special education teacher

paraprofessional

speech language pathologist

education specialist

family support provider

Port-View-Preparatory

I have a love-hate relationship with Portview. You'll learn a lot about ABA when you work here, partially because they tend to just "throw you to the wolves" as the saying goes. When I first started, they barely had much support from behavior team, the people who helped managed the bigger kids weren't even on that team. They've hired more hands since then which somewhat helps, but better training would be most beneficial. With that said, it's pretty common for people to get injured here. 

It's almost impossible not to fall in love with the students here. The staff is also amazing. You end up in a family-like environment where everyone is supportive and understanding of each other. Burnout rate is high. I wish there were more perks to help boost company morale. They do monthly contests in the break room but it doesn't make up for the fact some staff are severely underpaid. Occasional free lunches would be cool, or even discounts to a local gym considering you need to be fairly in shape to keep up with some of these kids.

Admin tends to play favorites here but I've also witnessed favorites get dropped like they weren't valuable players. The yearly review process is severely flawed. It relies heavily on data from your last student instead of a cumulative score from all of those you worked with that year. So, if your student was new with no goals or hardly in school, it'll lower your score and jeopardize your raise. Some admin are a joke as well in terms of down playing the value of their CSPs. They'll initially claim you're important considering you know your student best because you're with them the most but will then tell teachers not to get input from you with goal setting because you don't know what you're talking about. This then leads to impractical goals your student gets left with. 

This place has so much potential. And you'd really want to love it. They'refairly new so hopefully as time passes they get it together.

They don’t care about there staff. They have you call the attendance line the day before to let them know you will be absent. Even if you do that and have a legit reason in example being exposed to Covid you are written up for missing work Even after stating you were exposed & don’t feel comfortable returning until your test results come back. They tell you that write up won’t be held against you but it is. Not only are you highly underpaid here for ALL of the work you do but they just simply don’t care about you as a staff. They are so short staffed people are always leaving they wonder why. They are a problem. During hiring you sign a waiver to sign off your lunches bc you are “paid for it” but you’re also told you can eat when your student is having their snack/lunch which isn’t always the case. You are also promised two 10’s and sometimes you’re lucky if you can get to one. Sometimes you can go 6-7 hours into your shift without a break. I know a lot of people who also even have it hard being able to use the restroom breaks should be longer than 10 minutes but they’re not. They praise having staff support which again isn’t the case. When asking for a break or to use the restroom it feels like an inconvenience . I’ve never worked at a place so toxic & inconsiderate before and where it’s miserable to work there due to lack of support with the breaks we are promised. All though I’ve already mentioned being under paid let me tell you there are better school districts w/half the work you do here better pay and support. Don’t forget they also don’t care about Covid if you’re exposed to it and call out because you want to be tested for your safety and everyone else’s at the school you’ll be written up. I guess you can’t even call out if you have a family emergency & do the right thing by calling the night before. Good luck to anyone who is looking to be hired here NOT WORTH IT! You’ll quickly learn on your own if hired. 

I was previously employed at PVP. Unfortunately I got sick a lot while working there. Strep throat, common colds and bronchitis. Once I ran out of sick days, they took from my earned PTO. Once that ran out, I started getting write ups for missing work because I was sick. I had doctor's notes and forms that showed I was in the er but it was still not excused. HR was not understanding or sympathetic. The tone was always, " those are the rules, too bad." Staff would constantly get hurt on the job and if they left to get whatever injury looked at, sick hours would be taken away from them. Requesting time off was always a pain and most times wouldn't get approved. It always felt as if Management was better than the staff on the floor with the kids all day. There was no open communication or understanding. 

The kids were wonderful! The staff and support from the staff was amazing. I could not have stayed there as long as I did without them. I physically could not have gone through a lot of days there without my coworkers. I made a lot of wonderful long time friends. I learned more than any school could've ever taught me which I'm thankful for but I would never go back nor recommend this job to anyone.

I was happy with my pay. However, the way they decide whether you get a raise or not is completely unfair. Many of my coworkers would get written up for something silly and it would severely dimish their opportunity for an annual raise. 

Turnover rate was insane. Some days you would find managers or teachers for a kids 1:1 because they were so understaffed. Hiring team needs to do a better job to be fully transparent with new employees. Inform possible employess that if they can not handle extremely severe and sometimes dangerous behaviors, then they should not continue. 

When I first started at PVP I absolutely loved the place. Their policies and the way they treated their students aligned with my opinions and perspectives. After time went by, the realization started to set in that it wasn’t as good as it seemed. All employees are involved with drama that ultimately affects the way they work with the kiddos. Your coworkers will pretend to be your friends and talk about you behind your back. Management was not on the employees’ sides. They made many budget cuts and the school was filthy because they were too cheap to hire real janitors and expected the kids to do it as their goals. They do not care about employees feelings, and treat this as if it is a normal desk job when it is way more emotionally and physically draining than that. They do treat the kiddos great, but unfortunately they do not treat the employees great which ultimately leads to not the best service to the kiddos. They promise to give you breaks from tougher students and let you relax with calmer ones, but due to so many call offs and the horrible turnover rate it’s just not possible so you are left drained. Overall, I did love working there until I realized how they will take everything- emotionally and physically, from employees and not even have compassion when you are having a tough day.

