instructional assistant

food service associate

custodian

bus driver

utility worker

Downey Unified School District

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people- I’ve worked at several different schools and everyone I have come into contact with have always been very pleasant, personable and professional. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There isn’t one thing to pinpoint. Every day is different, some days are a bit harder than others, that’s all. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I love the type of work I do, so in my experience, the environment and culture I have seen is positive. We are there for the kids, as our motto is “Our kids deserve the best” and I believe we are doing our part to make that happen them. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Our students are constantly busy, from morning jobs working in the cafeteria as Cafeteria Assistants, where myself and another aid assist the students in making snack/lunch bags to sell, to Barista’s learning to make  and deliver different types of coffees. Then, as a paraprofessional, we assist students with their classwork in reading, writing, math, art, A.P.E. depending on the day. It’s different every day and never a dull moment.

A typical day at work:  very fast paced and stressful with high  caseloads and multiple schools per week; tons of meetings; too many assessments for special education instead of more interventions.
What I learned:  first job as a school psychologist so I learned everything; 13 years experience that covered working with students from preschool to high school. 
Workplace culture: cut-throat; lack of support from management; lots of red tape.
Hardest part of the job:  not having enough time to complete all your job duties because you work at multiple schools so you end up taking your work home daily and on weekends you try to catch up.
Most enjoyable part of the job:  working with students and families and making a difference in their lives.

Lets make this simple, if you live in Los Angeles County area, most school districts struggle to pay fairly, are under-resourced, and can often over-work the employee which leads to high levels of burnout. Downey Unified does a great job of limiting these issues, especially compared to other local districts. I have heard it is one of the highest paying public school districts with an excellent union that greatly supports the employees. If you want to work for a school district, this should be one of your top choices (or the ABC school district which is also excellent). The biggest struggle with Downey Unified is how political they can be when making decisions. Sometimes you will notice decisions being made with financials or political power plays in mind which is disappointing, but not a deal breaker.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people that work at DAS, the environment, and the cultures well!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There is nothing to stressful to touch upon. The workload is is just right, and the students make it easy.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is AWESOME! So much so that I mentioned this topic in the first question.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive at DAS walk, and open the classroom, setup, greet the students as they enter the classroom, and handout the appropriate course materials for that day. Once all the students have arrived I then begin teaching the course topic, and open up discussions with all the students, and that is a typical day for me at DAS.

Prvovide customer service to staff and students. Prepare meals for staff and students. Clean and sanitize areas. Ensure that all work areas are safe.Customer service and cash handlng. Inentory in storage areas. With this experence I have learned how to work at a faster pace and make quick sound decisions. Management ensures that we all work together as a team. I enjoy working with my co-workers,we all work together as a team. The hardest part about this job is that I am working part time. I wish that there were more then three hours a day. The most enjoyablepart abou this job I would say that we all work togeher as a team.

This was a great job. It was easy-going and not a stressful job. I was assigned to a high school or middle school (high school in my case) and reported there every tuesday and thursday (others had different hours). I worked 6 hours a day, which was good for me since i was a college student (which every person who works there is). We got to motivate the students to go to college, help them in their studies, and teach them study skills. Every month there was one 4 hour meeting (on fridays) where all the tutors and our boss would discuss ways to better help students.

A typical day at work would be to greet parents and students, work with small group of students, supervise students during lunch and recess. I learned to be a very patient and compassionate person, and to also have an open mind. The teacher treated us as equal, our opinions were also taken into consideration, everyone I worked with was very freindly and kind-hearted. The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing the students smiles.

A day at the Downey Unified School District was very productive. From the moment I walked in to the office till the time I would have to clock out. Answering phone calls and taking messages, filing paper work: such as home schooled students work, state projects, and invoices. Also got to help out with payroll and prepare for meetings for the ROP Director.

Great! If you ever want to get your feet wet to learn the ins and outs of a teacher, this is the place to work at. The classrooms that I had worked at had great lesson plans and the staff have been friendly. The administration is impressive.

This district is extremely unsupportive to incoming teachers going into the field. Many of the administrators are quick to throw new talent under the bus to pacify union conflict with their classified staff. Finally, they are unprofessional to college organizations in order to hide their incompetence, favoritism and anything that would otherwise mar their supposed track of excellence.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Instructional assistant 16 salaries reported	$24.20 per hour
Food service associate 10 salaries reported	$21.19 per hour
Custodian 3 salaries reported	$23.54 per hour
Bus driver 4 salaries reported	$27.80 per hour
Utility worker 4 salaries reported	$25.03 per hour

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