preschool teacher

education director

teacher

school teacher

administrative coordinator

NY Kids Club

I had so much fun at the orientation and thought I had finally found a good company to work for. I was SO wrong. DO NOT LET THE ORIENTATION FOOL YOU. The company does NOT care about their employees at all and management is quick to cut hours that the employees are scheduled to work OR they try to add on hours that employees are not scheduled to work constantly. This is all because they care more about what the parents want even if the kids are not scheduled to come in for those hours/days. Since I’ve started here a few months ago, not only am I in a position I didn’t even apply for, but I have not had a set schedule. It keeps changing, so I’m left unsure what the next week will look like for me. As others have said, their main concern is money. The management sees how stressed the teachers are in the classrooms, and they just add on more criticisms which leads to teachers caring less because they feel defeated and unappreciated despite their efforts. Thus, this leads to the constantly high turnover rates. Of course I’m not going to be perfect at a position I didn’t even apply for - I’m supposed to be doing a different position! Also, teachers are not trained for most of the jobs and lessons they are teaching these poor children...especially in the gym. The curriculum seems like a good idea, but some lessons/activities can be repetitive which leads to bored children and wasted materials. Additionally, the curriculum sometimes contains so many activities and so much information, it’s impossible to get to it all. It seems that the people writing the curriculum don’t see that since they’re not in the classroom. I just started, and I’m already looking for a new job. Save your time and apply somewhere else.

My motive behind leaving NYKC was due to management’s misaligned values. I knew I wanted to teach, and I had a passion to support ALL learners. NYKC is far from equipped to work with students who require extensive support (i.e. students on the spectrum). I made multiple attempts to request support for students who had certain needs I was unable to meet in a room of 15-18 kids. Every request was ignored because they do not have the resources to support these subpopulations. The preschool curriculum is subpar and will not help a prospective lead teacher grow. 
While I can appreciate their effort to curate an all inclusive program, any good school will ensure you have the right supports to provide an equitable learning environment so you don’t burn out so easily as a teacher. If you are an educator with a passion to teach all learners, you need a strong administration to back you up. The administration of NYKC unfortunately prioritizes money over equity. It is insulting to charge families sky high prices for preschool and enrichment programs while paying the teachers a barely livable wage. You may do well if you are assigned to only teach the after school program. But you will be expected to work throughout the year, even on days when DOE schools are closed (i.e. MLK day, Election Day, Veteran’s Day, Winter/Spring breaks etc). It broke my heart to leave my students, but I couldn’t sacrifice my sanity for a company that didn’t have the same educational values as me. 

At NY Kids Club, I have been given more opportunities to develop as a manager, a teacher, a salesperson and a leader. I have never felt more inspired to chase after a goal or to improve myself professionally as I have been here. All of this is, in large part, to Dakota Derryberry. Having the opportunity to work alongside him the past year and watch as he built a client base, new leads, and more importantly- a community- from the ground up was awe-inspiring. He leads our team with kindness, but is always honest about your goals and where you want to go. He is constantly striving to help his employees reach their full potential and even challenges them to go a step further. 

Over the past year of working at NY Kids Club, I have learned so much about what it means to care for and enrich the lives of children. I didn't see myself going into education, but I can't imagine working anywhere else. The company is growing at a rapid pace, which has allowed me to work my way up in a short time. I have worked with Dakota to create a game plan for myself to rise within the company and I have a career path lined up for myself, just two months after graduating from graduate school. 

This company has something for everyone- flexibility, stability, a new family of friends, and the opportunity to grow. It is truly a special place to work and I feel lucky to be a part of it.

Working as a lead teacher at the New York Kids Club was exhausting to say the least. Teachers work from 8:30am to 6:00pm every day teaching back to back classes with little time to prep. Teachers are required to teach classes such gymnastics, dance, and theater with little to no training.  Leadership offers little support to teachers and is primarily focused on sales. Management at each location is also heavily focused on sales as they are offered incentives. Education is secondary, and the opinions of well-seasoned educators are not valued. 
They offer their salaried employees health insurance, but the insurance they offer covers virtually nothing (you will also be paying $200 out of each paycheck to receive this insurance). Raises have been placed on hold due to the pandemic. Teachers have also burdened with the added responsibilities of keeping students safe and healthy but are not recognized or compensated for these additional responsibilities. This is a great opportunity for recent grads looking for experience or students working part-time. However, it is not an ideal position for professional teachers to advance their teaching careers.  


