Pros
The kids can be quite likable of you know how to relate to them. It feels good to be working where you can really make a difference in your students' lives. There are some excellent teachers and even a few good administrators. There is always money for professional development. Working with this demographic (minority children in poverty), it is very easy to win grants for all kinds of fun projects or to get involved in grants that others have written. If you can teach hard subjects like physics, chemistry, and calculus, you get the best classes because most teachers are afraid to teach the tough subjects.
Cons
The administrators are extremely incompetent and the central office is even worse. Evaluations are arbitrary and more based on meaningless checklists for things like standards written on the board than on actual teaching. The central office is very backward thinking in terms of any educational innovation. They are mostly into "back to basics." There is lots of corruption in terms of money management and hiring practices (especially in the central office, which is an old girls network). The behavior management model is based on intimidation of students. Needless to say, it does not work. Instead, students are treated like criminals and often act accordingly. There is no administrative backup for classroom teachers, which can lead to dangerous situations. The district is rapidly being taken over by the state as school after school is labelled "failing."