high school teacher

elementary school teacher

custodian

school teacher

teacher

Hazelwood school district

Setting up office to prepare for anything from giving out medication, caring for the ill child from sniffles, fevers, children with diabetes to as serious as seizures at school; the injured child from scratches to broken bones. Calling parents as needed. Keeping ill with fever students in the office until can be picked up by parent. Called ambulance as needed if unable to contact a parent and student considered in serious condition or at parent request (done only twice, once due to  uncontrolled seizure and unable to contact parent, the other was a broken bone, parent was at work and wanted ambulance called and would meet at hospital parent requested). All visits made to the nurse's office by any child was recorded and placed into student's medical record. Taught a care of teeth class to kindergartners and a growth and development class for the girls from 4th to 6th grade. Boys taught by male PE teacher. Did vision testing on the odd grade students. Called Special School District to make arrangements for hearing testing on all students. Parents were notified by written forms if child was found to have a vision or hearing problem. Kept up with this to be sure problems were looked into or taken care of. Checked each child's vaccination history and sent out notices to parent(s) if there was a vaccine needed. Did a Kindergarten round-up every year to allow parents to sign thie child up for the next year and the nurse checked if the proper vaccines had been received or let parent know about the required vaccines for the incoming Kindergartner. Office was boxed up and everything put away for the summer so that nothing could be taken during the summer. All medications brought in by parent at the beginning of the school year were returned to the parent at end of the school year with a letter reminder that a new order from the physician is required for student to take medication at school next school year. Learned how to take care of children no matter what the problem, how to talk to and care for the parent(s) in an appropriate manner, it is their child. Head nurse was wonderful, easy to get along with and able to ask any question needed to do the job properly. Hardest part of job was on occasion the inability to get a hold of an ill child's family and being unable to do anything for the child except cool cloths to help with fever or be there when having stomach or intestinal issues and then trying to keep hydrated with chipped ice or water sips, or talking to family who could not pick up their child due to whatever reason but still cared for child best as I could as stated before. Sent home a letter with all children with fevers that they must be without any fever for a complete 24 hours before returning to school. Not always followed and would always have to call and have child picked up and taken back home, parent not always happy about this. Loved working with the teachers and non-teaching staff. Was like a family. The most enjoyable was being allowed to work with children in the school setting for over 10 years.

Positives: 
- Hazelwood has done pretty well up to this point in terms of managing its money. Because of that, teachers are paid pretty well (a Masters teacher can make over 80k), the benefits are good, and there are budgets set up for support materials in many levels. The money isn't endless, but it's not as tight as some places.
- There are some excellent teachers here, with great knowledge of what they do. Those teachers might not always have the state test scores to prove it, but there are some really cool things that go on in some classrooms.
- Most parents care and are supportive, even if they're not always sure what to do or how to help. I have been fortunate to have had to deal with only a few problem parents. Because the district isn't especially affluent, helicopter parents are more rare here than in other places.
- There are some advancement opportunities (coaches, curriculum coordinators, etc.) but those are harder to come by if you're not an elementary teacher or a math / English secondary teacher.

Negatives: 
- Hazelwood has a higher free/reduced lunch rate than other suburban schools in the area, and that brings problems. While there are some successful and well equipped middle class kids in the district who are a lot of fun to teach, a significant number of kids (the % varies with the building) come into class reading below grade level and can be very hard to help, which can lead to teacher burnout. Behavior problems can be an issue ... in middle school and high school, apathy is a challenge, and fights do happen in high school, especially in the spring for some reason. The east side of the district has the highest poverty and can be hard to teach in for some teachers. There are supports in place, like counselors and social workers, but the problems are often more than those supports can handle.
- Administration. Hazelwood is, without a doubt, a top-down organization, and has been at least since the early 2000s. The superintendent and assistant superintendents make and enforce policy, which principals and teachers are expected to follow. Principals seem to have little freedom to run their schools as they see fit, and are constantly responding to upper admin mandates, writing reports and making accountability presentations. Teachers are invited to serve on committees from time to time (all of them are outside of school hours) but those committees, rarely, if ever, have much of a say. Committee recommendations are routinely ignored, and curriculum and pedagogy are shaped (and sometimes altered or vetoed) by the demands of coordinators and superintendents who have little experience in the subject or grade level, much less in a Hazelwood school. Educational fads are ever-changing, with professional development that has little ground-level input, and many of the initiatives admin imposes on principals and teachers have shaky evidence foundations. The lack of professional autonomy is one of my biggest disappointments with the district, and I'm not sure it will change any time soon.

I’ve been a teacher in this district for a long time. I’ve witnessed it go downhill steadily every year. There is no support for teachers regarding their needs for classroom management. It has been turned into a diploma factory not because kids earn their diploma, but because they fail everything until their senior year and them cram everything in to Edgenuity and online quick fix classes to graduate. A diploma from Hazelwood is a joke. These kids are not prepared for a successful adulthood. Not only that but they just dump the same kids in the same electives whether they choose them or not. Elective class sizes are overrun with 30+ kids in every single class and many of them never chose those classes. So teachers can’t teach because they are constantly battling kids who don’t want to be in their classes anyway and admin does nothing about it. In fact, they still expect you to keep up rigorous standards while conducting a circus.  Bad kids and bad parents run the high schools and admin has lost its discipline over students. The only people admin are tough on is the teachers because they know we’ll take it. They have a very authoritarian style and you are chastised if you don’t fall in line with their beliefs.  The halls constantly smell like pot to the point you could get a contact high just walking to your class. fights almost every day. Kids roaming the halls and skipping class every day. Vaping constantly. On their phones constantly. It’s a shame because there are some really great kids here too that just get put on the back burner because the bad is REALLY bad here. 