After all if you know anything about PVP's vision statement where the main focus is on an individualized educational environment where the student is first and disability is second while staying true to the non-restraints philosophy when faced with challenging and sometimes extreme behaviors...IF you are able to stay true to this mission, you will find PVP is one of the most rewarding places to be.

A typical day at PVP is fast pace from the time students arrive on campus until students leave campus, but I enjoy it as it makes the time pass quickly.  There is never a dull moment at PVP.  The most enjoyable part of my job is the rapport and relationships you build with each student and staff members.

If I could change one thing about PVP, it would be to allow individuals (specifically CSPs) to be able to advance to ESS or CSS on the basis of their demonstrated abilities rather than having to show that in addition to taking more schooling (where in my experience college courses never really train you the way the on-the-job experience ever could).     


    

I've worked at Port View for over 3 years. I've learnt a lot over those years, and I realized a lot more after I left the company. 
Port View is a last resort for HOPE for a majority of their students. If the students can not find the accommodations at other schools, Port View will welcome those students with wide open arms. A lot of students have NEEDS that people in society will not take the time to meet. However Port View will do everything they can to meet those needs. Whether it has to do with behaviors, speech, occupational therapy, education, and even more needs. I'm not saying they do it perfectly, but I do remember them trying their best to meet the students' needs. The best times I had working at Port View were when I was focused on meeting my students' needs. However when I lost my focus of meeting my students' needs, my job performance hit rock bottom for a time. 

So whoever is thinking  of working at Port View, I highly recommend that you FOCUS on helping meet your students' needs, and remain team oriented. If you find yourself losing your vision and forgetting why you joined Port View, make sure you talk about it with someone you can trust. Communication is key. It isn't about you and your needs getting met... It's about your students' future and getting their needs met. 

My job is very rewarding! I greet everyone that attends or visits our campus. I see firsthand how this school positively impacts its students and families. I have worked here just over a year and have learned so much about autism, special needs, and I continue to learn more everyday. 
It is so great to work for a company who values their employees and encourages personal and professional growth. The staff here (including myself) are passionate about what we do. Administration is approachable, nice, and helpful. To me that is important! To have supervisors that I feel I can go to and get answers and help from is crucial to being happy where I work. I feel like every employee here is part of a large team that helps each other out each day. The most enjoyable part of the job is seeing the students happy and thriving at school. The hardest part of my job is not having enough hours in the day to get tasks completed. There is no micromanaging but at the same time, if an employee needs something there is someone from Administration that is willing to assist in any way. I love my job and am extremely happy to be employed here.

I've worked at PVP for several years now and have seen the highs and lows. If you love working with kids, want to grow in the field of SPED, or specifically want to become a teacher or BCBA there are a lot of opportunities for you. There are supervisor roles you can apply for after 90 days, and programs to help you become a teacher, BCBA, SLPA, or COTA, which I think is rare for a school. 

It's a busy campus, so sometimes people feel conflicted about talking to their supervisors or upper management about issues. But from what I've seen if you talk to them they actually listen and try to help you. It's just a matter of talking to someone. 

The CSP job is not easy, but they kids are awesome! And for the most part people are supportive and helpful all around.  The biggest downfall is sometimes the negative talk from other CSPs can feel louder than the positive and it makes the day longer or makes you doubt your positive experience. Personally, there is more positive than negative, but also no job is perfect. 

Portview's Mission is grand and noble. It probably is one of the best school's for the children that attend there. However, there is a huge problem. Portview is badly managed and staff are not trained how to handle the violent behaviors that occur daily. The "no restraint non seclusion" policy is a joke and a farce. Children are restrained and secluded at Portview whenever admin have no idea how to manage behaviors, which is often. The biggest lawsuit waiting to happen is that staff are thrown on students without any form of said "non restraint" training. Staff literally are forced to learn after being attacked. Owner and principal of the school is a phony tyrant who pretends he cares about employees input but doesn't care at all. He is a power-tripper who enjoys firing people as an ego boost. If parents saw the disgusting state the school is in and how there is no janitor they would be appalled. Maybe if admin focused on taking care of their employees they wouldn't be so tragically understaffed. The turnover rate at Portview is maybe a month. The fact that the school is run by people who blindly agree to everything the Principal demands is why it will never be great. He doesn't know what he's doing and no one is allowed to call him on it.

Terrible management. They don’t care about their CSP’s nor are appreciative of the hard work that’s put in day in and day out. They’ll make it seem like their door is always open to come in and talk but that’s not the case. As soon as you voice your opinion it’s almost a guarantee you’re the next one to be pushed out. Most workers don’t even make it to a year of employment there because of how bad things are. If you decide to leave the company to further your career, you won’t even get a thank you for the time you were there. At the end of the day it’s a small business they’ll cut corners to make ends meet at the expense of students and workers. Seems at time their main priority is to collect money for services from the district. Even if you don’t have training on a particular student they’ll still put you on them. Their sick time policy is laughable and good luck using your pto because they’ll come up with every excuse to not let you use it. No one feels comfortable going to HR. I can go on and on about how bad management is. Simply life is better once you decide to leave PVP.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Special education teacher 1 salary reported	$91,820 per year
Paraprofessional 12 salaries reported	$22.25 per hour
Speech language pathologist 3 salaries reported	$31.67 per hour
Education specialist 12 salaries reported	$92,444 per year
Family support provider 4 salaries reported	$18.25 per hour

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