school program staff

site director

group leader

activity specialist

program director

NEW YORK JUNIOR TENNIS & LEARNING

NYJTL is a great organization in terms of the real-life applications of the company mission. Many times, you have the opportunity to work with like minded people who are just as dedicated as you are to working with underserved kids in public schools. There is often a lot of leeway to develop after school programs that are fun, creative, and truly beneficial in terms of arts enrichment and sports for kids of all ages and background. You do really rewarding work with kids, and the best part of the job is probably building those relationships with schools, students, and their families.

The main downside of working with NYJTL is their human resources department/management in general. The people at the top are totally disconnected from the every day work of running an afterschool program, and there are not enough program managers to effectively handle all of the issues that arise in the school setting. If you do not feel supported by the big guys who are quite literally just there to do everything to support you and help you succeed as a community leader, it is very frustrating and extremely draining to constantly have to deliver “I don’t know, I’m sorry“ to school administrators, parents, and, worst of all, the students themselves when there is a problem but you need guidance from someone above you in order to solve it.

Another thing about NYJTL is that they do not pay their full-time staff very well, or give benefits to any staff who works under 35 hours per week (aka MOST staff). There is a weird vibe to the company culture; there are some people who have been working there for almost a decade who act like they own the company, but they are far and few between and mostly you just get the sense that the company has a VERY high turnover rate. Very damaging to staff morale long term.

Looking back on my time with this organization, there is so much that I enjoyed and appreciated about my time there. I stayed longer than a lot of my fellow staff, there is definitely a high turnover rate but that’s not always the fault of the company. Most of the staff that don’t last are not really prepared for the job. There is little to no training before you start although there are paid training opportunities that are available over time usually in the mornings but you do have to travel to get there and not all the trainings were useful for the classroom. Every site is different so I’m speaking only from my own experience - sometimes there can be tensions and conflict between staff, but for the most part it can be avoided if you are focused on the job. The kids were amazing in my opinion but some staff members would get frustrated often with a few of them - you have to be prepared for the kids to test their limits with you especially when you’re working with young teens. There have also seems to have been some mismanagement of funds with the higher ups. I was a lower level staff so I don’t know the details but we had a situation where our site was promised a field trip that all the kids were excited for only to have it canceled last minute because there was no money. So there were definitely pros and cons, but I’m happy to have worked there. Overall this is a great opportunity if you really love working with kids but you have to have patience and a positive attitude. 

This job requires you to want to invest in children. The overall benefit from this job is the development of the children that you work with. Investing your time and energy as efficiently and effectively as possible and demanding that from the staff that you work with is one way to be successful in this position. You will slowly but surely see the difference you make as the children and school day staff open up to you more. The idea that "it takes a village to raise a child" is overwhelming apparent working within this position. You become another vessel that influences the youth as they are finding themselves, and preparing to go out in the world. 
You use your time in hopes of sparking a light inside that will hopefully provide the motivation they need after they graduate high  school. We have students that come back just to inform us how they are doing post-graduate endeavors. That is the most rewarding part, for students to return and want you to still be apart of their process.

Assisting Children with homework. School provide children with supper. there is a Activity Specialist for activities such as Nutrition, Dance, Arts, Performing Arts, Tennis and Character Development. Grades from k-5 are all assigned group leaders. The Groups Leaders supervises the children during their activity and also helps the Activity Specialist with their daily activity. The Group leader is also in charge of transporting the students to their daily activities. there are two activity per day. The Co-workers all have very different personalities but were always able to come together to plan activities, trips and also assist each other when help is needed. The hardest part of the job would be able to communicate with the children during their activities and also keeping the children amused. The most enjoyable part of the job is communicating with the children and seeing how each of their personality are different. Many of them showed i was appreciated to be their everyday.

NYJTL is an amazing agency to work at. The upper management make everyone feel valued and provide with many training opportunities to advance one’s skills. I am an assistant site director. The hourly pay for my position is good but everyone at the site with the exception of the director is a part time employee so it does affect the paycheck. On the other hand though, we are mandated to work full time on OST days, spring break, and summers. That’s when everyone’s check picks up. They do pay time and half of overtime ours and because we get paid in the 15th and the 30th, when we are working full time (summer) it is easy to surpass the 80 so anything after that benefits you greatly! I enjoy the workshops and training and want to stick around because the growth opportunities are available for those who are working on advancing their education. Director’s position, here I come!!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Working with the students and developing my lesson plans for the week. Developing educational context to enrich but entertain as well.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working with children in grade K-5 can be challenging at times because they are either curious or testing boundaries between this age group 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Overall pretty laid back the Program Director was very pleasant 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
It was straight forward. I arrived to my classroom, students arrived by 3:10pm. Snacks were distributed, followed by an internal weather check, followed by a STEM related lesson, and finally, recreation (sports, games, activities)

I am a Program Site Director at NYJTL. As an organization I commend it for its work with children. The issues lay in hiring qualified line staff to carry out their assignments appropriately. My personal Program manager was not great at all! So pray you get assigned to a good PM if you accept a Program Director position. The culture of the agency needs much improvement, there are many SHADEY administrators who claim they are there if you need asistance but refer you to others who don't know, won't share, or explain so poorly that often you are like "What the FUDGE!!!" If you can hang with the game, kiss Principals backsides to assure your program is not put out of the school, you can hang.

My day starts at about 2:30, the kids are dismissed from their classrooms , where we pick them up . We then assist with homework, provide supper, and the kids are involved in daily activities such as Dance, Theatre, Tennis, and Nutrition and Development. I've worked with kids previously so i easily got adjusted to the swing of things. My co-workers and i have a good relationship we all work together, and come up with ideas to try and make it a after-school programs the children love coming to. The most enjoyable part of my job is getting to speak with the kids, hearing what they have to say, and just being a role model to these young children.

Staff was disrespectful and had cliques like we were in high school. HR deals with situations poorly told me they would help me deal with a situation personally and then ended up contacting my site. My site supervisors retaliated against me and made remarks that were directly towards me because I reported them for poor structure and having kids do nothing the entirety of the after school program that they’re receiving money for. Poor kids are sat from 5-6 doing nothing until their parents get there. Staff can be rough with the kids and don’t have a pasión for teaching. 


There are stressful days working with kids. I learned how to work in difficult situations and come with different lessons to teach 20 or more kids. The management can be unprofessional and unorganized, doing things last minute and lack of communication. Co-workers are fine sometimes can be unprofessional. The hardest part of the job is keeping the kids engaged and well behaved especially when we are short staff. The most enjoyable part of the job is to t see the kids happy and when things are properly organized.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
School program staff 96 salaries reported	$22.73 per hour
Site director 12 salaries reported	$24.58 per hour
Group leader 7 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour
Activity specialist 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Program director 12 salaries reported	$63,933 per year

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