Every job I've ever worked there's at least some sense that management wants me to get my job done to the best of my ability, and are willing to do their part in that. Not this job. I spent every day fighting administration for basic resources, even as basic as time to do lesson planning and other work I was assigned, but given none. With most of my planning time being taken up by useless meetings, all work I had to do ended up being taken home.

Every time they give you work they say "do it for the kids," but the second you ask for resources to do so they say "that's on you to figure out." They pile on more work, more class assessments, and are convinced somehow giving you less time and flexibility will help. Most of my planning time was taken up by meetings where nothing of importance ever took place.

I came into work every morning more tired than when I left the evening before, had to fight administration to get emergency support sent to my room when one of my aggressive special needs students would go on a rampage, and constantly felt guilty that I didn't have the resources to give my students the education they deserved.

The teaching field as a whole is a sinking ship, but Hazelwood seems to think poking holes in their life raft is a smart solution to the problem.

Run like a mom and pop shop. Some people are employed based on personal friendships and relationships while others are treated incredibly poor. Rules change like the weather in accordance to how the director feels that day. If you're pals with a person in leadership, you'll advance before someone with more seniority. Otherwise they're claiming seniority means eveything ( except when its helpful to someone who isnt a part of the phony buddy system). Complaints result in having your job threatened. There is no one at the top, who can help because they're too busy being loyal to a friendship instead of accessing mistreatment of employees. The benefits are nice. Pay is competitive. It can be decent if you're able to cope with being treated unfairly, having an extremely harsh, arrogant and common acting superior figures. If you can get pass being spoken to disrespectfully by someone who doesn't seem all that educated, you'll be fine. Otherwise use it as a stepping stone to something bigger and better elsewhere before it destroys you! Focus on the kids and the goal of education & safety. Don't allow the negativity to break you because they'll try.

I was a substitute teacher last year 2012. The experiences differed from school to school or class to class. The children past 2nd grade I didn't care for. There were no support from some of the principals and the children were bad! Lots of behavior problems and children wanting to test you. I would prefer more of a permanent job in the schools so you can get to know the children and routines. Didn't like not having a steady pay or some of the attitudes in the school toward subs. If people didn't sub teachers couldn't take off. Some teachers were really nice and subs always nice because they understand how tough the job was. Overall I did pass at signing up for this school again and I pray for the teachers and the children. I learned that I didn't want to teach children past 2nd grade. I didn't have any issues with letting the children know they were still going to work. I did enjoy the job and decided to get a teachers certification to do it full-time as a regular teacher. Subbing is hard and not for everyone but I still enjoyed teaching the children. Can be fun if you like kids and teaching.

A typical day would be for me as an Instructional Specialist/Coach was to come in and first make sure that we had coverage for the day...(i.e. lunchroom, classroom and outside) then I would check my calendar to see what I had scheduled for the rest of the day from doing lunch duties, observing teachers, giving new parents a tour of the school, doing small group instruction, etc).  From doing these things and more on a daily basis I learned that organization is the key and that sometimes everything won't always get done in a day; there is tomorrow.
 Many of my co-workers were great but there was always one or two that I had to do whatever it took to make things work with them and for them. The hardest part of my job was realizing that I could not always make everyone happy.  
The most enjoyable part of my job was working with students in small groups and working along side those teachers that needed help with classroom management and lesson planning/organization.  I also loved when teachers would ask me to come in and teach a lesson.

Upon entering a building you are always cheerfully greeted by the Office staff. They make you feel welcomed and supply you with the information needed to reach the classroom you have been assigned to for the day. Teachers throughout the building greet you with a smile as you make your way to your room. Everyone offers to assist you if you have questions or need help. The principle usually stops by to introduce himself if you did not meet him in the Main Office. Lesson plans are usually well written and self explanatory. The hardest part of the assignment is usually quickly learning the names and seating of the students. The most enjoyable part of the assignment is being able to help students understand something they may have been having difficulty with. Often times it only takes teaching something from a different viewpoint to help them grasp the concept.

On an average day, my work would begin with my starting my bus, and performing all safety checks, documenting mileage, gas, and oil levels. My first pick-ups, were Hazelwood West H.S. students, after completion, I picked up Hazelwood West Middle students, and finally my elementary students. When you work with children, you learn something new everyday, but I managed to get them all safe and sound to their assigned drop-offs with little to no incident (among them.) I was in constant contact with Management all during my trips via radio. I experienced outstanding co-worker relationships. The hardest part was the summers, trying to get the kids home in the heat, as the bus I drove, had no A/C. I would have to say, I loved the weekend field trips (mostly H.S) sports events, especially in the Spring.

The day to day at Hazelwood was fine, students were typical behavior, and most of my peers were awesome. However the issue with hazelwood is administration, who have a weird attitude that education is part business and part teaching. They assign these tests (most are state mandated) that teachers ahve to give for which are jobs depend, so have to teach to a test that has little to no real life application, leading students to follow behind. At a micro level my buildings administration was also lackluster, as it would take weeks for disciplinary action to be assigned to write ups, and even when given the actions would be laughable. Head principle changed 7 times over the past 10 years, and most of the class level principles have changed as well, leaving no lasting leadership and expectations that changed constantly.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
High school teacher 22 salaries reported	$48,304 per year
Elementary school teacher 14 salaries reported	$48,276 per year
Custodian 6 salaries reported	$15.84 per hour
School teacher 3 salaries reported	$48,304 per year
Teacher 6 salaries reported	$59,473 per year

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