Posted by Learned my Lesson. on 3/16/09

I know that there are a lot of people looking for jobs
right now, so I wanted to pass on a little advice from
someone who has experienced the worst teaching job in his
career. Be VERY careful about signing up to teach at a
charter school, especially if it is your first year of
teaching. Charter schools give "at-will" contracts. This
means the board can terminate your employment at ANY time.
(You can also leave, but this looks very bad on a resume -
future principals do not like to see that you resigned
from any position. Also, most teachers tend to be very
sacrificial and end up staying for the sake of their
students in spite of the horrible working conditions.) The
board doesn't even have to give you a reason for not
extending a contact...If you disagree with the
director/principal - even for the right reasons - they
will "let you go". You have NO recourse. I feel SO sorry
for those first year teachers, who end up doing the job of
2 to 3 teachers, hoping to build up their
resume/recommendations, only to be dismissed when they
decide that they are not able to do one more thing/wear
yet another hat. They are then accused of not being
a "team player" and cast away..SO sad!:-(

I realize that there are some wonderful charter schools
who support their teachers and strive for excellence. But,
please, before you sign any letter of intent, look into
the history of the school...What is the staff turnover
rate? This might be a sign of trouble...This may tell you
whether or not you want to waste ten months (or more) of
your life at a thankless job.

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