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Element Education

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Element Education Reviews

1.9

0% would recommend to a friend

(10 total reviews)
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Terri Novacek

11% approve of CEO

8% positive business outlook

Reviews by job title

10 reviews
1.0
26 Oct 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Truly, there are none to speak of.

Cons

All employees are at-will and at the discretion of the CEO/Superintendent, Terri Novacek. Disagree with her, and risk losing your job. I was terminated after making a report to child protective services after my own child alleged sexual assault in her TK classroom at Community Montessori (one of Element’s two schools). The teachers, administrators, and support staff are all beholden to her will. Working at Element entails abandoning your moral compass, disregarding or manipulating Ed Code, a toxic work environment, deplorable health benefits, no consideration for staff ADA accommodations, and rock bottom pay per industry standards.

1.0
2 Oct 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The students were great to work with, and the teaching staff were excellent.

Cons

If you're a teacher, do yourself a favor and don't work here because they treat teachers as though they are expendable. Also, the general working environment is poor compared with traditional or private schools. You don't even get your own desk, you usually sit in the kids seats or desks because the school is too cheap, yet the administration and management enjoy a far better work environment with a lot more stability. The work environment is dark, dungy, smells stuffy, isn't very clean, and is very uncomfortable. You'll be bombarded with constant and repetitive meetings and training covering the same stuff till no end, and you'll be asked to drive everywhere. If you dare disagree with anything management says or does, or so much as make the wrong face, you'll get terminated without warning, and management will almost always refuse to give you a reference or reference letter. For students this is also hard because they are kids and don't understand why there is always a new teacher. Sometimes the kids know, and out of intimidation, teachers have to try to downplay the obvious. Lastly, the pay is awful compared with traditional schools and even many private schools. Unless you want to ruin your career, don't care about long term employment, and don't mind being cheap, expendable labor, don't waste your skill and talent here. A traditional school, or even a private school will be a better and less toxic place to work any day. Even a corporate job is more stable and less toxic. A good work place builds you up, and doesn't bully you with constant termination threats. If you fall victim to one of their surprise terminations, it may be very hard to recover. The lucky ones quit before it happens to them.

1.0
10 Dec 2024

Beware

Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The "four-day" work-week (noninstructional day on Friday).

Cons

Where to begin? * Rude, unspportive upper-management--will barely observe you or give applicable feedback and will make snap-shot judgments even though they chose to hire you * Don't actually need help--they don't like that and will use it against you despite the open-door policy nonsense that they push. * Exaggerates about benefits/ability to get "montessori credential" Will make a big deal of it when they hire you but will say absolutely nothing about it the moment you begin your position. *Gives you no Montessori training--presents themselves as an accredited facility to parents and the community but has several nonaccredited teachers--they will give you no training/a mentor that works 30 miles from you/no books or programs about Montessori pedagogy but will push it and reprimand you when you don't properly apply it. * PTO "accrual" program--will punish, badmouth, and terminate employment over employees taking "excessive" PTO even if it is a medical emergency. * Excessive meetings and paperwork * Excessive policies that have minimal outcomes and micromanaging employees/reprimanding them in front of students and other staff. *Outlines your workday and their expectations during orientation that they claim they are perfectly fine with "your work day ends at 4" but when you have boundaries and don't work past those hours they claim you aren't doing enough and guilt trip/blame you.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 10 Reviews

Glassdoor has 10 Element Education reviews submitted anonymously by Element Education employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Element Education is right for you.