teacher

special education teacher

elementary school teacher

english teacher

payroll specialist

Commonwealth Charter Academy

CCA views itself as a "Family service organization with an emphasis on education," rather than a school.  That has its good points and bad points.  

It is a good approach to keep enrollment high as families are generally happy to be enrolled with CCA.  However, it can and sometimes does cause the level of instructional content and expectations to be relaxed at the families behest rather than by educator expertise.  Therein lies the potential problem and issues behind the State of Pennsylvania current administration's criticism of such cyber charter schools in that the level of academic expectations are not as high as they should be.  Some families at the school have also noted such things, however, the majority of families often like having the lessened expectations.

That said, a teacher's job at the school is first and foremost to be a point of contact for families, not an instructor.  Most of a teacher's day is spent making phone calls to try to reach students and families.  At the high school level, a teacher will typically have 150+ students enrolled in a class and 30 or so students enrolled in a homeroom.  Making contact or contact attempts are what is expected to be done first and foremost.  The only real time given for educational endeavors during the regular work day is the time for offering the online instruction.  Things like planning and grading are often looked at as being something that teachers should do outside of their typical work day.  So, although the powers that be will send an occasional note about keeping a good work-home balance, the current structure can make it tough to achieve that and meet those expectations.  

I have been fortunate to have, overall, good Assistant Principals who  assess teachers and how well they are keeping up with the tasks described above.  Some do realize that there is only so much a teacher can do.  I have heard from other teachers who had APs that had different stories though.   

As far as my more recent role as a designer, there are too many current issues for me to comment at this time.  I will state that overall, in my role as a teacher and now as a designer, I have a great deal of co-workers who are supportive and are willing to help each other out when new issues arise.  I have had many more positive experiences than negative ones and can tell you that CCA is a good place to work but will take a period of time to adjust to.

When I started at CCA back in 2009, the CEO was Dennis Tulli. He was a wonderful leader who truly cared not only about the students & their families but also every employee who worked for him. He made sure his staff was compensated fairly and provided free health care benefits (no monthly premium) for teachers & their families. Providing CCA met their yearly goals, generous monetary bonuses were given to all employees in September. When Dr. Tulli left and Dr. Flurrie took over, the culture slowly began to change. More and more responsibilities were added to all employees but especially teachers w/o any duties being removed. Night & weekend hours became mandatory but again, there was no compensation. Many veteran teachers, who were making a decent yearly salary, were forced out so they could be replaced by younger less experienced teachers at half the salary. Raises became smaller, w/the exception of this CEO & his senior leadership team, and bonuses all but disappeared. Dr. Flurrie made it known that all employees were replaceable so the theme became "be grateful you've got a job here". Over a 2 year time frame, the culture slowly changed from a democracy, where you could voice your concerns or ideas and know you would be heard, to a micromanaged dictatorship, run from the top down. If you are an older woman, do not expect any advancement opportunities. This CEO primarily gives advancement opportunities to men and young, attractive women. Under Dr. Tulli and for the first year under Dr. Flurrie, there was very little turnover. Once Dr. Flurrie's "honeymoon" period was over as a CEO, true colors began to show. From his second year to now, the turnover rate has continued to consistently increase. Keeping special education teachers has become a real challenge. We used to be able to work from home but the majority of those positions have been removed so plan to report to an office everyday. Bottom line, if you think CCA is better a option than the traditional brick/mortar schools, you are mistaken. This CEO has eliminated any incentives to choose this company over the traditional public school.

I am at the start of my second year teaching at CCA. Here is what I’ve gathered so far… it is half business, half school. The people in charge at the very top are all businessmen and women with business backgrounds and traditional views on how a company should be run. On the other hand, Principals and other administrative staff very much view CCA as a typical school. Often, this causes a clash in what is communicated to teachers and non-professional staff. We have principals who are preaching engagement & true connection, and higher ups who have their eyes on a different prize. 

Aside from that, it is a good place to work. Right now we mostly work from home (though those business folks in charge want us all back in full time, despite a majority of us very much happy and fulfilled doing our jobs at home). I can put my kid on the bus and throw in a load of laundry at lunch time and still work full-time. It gives me a work/life balance I’ve never had before. 

Compensation is very good. I received a decent raise this year and two bonuses last year. Health benefits, dental, and vision are good.

Though it can feel like we are being micromanaged during meetings when we are presented with new requirements and expectations, the APs in charge of actually supervising teachers do not do any micromanaging in my experience. 

Every person I’ve met here, including principals and assistant principals has been very kind and helpful. It’s been an adjustment and the people at CCA have made it a pleasant one. 

I wouldn’t say CCA is the best place to work, but for a teacher with little options outside education, who’s looking for a change, it is a great option. 

