Georgia Cyber Academy Reviews

Pros

Teacher support. Wise allotment of funds Excellent administration

Cons

Lack of student/family accountability for student educational progress

Pros

Working from home is great because you can do simple things like laundry during lunch, be home when your kids get off the bus, throw something together to eat between classes, etc. You can also save money on commuting and classroom supplies. The people that work in grades k-2 are all wonderful to work with.

Cons

There are definitely some challenges, though. Teachers and students are spending ALL day in class and both groups are always burned out. Teachers don't get a lot of time to plan because they are given many tasks and meetings to attend instead of being able to spend that time actually focusing on planning activities and lessons to help students. GCA would be perfect if classes were cut back a little bit and fewer administrative tasks/meetings were expected of teachers. Most of the teachers I work with spend at least a few EXTRA hours of their time throughout the week working. I'm sure you could get by working the minimum hours if you didn't care about your students, but most teachers want to do right by their students so they spend work time on "required tasks" and then their own personal time planning for students.

Pros

Opportunity to work from home. This is a full-time job and not a side or part-time position. Great dedicated teachers and staff - some of the best I have ever worked with.

Cons

For a teaching job, this is quite an administrative-heavy position.

Pros

you work at home, you have a wide access to teaching resources. There is a collaborative environment that is very helpful. Colleagues have built a community of support

Cons

You are a number, and you are not valued. They will lie about giving bonuses and raises-expect neither, nothing is guaranteed. They will lure to into a contract swearing their discretionary bonus makes up for their low salary ranges, but it doesn't, and some years you will get a 3% bonus, when they offered you 10%. Your peers will present your own ideas and work to you in PLCs. Management will ignore you unless you are in their clique. The clique behavior is new, and has come with the new leadership. They do not care about you- don't have a chronic illness, become sick, need bereavement or even get the flu. You will be guilted for being a person, and not just a teacher. They will hold your job security over your head and make you work even if your parent just died and they have retrieved the body yet. Prepare to be micromanaged and written up for logging in 1 minute late, even if the late log in is due to their crappy Jigsaw system. I'm NOT being facetious. Diversity is a joke because white is always right; otherwise you are tokenized. There is no upward movement if you are not a favorite. Expect to be disrespected. There is negatoive work life balance: they give you tones of regular work, assume you have too much time and then add busy work.

Pros

Great co-workers Benefits Work from Home Great Hours

Cons

Working for a team that is made up of family members and friends. Work output isn’t as valued as the relationships. Lack of common guidance on job duties and tasks from manager to manager. Lack of communication between departments

Pros

I get way more 1 on 1 time with my students than I ever did in a physical classroom. The kids and parents are great!!! All the teachers, leads, coaches, and admin work together to help each other. We have zoom chat groups that include all teachers of one grade, one subject; one that has all teachers in 3 - 5 math and our multi-subject team teachers. These groups are FANTASTIC because when 1 teacher has a problem then they can put it in any of the groups and someone in there is going to know how to solve that problem - so you are accessing 30 or more teachers for help. We have Community Days!!! I love these! We go to a designated site close to where we live - usually a 45 min drive for me - and have a blast! We get to physically spend 1 on 1 time with our students and parents; play games, do arts and crafts, dance, get time with animal friends and learn new things about with their handlers (reptile,) and so much more!! This is my 18th year in teaching (15 at different physical schools and 3 at GCA) so I have experienced many different types of settings. GCA is by far the best!!!!

Cons

I don't really consider this to be a Con but some teachers do. There is a LOT you have to learn about different platforms when you are just coming in but teachers are going to have to learn new things when they go to any new job. With GCA there is a plethora of help so it's not long before your comfortable with what you are doing.

Pros

It is a virtual school.

Cons

Georgia Cyber is trying hard to be a brick and mortar school in a virtual setting. They are over tasking their teachers while having multiple administrative positions that are more for show. Teachers and students are leaving rapidly with high turnover. The school is doing intense cutbacks as well even getting rid of senior employees to save on money.

Pros

Love working at GCA—they really value their family!

Cons

I can’t think of any cons, except maybe the lower charter school pay?

Pros

Flexibility Fulfilling Paid well Remote--mostly Work from home

Cons

Face to face testing in the spring Admin wastes lots of money on over the top professional development Admin lies about retirement Lots of meetings Admin lies about bonuses

Pros

Wonderful people- I have made some of my best friends here. So many teachers are helpful and are always willing to share ideas and content. Most direct admin are great I’ve stayed because I thought each year would get better, especially over the last 4 years, but every year more rules are put in place and teachers are trusted less and less (even though we’re all certified and grown ups) I have taught some amazing students and overall families are great.

Cons

When i started the school was so different and i agree changes were needed and great changes were made but now this school is like every other. 7 period day for all grade levels, 2 plannings however one is always taken for a pointless meeting. No flexibility for families or teachers. Students can earn flexibility; however they’ve started developing ways to force flex kids to come to class. Content planning is monitored in zoom when we use zoom daily to talk content but that’s not good enough in their eyes. 3-4meetings a week outside daily teaching tasks, numerous platforms expected to be used, expectations are constantly changing, VERY top heavy, contract hours are 8-4, however there is an expectation for weekly meetings to go past 4. Jigsaw is a pain for teachers/students. PDs are long and often could have been an e-mail, the micromanaging. Yes it’s remote, but learn to love your office because you’re required to be on camera during all classes and meetings.