high school teacher

elementary school teacher

school principal

assistant director

office coordinator

Great Oaks Legacy Charter School

What is the best part of working at the company?
The best part of working at Great Oaks was the students. Their eagerness to learn, their curiosity, and their resilience made each day meaningful. They truly deserve a structured, supportive environment that nurtures their growth and potential.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The most stressful part of working at Great Oaks was not the students it was the adult leadership. In my experience, interactions with the director and coaches often felt unprofessional and dismissive. There appeared to be favoritism, and opportunities or roles did not always seem to be based on merit or qualifications.
At times, leadership decisions lacked clarity and consistency, which created confusion and frustration among staff. A workplace functions best when roles are filled based on experience, competence, and fairness not personal relationships. I hope the organization reflects on these concerns and works toward building a more professional, equitable, and supportive leadership culture.

The school at Great Oaks is disorganized, which contributes to ongoing student behavior challenges. Without consistent structure, clear expectations, and consistent follow-through, it is difficult for students to understand boundaries and for staff to maintain a positive, productive learning environment.



What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The work environment at Great Oaks is toxic. There is frequent rudeness, unprofessional behavior, and clear favoritism. Leadership is inconsistent coaches may give one directive, only for the dean to contradict it, or vice versa which creates confusion and disorganization.

This lack of structure and professionalism directly affects both staff and students. Teacher turnover is high, including long-term substitutes who leave quickly. Many staff express that they stay only because they are not yet certified or have not found another school. Student enrollment is also impacted, as students frequently unenroll due to the chaotic environment.

It is no surprise that academic outcomes, such as NJSLA scores, are low under these conditions. Without meaningful changes to leadership, consistency, and workplace culture, the school will continue to lose both teachers and students.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
An atypical day at Great Oaks is very long. The official hours are 7:35 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., though the principal suggests arriving by 7:15 a.m., which is unpaid. During your prep periods, you may be unexpectedly asked to cover another teacher’s class.

The school struggles financially due to high student turnover, frequent teacher resignations, and long-term substitutes leaving as well. Resources are limited, including funds for adequate substitute coverage. Lunch may be delayed until 2:00 p.m., and teachers frequently deal with challenging student behaviors, including cursing and elopement.

Students are not allowed to go to the bathroom during the first or last 10 minutes of class, so teachers must be careful emergencies happen, but allowing a student to leave for a necessity can result in a write-up. Staff must be prepared for a demanding, unpredictable, and high-stress environment where even reasonable decisions may be scrutinized.

Coworkers and the kids make it a plus. Teachers and support staff are great because they’re all in the same position— stressed and frustrated. Leadership is quick to nitpick and want things done their way when they aren’t even the ones to be in the classroom to see how their ways are what ideally any teacher would want, but realistically, not feasible. They give all work to teachers and support to handle (even things leadership should be attending to themselves) and because of the high turnover and lack of teachers in each grade, the remaining staff need to pick up the slack bc all leadership does is go in to “observe” and offer ridiculous “glows and grows” that quite frankly don’t help when you shove 30 kids in a classroom. And when something doesn’t get done because of the lack of staff, it’s the remaining staff’s fault. They say they are here to help and cover but they show up 10-15 minutes late to cover someone’s lunch if you’re by yourself but then expect you to return at your regular (and shortened) time. All in all, if they value their staff, more would be done. They worry about the most trivial things and lose focus on what should really be done. Actually LISTEN to your staff. And when a teacher needs to use their hard earned PTO days, don’t get annoyed because now you need to walk into a classroom to help out. Also, senior leadership: focus on your existing schools instead of worrying about expansion. Your existing schools are falling apart while you’re busy trying to kid outsiders into thinking everything is going great!

This specific school was incredibly toxic, had minor support and overall terrible resource availability. The leadership team holds the staff accountable for all of the behaviors but no consequences are seriously enforced for students despite the NUMEROUS BEHAVIORS every day. Majority of the students are performing below grade level and that’s due to little resources and numerous uncertified teachers not knowing how to do their jobs. The culture amongst the staff is TOXIC, everyone wants to be the boss but no one truly wants to lead. The adults in the building talk about each other constantly and it shows through the network’s inability to keep good teachers. 

The Deans of the school are scared of upper management and the Director so they never follow through with real consequences for the students. The children truly run the school, I have witnessed children pass classes when the completed little to no work the entire marking period. This school is terrible, I recommend this school to no one.  TERRIBLE TERRIBLE working environment and terrible learning rigor. 

