Falling in Love with a Hot Mess Just Makes the Break-Up Worse
Pros
1) You will fall in love with the kids. Each and every one of them is a larger-than-life character. 2) The teaching team is some of the most neurodiverse people I have ever dealt with and they are able to offer real, lived wisdom to students who are struggling in ways well-meaning neurotypical people simply can't. 3) The central location means the commute from wherever you are in the Seattle area it's not terrible. 4) The teaching team is (was) a tight-knit group that would gladly step up and handle most disasters and keeps any (near-constant) crisis from boiling over onto the children's learning and well-being. 5) The students respond very well to this format and camaraderie. Life does settle down for their families and work does get done.
Cons
1) The administration completely changed this last year. Completely. They just dissolved the position of the accountant who was cleaning up some of the shadier money-saving things prior teams of administration were perpetuating. Turnover before that was on the higher side, but that was a whiplash that left the teaching staff to fend for themselves. 2) They say you can do your paperwork when the children are absent, and they make it sound as if this is common. That's not how it works. Even when you are off the clock, you are on the clock. Your 10-minute breaks between classes are more theory than practice. Your lunch break is also potentially on the chopping block. 3) The pay is terrible. Benefits are pricey and not terrific. They will also hold "becoming salary" over your head. Getting on salary is half merit, half guesswork, and all fluctuating budget. 4) The board has alternated between no contact and micromanaging. When in the latter mode they want to control everything and are punitive! They also lack an education background. They got rid of the one actual field background. 5) While a few administrators are aware people, and all of them try to do well, the majority of admin has some white, upper middle class, neurotypical privilege filters. There's also been some sexism. 6) The students they take range *greatly*. One period, you will have a gifted athlete for English. The next period, you will have a barely verbal autistic student for science. After this, you'll have a student with a catalog of behavior issues for math - and all of them will be different grades, abilities, and need completely different tools and approaches. 7) Because of this approach, YWA is in over its head on at least 3 cases any given day. The staff compensates, but all this gets exhausting. 8) Communication is poor despite a flood of emails. Teachers talk to teachers, but too much of that and you get singled out, and not in the good way. A smartphone is an unwritten requirement. 6) You