Pros
Overall the company treats their employees fairly and politely. Going home because you or your kid is sick, using you PTO, or running out to run an errand doesn't raise any eyebrows and is encouraged. The people you work with (department depending) are the best part of working here: they are generally polite, kind, and caring for each other. Birthday parties and baby showers are always happening. The company has regular holiday events with free food and there's a nice staff appreciation gift every year. With a go-getter attitude and some dumb luck, you can use this company as a jumping off point for a better somewhere else. Being well liked gets you a lot further than education or experience. Getting yourself into the right title and having a supervisor that cares a little bit about professional development and you can do a lot to boost your resume.
Cons
I will preface this by saying that because this company is so large complicated (over a dozen different companies owned by one family), culture can vary from company to company and department to department. I implore anyone reading this to look at the reviews for the schools this company runs (Opportunities for Learning, Options for Youth, Pathways In Education). During my time here I personally suffered and witnessed repeated harassment (sexual and non sexual) and extreme unprofessionalism. Most concerning were comments made about the races and socio-economic status of the same student population this school serves.. HR here is weak and ineffective- we were actually told that reports to the anonymous tip line can’t be investigated because they were anonymous. In fact, they told supervisors that employees were calling into the tip line about them. This company has a massive leadership problem in the instructional programs area. The lack of vision and no experience in vision implementation creates an unstable education program that hurts all involved with it. With a large about of their program dedicated to independent study, one would think their curriculum and the instructional departments would be solid. But in the last few years (less than 5), curriculum has have 4 major leadership changes with countless visions that never got off the ground because of their lack of experience and poor leadership. Working your way up the chain is every more changes and questionable choices, with so many resignation/firings many rarely bother to learn their names and titles anymore. It’s a revolving door of people who gain favor with the C-level staff with big talk, then when their inadequacies become apparent they either bail or are removed. Upon my exit there was a massive leadership reorganization to deal with the changing laws in California regarding charter school management. This was the 2nd period of major instability I dealt with when working there. Changing leadership comes with a consistent swing of massive hiring and firing. I’ve watched the curriculum department get built up based on someone’s vision, then once that vision is scrapped all the employees are scrapped. This has happened twice in a 2 year span. Anything lower than a manager has no value to anyone and people are brought on under false pretenses. There is always a sense that things are not on the up-and-up regarding business practices. I wouldn’t say what I witnessed was outright fraud, but many practices and programs had questionable intentions I was uncomfortable with. As an educational institution, they should hold a higher standard for themselves. Not to mention they have had legal issues with the state regarding finances (look for a LA Times article from 2006).
