elementary school teacher

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special education paraprofessional

high school teacher

english teacher

Colorado Military Academy

One of the worst schools in Colorado Springs.  Unqualified management/administrative team.  Dean of Students with NO educational experience, and questionable handling of students/parents.  A principal/headmistress who has no teaching degree, poor interpersonal skills and is NOT pro staff in any fashion.  Dishonest reporting to governing authority (Charter School Institute).   Some of the worst test scores in the city.   Honestly, there is no incentive to stay, and I didn’t. 

 School is supposed to be a military academy, and is run more like a reform school.  They allow students to enroll who have been kicked out of other schools… And are consistent disciplinary problems.  They see every child as a “dollar sign”  and once they are in the seat, they care very little about that child’s education/future.   I’ve had parents tell me that their child's state test scores have plummeted since attending the school… And I’ve had several pull their children and put them in private school in the hopes that they can “catch up“ after a disastrous year.   I thought after the second year the school would close for good, and it nearly did.   How they have been able to continue getting funding is beyond me.   I believe the state should do a thorough investigation, and if they did the school would close for good. 

Colorado Military Academy offers a supportive and innovative working environment. As faculty we have a lot of autonomy over developing and augmenting our curriculum as long as we satisfy CDE standards. Our work day starts at 7:30 AM and ends at 4:00 PM. The administration is entirely supportive of new ideas. We strive every year to incorporate more elective classes to bring variety to the student population at the secondary level, but we are limited by our budget. This is true for most charter schools. We do incorporate military etiquette and traditions in every aspect of our school. We are also a STEM school with an added focus on Aerospace and Leadership. All of our high school students are required to be in Civil Air Patrol (CAP). A good percentage of our enrollment comes from military families. Being military or from a military family is not a requirement to work here, but you have to be open and willing to embrace the military model of leadership and discipline. I love working on this team simply because of their drive to provide the best education for our cadets.

The typical day starts at 7:30 am and ends at 4:00 pm. There are additional duties and some meetings that may require you to be at the school past those times, but that is a rarity. Fridays the Cadets are let out of school at 1:30 pm so that the school staff can conduct peer meetings, catch up grading, and have professional development. The leadership does a good job of not micromanaging the staff and staff seek guidance from both peers and leadership. It is an excellent working environment as long as you understand the military environment. You do not have to be a veteran but employees need to understand military expectations. It is a Military School! That maybe part of the reason for employee turnover. The hardest part of the job is that the same high behavior expectations are not maintained across the board in every classroom. The best part of the job is seeing the Cadets succeed at challenges they never thought they could accomplish and grow as citizens/leaders.

Management and board lack knowledge, experience and ability to run the school. They spend funding on useless items like worthless curriculum, hiring incompetent management staff due to nepotism instead of quality, they focus on self interest instead of students and staff and they offer nothing in the way of reasonable compensation for the the work they demand. In a time of high tech they offer nothing to students for a digital age, however when I worked there I DID and was fired for it.
CMA needs quality and a management that puts student learning first - not last, hands on learning not drill and kill to make a buck. They are only interested in how much money they can get not educating anyone.

Being that this was the first year of a Charter School you hit the ground running.  There were a few bumps in communication between the administrators and staff that had to be worked out.  There was a lot of turn over which added to the bumps.  However, the school was focused on allowing somebody with no experience in the field come in and they were very encouraging.  The school also utilized its staff in any way the staff would allow.  Ex: Started as a Teaching Assistant, school submitted to State of CO so that I could be a Substitute Teacher.  Additionally, word of my background got out and because of that I was asked to be the Administrator in the Front Office during the summer break.

Enjoyed teaching there very much, indeed. Did not enjoy being laid off due to budgetary constraints suddenly. Also did not enjoy being cut off from the school's information systems without warning. 

Greatly enjoyed all of my colleagues and the administrators. Did not like the way the powers-that-be decided on which programs to keep and which to cancel. That seemed, if not random, certainly not well-planned. 

Definitely did not enjoy not being informed of the decision to close the program I was part of until the last minute.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The leadership at the school is great. They do a great job of allowing the kids freedom but still keeping them in a discipline positive upbeat way.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I think the biggest challenge is that it's a military-based school and there tends to be a lot of people that are married to people in the military who get transferred. So you do have a turnover rate of educators that may be higher than normal.

This is a poorly run and managed school at its very core. The leadership is constantly changing, and the latest head of the school is unqualified as well as unprofessional and unethical in how she treats employees. They don't sufficiently staff and then overwork the staff they do have without supporting them or recognizing their work.

When most people hear Military School, they think the kids that have been kicked out of regular school and are on the verge of prison. CMA is the opposite, the kids are mostly from Military families so there is a big push for military values. 7th grade and above has Civil Air Patrol as part of their schooling.

You get the opportunity to support military families. We are a small community with excellent STEM and Civil Air Patrol programs. People are needed and opportunity is planning for what’s next. Love the students I work with. Enjoyable environment building is nice and high school and elementary work together for the benefit of students.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Elementary school teacher 3 salaries reported	$45,333 per year
School counselor 1 salary reported	$50,000 per year
Special education paraprofessional 3 salaries reported	$16.50 per hour
High school teacher 1 salary reported	$46,000 per year
English teacher 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year

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