paraprofessional

special education teacher

speech language pathologist

occupational therapist

locator

Guiding Light Academy

The Board/Owners are disconnected from what Staff (Principal, Behavior Team, Related Services, Teachers, and Paraprofessionals) need to provide the best possible education and service to the children that walk through our doors at GLA. This disconnect is seen through the false promise of improvements for staff and the children. The Owners/Board seem to constantly having meetings and making decisions, but have never once taken the initiative to ask staff what their needs are directly. As a substitute Paraprofessional, I know the Owners names, I see them walking through the hallways, they sometimes offer a socially polite, “good morning” but outside of that, not one single time have they ever asked what I need to best perform my job. In addition, there is always mention of a “Board” but no one on the classroom level knows who is on this board or how to contact them. We don’t even know who they are, how many board members there are, etc. This leaves all responsibility of communication between the Board/Owners and front line staff on the Principals shoulders. Our current principal at academy has done a phenomenal job tending to the needs of staff and students but is always receiving push back from the Board/Owners. This puts undo stress on the principal trying to support the front line workers and conform to the disconnected demands of the Board/Owners who have no regard for their staff’s needs. Staff (Principal, Behavior Team, Related Services, Teachers, and Paraprofessionals) are GLA’s legs and feet which the Board/Owner’s stand on, and that position demands respect. When staff do not have what they need to be successful employees, the students and families we serve suffer. 

Employee’s need better compensation and there are more ways to compensate outside of wages. More paid time off, company retreats, or directly outlined ways to get a raise in salary/wages (example: if you take “this course” we will raise your wages by “this much”). All of which is a tax deduction for the owners/board. So it wouldn’t even been altruistic of them to provide compensation in the form of PTO or retreats, because they would benefit from the tax deductions. They are not looking for top quality employees, they are looking for bodies to fill a spot and hope those bodies are productive before they expire. Circling back to, the staff (Principal, Behavior Team, Related Services, Teachers, and Paraprofessionals) are GLA’s legs and feet which the Board/Owner’s stand on – they clearly do not respect the legs on which they stand and this will ultimately disable the ability of this company to provide top quality services to students and their families. 

I have full faith in my classroom teacher and the principal to ensure that I have the tools, materials, and education needed to be a successful substitute/paraprofessional. They have pulled from their own pockets on multiple occasions to get me and other staff members that which they need to succeed in serving these children and families. I that same commitment was given by the Board/Owners, Guiding Light would be a shining example to all schools on what strong quality education should look like.  

Guiding Light can be loosely described as a therapeutic day school for students with special needs.  Essentially, it is a private company run by 2 real estate developers and 2 high school diploma bearing management individuals in the role of director/coordinator and business manager.  The environment is fast paced as their primary population is comprised of highly behavioral and socially and emotionally challenged students.  

Given that this organization works with some of the most challenged students, there is insufficient training provided that helps to equip classroom staff to be successful in their role.  In addition to this, the  working environment of the organization is what can be considered hostile and often staff are met with bullying, disrespect, ridicule and intimidation. The abuse of power and negative environment in addition to the lack of training has lead to a tremendous turn over rate since its inception in 2014.  To date, Guiding Light has managed to cycle through 10 Principals at its Woodridge location alone and 2 at its newest Shorewood location in just 1 year of existence. 

There are several classrooms that are operated by staff who do not bear the approved Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) credentials to teach and due to the lack of oversight by the state of Therapeutic Day Institutions in general, the school gets away with it. As such, there is not a consistent curriculum used as classroom leaders can often  be seen Googling activities or trying to find material via sites like Teachers Pay Teachers which is definitely not best practice. The individual education programs (IEP's) of the students, you can imagine are highly fabricated like much of the data reported annually at meetings.  Therefore, while there is some progress made, students are not pushed curricular wise, to their full potential as the institution does not implore the consistent use of researched and evidenced based materials. 

Despite the anit-nepotism policy, every management professional on the administrative team has relatives and friends that work within the organization.  Those individuals often receive benefits not experienced by general staff thus lending itself to a great deal of biased and inequitable treatment that has helped to push their gross turn over rate. 

In general, Guiding Light compensates relatively well in comparison to that of a public school however in terms of the risk staff members assume in working with their highly behavioral students  you may want to reconsider.  Very serious injuries occur frequently to both staff and students often due to the lack of training and severe student behaviors. 

There is little done in terms of employee welfare and staff engagement as it definitely isn't as much of a priority as filling the seats despite the lack of quality care. 

