instructor

intervention specialist

support specialist

food service worker

assistant

Education Alternatives

The workplace felt divided into groups, and favoritism often seemed more important than fairness, professionalism, or accountability. When I raised concerns about problems, I did not feel supported by management, and issues were often ignored while I was blamed for circumstances that were not within my control. Opportunities to learn, grow, and advance professionally appeared limited.
Staff frequently did not receive adequate lunch or rest breaks and were often expected to supervise students continuously for approximately 6.5 hours with little opportunity to recharge. This seemed to contribute to employee stress, exhaustion, burnout, and high turnover.
 A significant concern I observed was the organization's practice of assigning employee's duties beyond their job descriptions and qualifications. Due to ongoing staffing shortages throughout the school year, employees were frequently expected to perform responsibilities outside their designated roles for extended periods despite lacking the credentials, training, or qualifications required for those positions. The situation ultimately became significant enough that students were relocated to another EA location, highlighting the extent of the challenges related to staffing instability, turnover, and the overall educational environment.

These problems appeared to contribute to more behavioral issues among students, reduced stability in the classroom, and concerns about whether students were receiving consistent educational and therapeutic support.

Based on my experience, I would NOT recommend the organization to professionals looking for a supportive work environment or meaningful career growth. I would also encourage families to carefully consider whether the school can provide the strong, stable, and consistent academic and therapeutic support they want for their children.


What is the best part of working at the company?
My experience working here was disappointing due to a lack of organization and clear processes within management. Ongoing internal disorganization ultimately led to me being blamed for issues that existed before I started, which resulted in my termination. I hope the company improves its communication and internal structure so future employees are better supported.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working there was the lack of organization and clear communication from management. Responsibilities and expectations often changed, and issues that existed before my employment were not clearly addressed. This created an environment where it was difficult to do the job effectively and added unnecessary stress.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The immediate staff were great and genuinely tried to be supportive of one another. However, the overall environment was affected by upper management, which often came across as unprofessional and disconnected from the day-to-day needs of the program. It sometimes felt like the focus was more on finances than on supporting staff and maintaining a healthy, stable environment for the children.



This workplace had a very toxic culture. Coworkers were often judgmental, cliquey, and openly rewarded for being unkind or excluding others. Instead of encouraging teamwork or professionalism, negative behavior was tolerated and sometimes even praised.
Management provided little to no support when issues were brought forward. Serious concerns were ignored, and employees who spoke up were often dismissed or blamed rather than helped. One particularly disturbing situation involving harassment was handled extremely poorly, with the victim facing blame instead of accountability being placed on the person responsible.
On top of the unhealthy work environment, the pay did not reflect the workload, stress, or expectations placed on employees. Staff were underpaid and undervalued, which only added to the high turnover and low morale.
Overall, the environment felt unsafe, unsupported, emotionally exhausting, and not worth the compensation being offered. I would strongly encourage leadership to take workplace culture, employee wellbeing, fair pay, and employee concerns much more seriously in the future.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the kids. Sure some of them have character issues and lack maturity. But you simply must look past that and help them improve in those areas.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There can be a lot of fluidity in the course of a school year. Kids come and go and when a new behavior is introduced to the environment you have built it can be difficult to restablish it as quick as you would like.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
That will depend on the building director(s). Some of it is derived through fellow staff members. But, overall, in truth it can be a stressful environment. I've now worked both in alternative schools and a public school setting and for me I'll take the alternative school. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You are generally busy from the time you get there until you go home.

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with children with behavior  issues. These children are from dysfunctional environments, They are good children who were dealt a bad hand, ie poverty. incest, and other abuses. They have lost trust in humanity and they've built this wall around themselves, and you have gain their trust to get  into their comfort zone, their world. Every day is different, even though they may trust you one day that next day you may have gain that trust again, because  when they go home, back to the environment that causes their problems, the issues resurface and you are back to square one. It a daily challenge to communicate with one child, so imagine fifteen in one class room. Each child must go through a metal detector upon entering the school.

Education Alternatives is an agency that provides counseling and educational services to students with trauma, therefore the work is challenging but rewarding. 

Unfortunately, the leaders of this agency are corrupt and are most concerned with making a profit. Staff and students are placed in unethical and unsafe conditions on a daily basis. Staff is not provided with the resources, tools, or support necessary to serve the students. 

As an employee, if you voice concerns regarding the rights of students, yourself or coworkers you will be bullied into submission. The leaders of this company are not concerned with providing a safe or effective learning environment for students and they respond to employee requests for reform or support with scare tactics and threats.

If you're researching this company for future employment. Run. The opposite way. They're poorly ran, 'family owned' facility. They put on a decent front that they're for the kids, but truly they're more interested in the next competition and how to make more money. The staff support is next to none, the building directors are 'puppets' and blind to the disorganized chaos that's filtered from the corporate office down and NEVER QUESTION anything that's required of you.

The paperwork is NEVER ENDING and keeps getting added as they create more and add new protocols so frequently you never know WHAT you're to be doing. They stretch EACH AND EVERY employee to the max(zero off duty breaks). With little appreciation and what they do give, isn't genuine. Sadly, so many kids need your help, including these, but the environment you're forced into isn't positive.

There is a great deal of structure, which is necessary to meet the needs of the students. I learned many new organizational skills, especially regarding Alternative Assessments (state mandated). There are some warm, caring administrators, and it is clear that the common goal is the success of the students. My colleagues were supportive and encouraging. The most difficult part of the job was seeing the struggles that some of the students deal with on a daily basis. The most enjoyable part of this position is seeing the success of the students, knowing that we aided them in the process. The students know that they have options in life, and a good future may be had by working hard and applying the life skills that they are learning.

I have been working at Education Alternatives for 14 years. I started as an Intervention Specialist and moved into the Director of Day Treatment position 10 years ago. Prior to Education Alternatives I worked in both public schools and charter schools, but found the schools lacked the ability to address the needs of some of the most difficult students, which were the students I was naturally drawn to. When I found EA, I found a place that understood the needs of the students that exhibited some intense behaviors. Although working with children with behavioral difficulties can be stressful, the leadership team is always available to help or just to listen. I have learned so much in my time here and I continue to learn more each and every day. 

I worked at EA for 2.5 years, mostly as a facilitator at the Ravenna branch. The work is very challenging as you deal with emotionally unstable youth. The job requires a calm, yet assertive demeanor to deal with the clients. The Director at Ravenna leads by example and really helps to cultivate a team mentality, which is key to helping the building run smoothly. The job can be demanding, but the staff at Ravenna is supportive of one another from the Director down to one-on-one aides. In fact, many of my co-workers have become close friends. The Ravenna branch is probably the best workplace culture I have ever been a part of.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Instructor 37 salaries reported	$27.37 per hour
Intervention specialist 20 salaries reported	$29.10 per hour
Support specialist 21 salaries reported	$20.33 per hour
Food service worker 2 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Assistant 3 salaries reported	$26,450 per year

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