I won't lie, it will be very hard and overwhelming on your first year since you must learn a lot of Tech stuff related to your work and stuff, trainings, preparing lessons, etc., but your mentor and team will be there to help you! My first year was harder than any Japanese teacher in my department, new program, the only Japanese teacher, 2 classes, popular program with over 200 students, it was hard but my mentor and team was amazing!!! I might ask the same questions a thousand times but they are there to help! Everyone are very nice and supporting! They have your back! Even when you have "interesting" parents. The benefit and pay also really good compare with most schools in PA. The raise every year is huge surprise, believe me it's a huge surprise every year!! Also you can work from home and anywhere, it's so flexible! I'm on my 3rd year now and I'm so happy here! My job getting easier and easier because I used to it and I have the materials already that can reuse! It's amazing! Ooh also, you must participate in at least 3 field trips and there are thousands of field trip you can choose!! it's free for teacher!! If you lucky, you can experience our field trip abroad as well :D Each workplace has pros and cons, but looking at everything that going on in traditional school, CCA is way and waaaaaayyyy better!! 

I previously worked at a Bricks and Mortor School.   The people complaining about the High up administration, probably don't remember what the admin and teacher report is like at a bricks and Mortar School.  There is always things that the two will not agree on.  

I really was unsure when I got the job offer if I wanted to take it. However, it was definitely the right decision.  CCA has great (inexpensive) medical insurance and dental. I pay much less than before (And I though I had it good before).  My salary is about average for my area and experience level (more than what I would make at my previous position). I still benefit from the same PSERS account as I did when I worked for a bricks and mortar school. I benefit from CCA with a flexible schedule and more collaboration.  Since we are in a building with teachers and success coaches (para-professionals), we can collaborate more thoughts and ideas about lessons, content, teaching strategies, etc.  And I can more easily work with my students that need extra support through a one on one zoom session.

In general, CCA is more staff will bend over backwards to help their students succeed.  I have seen it time and time again throughout my time at CCA.

CCA cannot be great under current leadership. During my time there, it became evident that students are not at the center of this organization, but instead, the selfish interests of senior leadership prevails (note: I use the term leadership loosely). Among many things, the culture of micromanagement is toxic, resulting in unbelievably high turnover in certain positions. In a functional organization, senior leadership would work to mitigate this issue. Here, matters such as this are swept under the rug. For whatever reason, certain “Directors” are protected and there is no accountability. Professionals are not treated as such and their expertise is grossly undervalued. HR is not objective and gossipy...especially at the senior level, which is extremely unprofessional to say the least. If you’re searching for an innovative and inclusive organization which promotes growth and cohesion, KEEP LOOKING. If you decide to interview, do your best to find out the history of your position. If offered a position, run far and fast.

I started teaching at CCA in 2020. Coming from teaching in brick & mortar schools, it was a big change to go to a completely virtual environment; however, I had an excellent mentor teacher, supervisor, and PLC to help me along the way!

At CCA, you can actually focus on teaching rather than discipline issues while in class. As a teacher, you do have many responsibilities outside of teaching (contacting students & caretakers, logging communication, etc), but you are given an ample amount of time each day to complete your tasks.

In my opinion, the salary is excellent and starting pay is higher than any brick & mortar school in my area.  Work-life balance is so much better than teaching in brick & mortar schools. Great flexibility and autonomy.

I feel supported and valued by other teachers and principals at CCA, as well as by CCA as an organization. 

CCA really does give back to its employees as it continues to grow.

Although every school has its pros and cons, I would never leave to teach in brick & mortar schools again.  It's honestly a great place to work! 



CCA started out as a great place to work.  Unfortunately, it quickly went down hill.  Ma tnagement had little spies that taught among us and reported back.  I felt like I was in grade school all over again.  The number of students on any given caseload is 60+ students.  It was almost impossible to progress monitor, make phone calls, and complete all necessary paperwork on time.  The expectation was to work 12 hour days as well as nights and weekends.  No life for you. As time went on management became very top heavy.  If you had a target on your back you might as well hang it up.  They don't really help you to improve even though they say they do.  Burn out comes quickly and upper management could careless.  Professionalism does not exist in this place especially from upper management.  CCA does not support you as a teacher.  You can easily be replaced and they will.

Many people are nice and helpful, but admin micromanages and punishes all for the actions of a few. Communication from admin is inconsistent and convoluted. Pay is better than other cybers but the responsibilities are piled and constantly changing. Staff must report to family service centers, which are essentially office spaces. Families receive services there less than 10% of the time. Student expectations are constantly lowered and they are not required to attend class. A lot of money is spent on marketing and things that make the school “look good”.  The school always says that we are the larger cyber in the state (30,000 students) because we are the best. Or is it because we don’t make kids come to class and allow them to do the bare minimum to pass? Meanwhile this school needs more social workers and guidance counselors so that we can actually make sure that students are safe. It’s a business, not a school.

The good part of CCA is that there are a select few amount of people that genuinely care of student's education. Some of the nicest people I have met were at CCA and sincerely care to make student's lives better. However, a large majority of the staff is not compatible with each other. Most teachers are seen talking badly about other teachers, as well as leadership. Leadership is not the most professional and will complain about other members of their team to you. Also, when suggesting ideas or improvements, you are met with a lot of resistance due to their structure. Leadership also treats students as customers and only seek a paycheck. Be careful.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 7 salaries reported	$67,000 per year
Special education teacher 3 salaries reported	$62,833 per year
Elementary school teacher 9 salaries reported	$23,500 per year
English teacher 3 salaries reported	$77,000 per year
Payroll specialist 2 salaries reported	$57,500 per year

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