bus driver

volleyball coach

special education teacher

nutritional aide

high school teacher

Choice Schools Associates

Students routinely threaten and provoke physical altercations with staff and each other with minimal consequences. Administration is either powerless or incompetent to improve the situation and provide support to teachers. Who are tasked to instruct the classroom as if it's a normal job at a normal school, while lockdowns and day-ruining schoolwide fights and disruptions are a routine occurrence. Communication is inconsistent and minimal; surprise field trips and assemblies with no advance notice given to teachers to structure their lesson plans accordingly are frequent. The result is a chaotic and unsafe school environment with a revolving door of problem students, apparently kept for the sake of enrollment funding at this for-profit charter school company, until situations inevitably escalate to hostility that is impossible for staff to manage. Avoid working here at all costs. Almost any other school is preferable.

Choice Schools is an outstanding company to work for as a teacher.  They have a clear mission and vision, and strive for success from all their people.  The head office personnel makes each employee feel important.  I had the joyous opportunity to get to know many of them in Grand Rapids and it truly had a positive impact on me personally and professionally.  I was challenged my work daily and loved every minute of it.  

The downside of working for Choice is the tendency of the schools to be in complete disarray and for middle management to not heed the same principles as those who lead the company.  It is very difficult to work with leadership teams who seek power and titles over servant leadership.  Unfortunately, that is the norm in middle management within the Choice Schools.

This company does not care about their employees well being or treatment.  While working for Choice, I was screamed at, expected to know curriculum and processes that I was not taught and constantly given misinformation.  When I called about a particular issue, I was spoken to very rudely.  My school had no management and the other staff was rude and clickish.  I worked seven days a week and had little time off.  If a parent complained, I was expected to make sweeping changes to accommodate that one parent.  Child would miss weeks of school at a time and nothing was done, but I was still judged according to their test scores.  
The only two positives were the benefits package and the kids.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great work atmosphere and great potential for growth 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Not a stressful moment for my experience so far 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment is Safe and Productive. The culture is getting better with the faculty and students coming together for a common goal to exceed and be the best version of themselves 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Teaching health and physical education, managing the sports program

There are plenty of things about working at Choice that are great whether it be the school leadership (depending on the school you're working with), the wide-range of benefits or the variety of professional development opportunities. The downside of those perks is that many employees in the company are underpaid and feel under-valued by those in charge. Job security is a big concern with many of the people in their network, and the turn-over rate at nearly all of Choice's schools should speak for itself.

This company expects you to put in extra time as an hourly employee and not pay them. Head school administration demands that you sign up for extra duties but refuses to pay even though the handbook clearly states no hourly employee should work without pay. Overtime must be approved, however when demanded to work it is denied.

There is also a conflict of interest with the payroll employee and head of finance in this company as it is a husband/wife team.  The finances certainly have dwindled as far as classroom money goes even though our state was given a larger tax break for education.  Seems a bit fishy.

Typical charter school.  Lower pay, great insurance if you are single (free for base insurance, like $60/month for premium), offers a good 401k that matches up to 5% after the first year.  Insurance was horrible for a family ($600/mo for family of 4).  I loved who I worked with, but we rarely had veterans on staff.  I had 5 principals in 5 years.  You work a longer day here than a public school.  We were required to work 7:30-4:00 no matter what and were "asked" to come in earlier if management was coming.  We were really stretched thin and over worked for what we were paid.  Everyone should experience this type of place.  Maybe then teachers would be appreciated more.

Was hired in full time as a janitor. They expected me to clean the entire school. 55+ not included hallways and floors. The work load makes you feel stressed and overwhelmed each day with no feed back from upper management. Didn't even speak to my manager about how things were till 3 months after I was hired. The day time custodian offers no help and try to push as much work as they can on you, while they do little as possbile. Benefits and pay were the only things keeping me around. You can find janitorial jobs that are less stressful and pay the same.

Choice schools associates is a great company to work for.  They truly care about their employees (all staff get sent cards during major life events) and this company is very student focused.  The expectation is that you work very hard when you are at work and you focus on your family when you are at home.  The communication is a bit of a struggle, but I feel like the company is working on improving this aspect.  Your coworkers become your family, and they are there to lend a helping hand when needed.

I enjoy my job, I feel it is the best of both worlds...I can be on a conference call with the state for compliance reporting and at the same time taking a temperature of a kindergartener who does not feel well.  I love children but I also enjoy representing the business aspect of the school system.  My daily tasks range from paying bills and creating purchase orders to running the lunch program and reporting all pupil accounting to the state.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Bus driver 2 salaries reported	$23.50 per hour
Volleyball coach 1 salary reported	$50,000 per year
Special education teacher 1 salary reported	$38,250 per year
Nutritional aide 1 salary reported	$55,000 per year
High school teacher 1 salary reported	$26.99 per hour

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