Apply at your own risk... few survive

As a para you normally work 8:30-3:30 which equals 35 hours a week. You get paid hourly, but during holiday and summer breaks lose those hours because they are unpaid days. You help students 1:1 with goals that are from their IEP, follow along with a daily schedule, help teach them basic needs like hygiene & life skills. You learn how to use their program they have for data & behavior tracking. Unfortunately it’s not something that’s taught prior to doing it. More so learn from coworkers and kind of thrown into it and ask/learn as you go. Management has improved significantly since since the prior principals. Work place culture is up and down because of being short staffed and increasing the amount of duties that need to be done which can be overwhelming and stressful. The hardest part is dealing with students when they go into behaviors and trying to maintain them. But it is enjoyable once you’re able to get to know the students and connect with them. It’s rewarding seeing their academic progression as the days go on and seeing that the work and effort you have been putting in alongside them is a huge reason behind it. There’s good and bad days as there is to every job. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
PTO and a good amount of downtime if there are no incidents. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You are in an in environment where you have to be on guard. Students are violent and it is common to get hit, kicked, scratched, or spit on. They train you to do safety care yet it is an unwritten rule that you are not allowed to do holds, and it is the support team’s responsibility only. You will be left alone with violent students. Staff call off frequently, and they will bounce you around to different classrooms at the last minute.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Lots of cliques. you will either be encouraged to drink with your colleagues after work, hazed, and challenged to act unprofessionally, or you will be ignored. It’s like joining a fraternity. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Frequent breaks, movies at lunchtime, good downtime in morning and after school.

I used to enjoy my job at GLA.
Begin a Para is a very rewarding job because you get to develop meaningful relationships with the kiddos as well as your coworkers. The job comes with its daily challenges that require us as staff to have the adequate help in order to effectively teach our students all while managing behaviors. 
Every class eventually became short staffed, yet new students continued to come through the doors which made this respected school start to feel like a daycare at best. GLA has allegedly been hiring and interviewing, yet  every GLA school is working on a skeleton crew. The new people who were hired did not stay long because no one was available to actually train them & they saw how stressed the existing staff were becoming. 
I hope the ones who decide to stay either get compensated for the grossly stressful work environment,  or at least get the staff and training they need to get GLA back to what it once was. 

In 2020 a revamp of the admin staff took place. The new principals are very out going and Caring about the kids and staff. The working environment has also shifted into one of tolerance and understanding. This comes from the top and then works down. Each class is still Independent from one another. But the staff at Shorewood is no longer having to battle admin staff to get their needs met. I can not speak for Woodridge since I’m a Shorewood staff but I would imagine it’s the same. 

Just a side note as a para you will be a hourly employee. While GLA pays for a bunch of holidays you will not get paid for breaks throughout the school year. This includes winter and summer breaks. There is ESY that you can work during the summer. 

Run and never look back!!! The kids are wonderful, however the administration team makes it a very difficult place to work at. Yes the hourly pay is good. But you’re only working 6hours a day which means your check will be around $800-$900 dollars if that. Christmas break, spring break, and summer breaks you will not be paid for. JUST AN FYI There is a click and if you don’t suck up to them, you will not be a happy employee. Only the friends of the admin team and the employees who suck up to them get paid well and get great raises. Once again the children are lovely and a joy to work with. If you’re in desperate need of employment APPLY. But PLEASE continue to look for other work else where in the mean time. 

Everyone who has worked a job like this knows it's stressful beyond what other jobs offer. Working at GLA was still one of the better teaching experiences you can have in the SpEd field, and it was definitely one of the best experiences you can have in a behavioral school setting. My life took me in a different direction than working there and the stress of the job itself does reach you after a while, but I'm better for my time than I think I had expected.

They go around asking folks along with the admin to give positive reviews for the school so they can appear to look good since the truth can't speak for itself. They give a boost to the company instead of working on what's wrong. The company has to do something to help staff stay and enjoy working for them and with the students who deserve an opportunity as all others have.  Don't stop here. keep looking because there is better! The children matter. They need to know when to allow children to be helped in proper placement and stop trying to help in cases where they are not in the right placement. They take them in any way for the money. In the long run, everyone suffers but the admin!

I had a terrible experience here. If I had a child with disabilities, The Guiding Light Academy is the LAST place I would send them. Everything looks professional and wonderful up front, but once you get to work with the children; the way data is collected nearly makes it invalid. You are not pressured or trained to try to teach these children, due to the difficulties it might take to teach the children, staff would rather just let the kids sit around all day. Working one on one with the students could be quite dificukt so they would rather let the kids sit there all day. Their PCM/crisis managment was questionable as well.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Paraprofessional 8 salaries reported	$19.13 per hour
Special education teacher 1 salary reported	$47,500 per year
Speech language pathologist 1 salary reported	$65,000 per year
Occupational therapist 1 salary reported	$67,500 per year
Locator 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour

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