Pros
Curriculum, co-workers & sweet children
Cons
The way that some managers abuse their authority by the way we are treated and talked to is degrading and demeaning. I have never worked in a place where this kind of treatment is acceptable, but here it must be ok because it happens every day! One particular manager is the worst, when you ask her any kind of question about your schedule, break etc. you are given an aggressive answer and a nasty attitude. She has also been overheard calling the teachers idiots and heifers. I would rather poke my eye out with scissors than to deal with this manager. Several of my other teachers have brought this kind of behavior to the attention to the upper management in the building, but as usual it falls upon deaf ears, and they always come up with an excuse for her behavior. If I were to talk to the children or parents in that kind of manner I would be fired. This manager is also responsible for making the schedule. Common sense would tell you that if you let a teacher off for the day that you should replace them with another teacher to cover their shift. This is so not the case here, often teachers are given the time off without replacing them on the schedule with another teacher. The enrollment is still the same so that leaves the morning managers struggling to find a solution to the teacher shortage. Most of the time children are bumped several times just to meet ratios. Another manager who came out of the classroom to become a manager is just as bad, she goes around barking orders at us. Why? I don't know because my program has nothing to do with the program that she tries to operate. She is also the least professional of all the managers with her too tight clothes, faded black jeans and neck tattoo that is visible every day. We do have some managers that really care about the children and teachers. One manager is always treating us to special goodies to show us appreciation. She is there to listen to us vent and to help when needed. We know that going to the upper management for this is impossible because how can you go to them with a problem when they are the problem? Let's not forget to mention the teachers that are the favorites, or as we like to call them the "untouchables". They often roam the halls and hang out in the office doing nothing. Its ridiculous how they can get away with doing nothing, one of them claims to be an assistant manager (is there such a thing)? This one hangs out with some of the managers after hours and often brags about how they go out drinking and how she likes to get information from these managers about the center secrets. She knows everything that goes on in the center, and even brags about how duh-nail is showing her how to use the CLA software program so that when a certain number of enrollments are met she can be the next manager hired. This is just the tip of the iceberg that goes on daily here. You want to come to work and do the best for your children that you are capable of doing, but somehow that feeling doesn't last long until you feel beaten down and broken by some of the members of the management. There have been such a high turnover rate and some really great teachers have left because of how they were treated.