Awful work/life balance. People talk behind your back about you and make up things about you and your character.  Constantly had to report these rumors and drama to management, only for them to not help.

Additionally, the pay is really bad. And the benefits come at a price that most can't afford.  The job eventually beats you down with the stressful workload.

The housing is the only benefit, and it's not very good. But to circle back to the rumors and drama, it got so bad, that I started to go to a dark place and had to leave to basically save my life. 

I really wish it didn't have to be that way, because the kids were good and pretty easy to teach. And many of the students were nice and well-behaved, but I might not be here if I didn't get put of here, so...... yeah.

Overall, it's a toxic work environment without benefits and a poor work/life balance and not enough pay to compensate for the trauma that you will experience while working for this company.  And it is quite a lot of trauma. 

This place does a really good job of making it sound like an opportunity to really help these vulnerable children. But they don't tell you that you have so many more responsibilities do until you arrive there. In addition to my tutoring responsibilities I was also my teacher's aid to a math teacher and I had to grade hundreds of papers each week in addition to creating tutorial packets for the students and answer keys. I consistently worked over 60 hours a week despite the fact that we were paid on a stipend. When I did the math it basically came down to being paid $3 an hour. The administration and even some of the teachers did not support the tutors. People left throughout the school year because they didn't think that it was worth it. The only thing that was good about this program was the fact that they provided Free Housing with utilities covered. There was no work-life balance here it was just all work all the time including the weekends. Doing a service year is a good thing and I recommend everyone do it, but do it somewhere where you will be respected.

Management does not provide fellows with support and is often blatantly disrespectful to you. Every time their attitude causes someone to quit, those tasks are just added to your plate and it is expected that you pick up additional duties while continuing to be severely underpaid. Management will hold your free housing and Segal Award for completion over your head to try to get you to stay, but will not respond appropriately or promptly to work place issues that you raise. Some of your coworkers will be amazing, some will be fine, and some should be fired but won't be because the program is desperate for bodies and will hire almost anyone instead of changing their attitude to get the good ones to stay. The most enjoyable part of the job is definitely working with the kids, and most of the fellows are pretty chill to hang out with, but upper management will make your job unnecessarily difficult and keep their reasonings for doing so very vague.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Internal promotions before vacant positions are posted & filled. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There aren’t any stressful aspects about working at the company or I would not be working at the company at all.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture & climate is a work in progress. We tend to boost the morale with regard to culture by hosting school wide spirit weeks and/or school events to include scholars. It’s a great work to be  informed of the importance of school culture & climate. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Fast pace and productive. My typical day is spend predominantly in and out of the classrooms and in between I attend leadership meeting and  fill other roles & responsibilities with sheer success! This is literally a typical day.

Plainly put, it’s a circus. The “school directors” do not have the experience, certifications or training that is needed to run a school efficiently. This organization has too many inexperienced educators (teachers and leaders). There are no substitutes. Teachers must cover if someone is out. Which means you may provide coverage on a daily basis because people are out often. The turnover rate is high and i have not been coached because my coach is teaching. 

The best thing about great oaks is the students! There are some great students here! The students are appreciative of the work I do to help them succeed. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The kids were the only good part of working here. My money was good but they will cap your salary after a few years. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Administration who thinks you’re incapable of teaching, admin who blame you for everything but then won’t support or give you advice, admin who talk about you behind your back to parents and other faculty. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
HORRIBLE and stressful. You have a passive aggressive “let’s get along” director who doesn’t even practice what she preaches. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Getting blamed for behaviors kids have, out of control behaviors, lack of support, barely being able to teach because behaviors are so bad.

Prepare to be unsupported, underpaid and gaslit if you come here. This was single-handedly the worst school experience I gave ever had and I hope to never experience this kind of unorganized mess again. They lack resources. They will lie to get you here and then leave you to fend for yourself. The pay does not align with the cost of living. There is little to no support from the leadership team. All of the school leaders are teaching because teachers are leaving in droves. How/when will I be supported when my coach is now teaching? 

I remind myself everyday that this job was simply a stepping stone to get me where I need to be. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
High school teacher 11 salaries reported	$66,136 per year
Elementary school teacher 7 salaries reported	$103,571 per year
School principal 6 salaries reported	$115,000 per year
Assistant director 6 salaries reported	$105,000 per year
Office coordinator 4 salaries reported	$58,500 per year

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