Job Title: Head Teacher
Location: PA, NJ,TX,CA, USA
Submitted on: 31-Jan-04
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I had the opportunity to work for KinderCare for 13 years and in 4
different states (4 districts). I also worked as an acting director
from time to time. The hours can be long and changed at a moments
notice to accommodate state ratio requierments. At times you may be
requied to work 12.5 hour days, over time is usualy not paid, you will
be offered comp time and not at time and half it will be strait-
time. "It's for the children" Will be the answer if you complain, this
has not changed in 13 and threw 4 corporate changes in CEO's and
ownership. The salery can vary widely depending on their desperation.I
have seen Head/Lead Teachers paid as low as 7.00 an hour (southern
states)to 13 dollers an hour. The position requierments vary by state
requierments, most state requier a 2 year degree of any type. Salary is
ask to never be discussed and you are told you can be fired for a first
offence of discussing it, the reason being the unfairness of it.
Directors and Assistant Directors are usualy salary but can opt for
Hourly I have seen asst.directors paid as little as 8.00 and staff
making more. Often asst.directors are requied to run a classroom as
well as thier primary duties. This is very difficult even for the most
seasoned teacher. The company as policy seeks out low income family
programs(welfare to work, Apples) to fill it's centers with children
from families that are desperate for care and very low income with the
state paying the tuition, so they are "garenteed" weekly payment.
This overloads the classroom with children that have many
difficulties, it is not uncommon to have a class of(I will use my last
class as an example) 19 Four year old,(pre-k)I had three children with
teen-mothers, one child that was Autistic, Two childrens parents came
weekly for supervised visitation(I was supposed to supervise) that had
just been released from prison, One child did not speak english, and a
child that was develomently delayed due to abuse and we had to maintain
a log of all marks, bruises, and the condition of the child each day.
13 of my 19 children were on a state program paying the tuition. The
ratio's are seldom adheared to (1-10 for my class of fours) I usuly
never had an assistant and when I did they would last 2 weeks to a
month. This is due to their even lower pay and stress.If they called
out I was on my own, even worse if I called out sick took a day off my
assistant was on her own, some of my assistants were as young as 18 and
had no experiance. My sittuation is not uncommon it was the norm.
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