Back in 2021 I was offered a job as a teacher's aide in a charter school for children with autism. My first big red flag was during the interview. The person who opened the school had people coming to her office during the interview to ask her questions. She would then mute her microphone to talk to the person, then unmute to rejoin the interview. She should have told the secretary or whoever that she had an interview and to not let people in. Second, during this same interview she was on her phone. At the end of the interview the other person interviewing me asked if she had any other questions for me. There was about a 5 second pause before she said “sorry, I got a text”. Now, if this person said at the beginning of the interview that she had an ongoing family emergency and therefore might need to check her phone, I would completely understand that. But, no disclaimer was given so to me the entire interview seemed highly unprofessional
Next was the onboarding process. I have never had to go through a training for a school. Let me rephrase that actually. I have had training once but it was with the whole staff, it wasn't an entire day of videos. Then came the paperwork. It stated that if I did not give them something ridiculous like a 21 day notice that I would forfeit $500 from my last paycheck. That really rubbed me the wrong way
Lastly, the classrooms. There were many issues I had, but the biggest ones were the cameras. Every classroom had a camera. I understand wanting them for the students, especially if there are violent students. After talking to the two other staff members in the classroom, I learned that they were also used for spying on staff. They informed me that there have been people who have gotten in trouble for being caught on camera for using their phones. I understand not wanting staff on their phones as that means they are not engaged with students, but using the cameras to spy on teachers? That doesn't sit right with me
Oh, and another thing. Students and staff were required to wear masks during the day, except for lunch. No one ate in the lunch room because of COVID so everyone ate in their own classrooms. WHAT IS THE POINT OF WEARING MASKS IN THE CLASSROOM IF WE'RE GONNA TAKE THEM OFF DURING LUNCH ANYWAY?
My final straw was when they asked me to pay for my own background checks. That may or may not be considered normal for some, and I didn't mind, but after all this I just refused to. They said I couldn't come back to work until I did, which would mean I was quitting. I said no, I am not quitting, I am just refusing to do this. So, if they fire me they will not keep the $500 (which would be most of my paycheck because I was not there very long)
They did pay me, but they took some money out. It wasn't the full $500, it was something like $150 so I figured it wasn't worth fighting over. I've considered leaving a negative review on Google but I wouldn't put it past them to sue me for defamation. The funny thing too, one of the current employees (secretary or HR or someone) left a 5 star review there too. I think that should be illegal
I've read stories on here before and I thought I'd share one with all of you