Disappointing and Toxic Leadership - Teacher Lotus School Employee Review

- The senior leadership at Lotus was amazing (especially the Executive Director, Brett Williams). Unfortunately he is no longer there and it was a huge loss when he left as the culture went drastically downhill. He always went to bat for teachers to increase their salaries and provided bonuses to try to retain us teachers as much as possible! - I felt heard as a staff member, although change was always slow - The families and community were the best parts of the school - The diversity (more than 30 languages and nationalities represented) - There are many strong faculty members in the elementary and secondary schools (with obvious exceptions) - Athletics were a strength back when I was teaching at Lotus (I heard that has changed though) - Brand new theatre for performing arts was built under the leadership of the executive director - LSE walked the difficult tightrope during the pandemic of keeping staff and students safe, while still focusing on in-person instruction (kudos to the school nurses and Mr. Williams)! - Many of the toxic staff members were terminated or resigned. Although some of them were experienced teachers, these changes were necessary and greatly helped the school! - Rigor. The school is consistently rated as the best school (outcomes) in the Aurora Public School district.

- There were several back-stabbing teachers who would huddle and gossip about other staff members and the administrators - The school principals (for elementary and secondary) back in 2016 through 2023 were very poor, if not abusive, to the teachers. When they weren't absent (or neglectful), they would micro-manage staff. Students and families didn't know who the elementary principal was, and the high school principal/dean was incompetent. Fortunately they were let go.

Kids are great Diversity Pay

Micro managed Long hours At will. Either they like you or they don’t High turnover in admin. Nepotism and favoritism Very strict with time. Cameras everywhere Admin is not trustworthy. Admin doesn’t support teachers that they want out.