Center City PCS Reviews

Pros

Supportive administration, access to valuable resources

Cons

Never ending work, higher ups suggesting things but haven't taught in a classroom to understand the reality of teaching

Pros

The kids are great and most of the staff is cool

Cons

Leadership sucks, they are very big on favoritisms and if you’re not lucky enough to be a favorite you better watch your back.

Pros

community building, multiple requests for feedback, salary increases year over year in an effort to remain competitive, work-life balance

Cons

many people have been here for years and do not like change, can make it hard to move beyond "traditional" school.

Pros

The kids are an absolute delight, schedule is nice

Cons

Super biased, lots of nepotism and unprofessionalism among admin, tacky to say the least. Inconsistent expectations

Pros

Admin is great, staff is supportive

Cons

Never ending tasks, can be very overwhelming for 1st time teachers

Pros

Great pay Opportunities for leadership Can leave early 1 Wednesday a month

Cons

Concerned about test scores over students and teachers Out of touch with the community

Pros

So many wonderful teachers, aides, and service specific educators work the halls here. There are a lot of people with passion, ideas, and technical classroom knowhow who represent the very best in education. I found the salary and benefits, including time off, to be more than fair. There is room and flexibility at many of the campuses to bring a pet project of yours to life for students and the school or to hop on to someone else's project. If you reach out laterally for help, you will almost always find support from within your building, and occasionally across buildings. This is a place to cut your teeth, and you will walk away from Center City with some excellent hard skills you will be able to apply anywhere. The students, for the most part, are a joy (provided you've set and maintained good expectations and routines).

Cons

Leadership at Center City tends to be weak, directionless, or Type A belligerent (the experience differs depending on the campus). Central Office too often makes sweeping changes that negatively impacts teachers, students, and directionality. Rather than reflecting on and actively listening to teacher and staff concerns, particularly with regards to poorly informed decisions made by leaders at schools or CO, it becomes a "circle the wagons" moment that ultimately results in leaders getting what they want while staff who challenge them feel marginalized, attacked, or under intense scrutiny because you had the temerity to raise legitimate concerns up the chain. Among leaders at CO and at schools, there's often a fealty of belief in making big changes without consulting those most affected nor deeply considering how to make new changes work in practice. If you aren't in leadership, expect to have your input solicited and then mostly ignored for anything other than the smallest of changes. Expect this to have a major impact on your work life and mental well being.

Pros

There are a lot of smart, committed people working for students. There's a lot of opportunity to innovate.

Cons

The strategic vision and brand of the school isn't always clear. Also, since the schools are small there aren't always opportunities for advancement.