I worked here for about 8 months. It was a okay job to just get by. They don’t Offer you full time but definitely offer full time to people that’s not on the shift board. If you get what I’m saying. Also on the shift board in my location in Long Island queens the director  will often forget to put down the hours I worked for the new semester. So if you don’t check constantly you’ll lose money pay day & wont get it until the next two week. Some of the workers are rude not friendly or energetic as I thought they would be for working with kids. The energy in there to me seem negative. I wasnt happy there but if you need to make a little cash it’s okay I guess . And at my location they would host Pj parties but leave a crazy mess behind & mind you, you only have 6 hours to clean that place up spotless anything you do past the 6 hours  they do not pay you for. Also when I was there the director threw his own personal party & left a big mess for me as well. Beer & liquor everywhere in a kids place. He was there all the way til 9:30pm only left with 3 hours to pick up the entire place.

Well when I was working here I had a lot to do it was a two floor school 4 classroom one gym big lobby’s at least at the last one I was at. The hardest part was being careful you don’t fall from a ladder that you used in a gym that had carpet the ladder was unstable so I had to ask for another person to work with me to dust off pipes that where high to hold the ladder for my safety since I work at night and by myself. The most enjoyable part was the pj party seeing all the kids happy and the parents are great so nice. It wasn’t bad but supervisors wasn’t good at communicating and he world keep switching me all over the place which is one reason why I decided to leave it just stress me out too much and he wanted the job done in 4 hours which for one person especially in a big school is way too much 

This place is TOXIC. Upper management/leadership is so shady and dishonest it's actually ridiculous. There are a few gems in the company but overall, trust NO ONE. Have to fight for your deserved pay and when you don't get it, they make up different excuses to different teachers/staff. They do not care about anything other than making money. They hire directors that know nothing about eduction and turn the workplace culture into a toxic environment. Even when staff and parents start complaining, they do not care. It's sad because there are some amazing teachers at kids club who could run the school without help. We love the children and the families but upper management makes it impossible to want to stay.  Also, there is built in PTO and you get sick days/floating holidays. However, it's unfair that teachers have to take unpaid time off otherwise. 

This job is great if you love kids and want to teach. It's a good starter position. Pretty entry level if you learn the curriculum. One criticism I have is that management has started to switch things around. It no longer feels like a school, it now feels like a business. Management has started to remove teachers if we don't have enough kids in the class, which means less hours. A lot of people at my location lost tons of hours. Also, you only get paid for the classes you teach, meaning: if you come in from 8:30am to 5:30, that's a total of 9 hours. Let's say you teach 6 classes, you only get 6hrs worth of pay even though you've been there for 9 hours doing other important things. This is something managment should have told people at orientation. Many people are coming in thinking they are going to get full time hours and they're not. There is such a high turnover rate with workers and students.

The executive leadership is very friendly (definitely people to go grab a drink with) but they offer very little on-the-job support needed for to be successful. I do not necessarily blame them, this company has these "one man departments" plus they wear a lot of hats. So these individuals have a lot on their plate and many requests and issues fall through the cracks. This company's main goal is profit, period. They try to hide it, but It's pretty easy to see through it. Especially the way the 2020 quarantine was handled. This badly hurt the reputation of this company and the thus making the Center Director's job harder as their main responsibility is to generate sales.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Everybody was always nice at me. They treated me with kindness all the time. I remember kids saying “ good morning Mr carlos.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Working around children is a bit stressful, so you have to be very careful, especially with the cleaning fluids you use in the bathrooms.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Exelent ,teachers and parents of the school’s at Nykids’s were always respectful. And mornings when kids arrived and afternoon when parents came to pick up theirs kids.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Working for NYKIDS was a great experience for me I would say every day was different.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Preschool teacher 8 salaries reported	$74,063 per year
Education director 2 salaries reported	$83,750 per year
Teacher 4 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
School teacher 14 salaries reported	$20.29 per hour
Administrative coordinator 104 salaries reported	$18.00 per hour

Working at NY Kids Club: Company Overview and Reviews

NY Kids Club

NY Kids Club Ratings

Popular jobs at NY Kids Club

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected