finds its way back to the core values that many of us believed in when we joined.

Typical day at work high caseloads of 70 students and up with a variety of disabilities and hierarchy of needs. The workplace/culture was friendly among your own personal team members. The hardest part of the job is having  a high caseload. The most enjoyable part of the job is having a great relationship with the students as well as their parents. We work together to support the students in school and at home as well. The other rewarding part of the job is seeing and observing students grow within their disabilities as well as within their academics. I work with student in grades k-6th ranging from expressive language disabilities to receptive disabilities. 
I am case manager of my student caseload and work with school psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, and resource teacher. As team members we share and collaborate pertaining to the students strengths and weaknesses. I have and continue to learn and grow with knowledge pertaining to my special education students .They demonstrate remarkable growth as they complete and reach their short and long term goals.

My responsibilities at Chandler High as a Department Chairperson for Special Education are complex and ever-changing, on a daily basis. My mission has been to maintain a supportive and positive climate for students with special needs on a comprehensive high school campus. My method for achieving this goal has been to hire and retain highly qualified teachers, who are passionate about student achievement and emotional growth.

The work setting in the Special Education Dept. at CHS, is positive, collaborative, and engaging. Students can feel the positivity throughout their day at school and are able to emulate that feeling in their day to day lives. 

Seeing progress within our school staff, in respect to acceptance and willingness to think outside of the box, is one of the most exciting aspects of this job, for me. However, watching students with special needs (especially those who have struggled and persevered) walk across the stage at graduation, is by far, the most rewarding.

Chandler "Unified" School District has a "site based" philosophy. This means that there are guidelines that the district would like each job position and school site to abide by, but ultimately, it is up the school's principal to decide how he or she will run things. Therefore any change in management (i.e. a new principal), your entire job description can change. The district is not supportive of their staff, but rather, is highly supportive of their site principals- new hire or seasoned. The consistency in rules and guidelines is lacking and from one school to the next, there is not any "unification;" causing much confusion for staff, for parents and students.
Chandler does not practice promoting within, rather, they seek outside of the district for open positions that are in higher management, etc.

Customer service, at it's mediocre. Only the guests are happy, and the guests are....the parents! Sometimes, that makes the child happy, too, but for the most part, this is all against the advice of the service providing professional, namely the teacher. When devalued like this, it's no wonder for the sudden appearal of walls all over cusd campus lounge areas. The fish rots from the head and the message that teachers are not valued and do not matter, and that when it comes to parents, admin will drive on their side of the street just to help spray the garbage on the teacher standing on the other. Total lack of community or support :they don't seem to understand what those two concepts actually are. Total lack of life/work balance.

My day begins staffing my group of health offices. I visit my schools health offices to check all medications given at school and compose health care plans for the many medical conditions that may students have. I assist in parent meetings, train new staff and supervise six health offices.

I have learned to multitask and prioritize my work each day.The  most difficult part of the job for me is training new substitute health assistants and nurses to have them leave for other opportunities. My co-workers are many with working at so many schools and they make a wonderful team. The most enjoyable part of the job is the students and supporting their health needs so they can succeed and learn at school.

CUSD served me well in many ways, including developing relationships with amazing colleagues and families. There are so many things that need to be addressed, though, from lack of technology (Covid definitely helped get laptops rolled out, but that should have happened 5+ years ago!) to lack of support for teachers. I think many principals felt the same about their higher-ups... some micromanaging and also lack of support. After many years of service, I'm not sure that I even received a thank-you from the district; instead there was an arrogance about my departure like I would be lucky to come back if I ever wanted to return.
I am grateful for the experience, relationships and memories, but I think CUSD could make some changes district-wide that would benefit everyone. That starts by listening closely to the teachers.

I enjoyed the atmosphere.I really love working with children. Every day was different. When working with children, one never knows what to expect. It was a challenging job, which I enjoy, and my co-workers were wonderful.
The hardest part of the job, for me, was seeing some of the things that were going on with some of the families and not being able to help or do anything about it. Some of the stories were heart-breaking.
The best part of my job was when I was able to make a difference. Sometimes, it may have been in a very small way, but every time I was able to make an impact, I knew that it mattered.

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