A Start-up School
A Start-up School
I have recently been contacted by a school that will be opening in Aug 2012. I have never been part of a school "from the beginning", so I am very interested to hear from those of you who have. What are some of the tell-tale signs to either go for it or stay away?
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wrldtrvlr123
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- Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:59 am
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Re: A Start-up School
[quote="ChoirGuy"]I have recently been contacted by a school that will be opening in Aug 2012. I have never been part of a school "from the beginning", so I am very interested to hear from those of you who have. What are some of the tell-tale signs to either go for it or stay away?[/quote]
If they contacted you via a hotmail account.
Actually, I would be interested as well. I also was just considering applying at a start up school.
If they contacted you via a hotmail account.
Actually, I would be interested as well. I also was just considering applying at a start up school.
Re: A Start-up School
Actually, I would be interested as well. I also was just considering applying at a start up school.[/quote]
In China (Shanghai)?
In China (Shanghai)?
Issues
A couple of issues your going to want to keep in mind would start with first MONEY. Seriously, a lot of the issues with startups revolve around money. Many upstart schools think (incorrectly0 that all costs scale, and thats just not true. providing a music program for instance requires a suitable sound proof room, music, and instruments just to start off with the basics. It doesnt matter whether your school has 4 students or 400 students. A lot of upfront costs are exponentially bigger then the schools revenue generation. As such having a VERY significant form of financing or capitol is highly important. You can tell the schools that dont by how much they cut corners. IS the music room just another general purpose room, and are plastic recorders the only instruments they have? Are students encouraged/required to bring their own instruments. Is all your sheet music just printed off the web. What other resources do you have (like a piano, for choral).
Is the school a non profit or for profit. For some people this is really important throughout a schools life, but more so at the beginning. Investors/owners want to see a return, and its very unlikely a school will be profitable in its first 5 years. Owners start seeing "their school" become a hole that they dump money into instead of an investment. Why is this an issue, because when owners go crazy, they start doing crazy things with their admins, and thats when the school breaks down. Owners and investors are happy as long as money is coming in, its hard for them to keep writing checks, and also keep their hands out of micromanaging everyone.
Administrators history is also a significant factor. First, are they qualified educators, or business people, or even worse "friends of the owner". Second, whats their background, have they been doing this a while, and can their career recover if the school fails. new admins that start out at a startup school are under IMMENSE pressure to succeed and that usually ends up meaning "do what the owners/board say", and they lack the experience to know a bad idea when they see one (and there will be lots of bad ideas).
New schools dont attract the best teachers. Most teachers want above anything else security and stability, they want to know their paychecks will be paid in full and on time. Most startups just cant afford a competitive salary. They have to entice a teacher to their school for two years on what is essentially an unknown school with an unknown reputation. Most teachers are going to want to be compensated for that risk. As a result you get a lot of "newbies" in the school and without strong business practices to or veteran teachers to fall back on, a lot of newbie teachers are just left to sink or swim. Thats not a good recipe in any school, but even worse for a start up.
Students at "new" startups is kind of a coin flip. Most students would rather go to an established school. If the new startup is the only one in the area, it usally means its a pretty remote area, and while the students may be an are often pretty bright they arent the most sophisticated. The other scenario you see with new startups, is the "PTA" school where the parents think they can do it better then the local school and were heavily involved in the creation of the startup school. usually these parents have money. The problem with that is it becomes a school run by parents, and they seldom have any interests outside those of their own kids in mind. They care more about the end product then they do the process.
Parents, are either going to be your BEST friends or your WORST enemies. Either they will support you, or they wont.
Did I mention Money, I hope so because the two biggest factors that influence the success of a startup are going to be money and admin support. Some things you should look for:
1) Whats the technology look like. Schools that invest in technology have money to spend, and arent afraid to invest it. 1:1 programs are the best. Labs a good second. Anything else is trouble.
2) What type of classroom facilities do you have? Ask them what they have ordered, and also understand that if they are new, they may be expecting you to order most of the stuff. Thats actually bad, because your going to be fighting with admins over everything that you want and they can afford. If youve never had to do it before you might be tempted to just order lots of everything. Even worse is if you have to do purchasing as a department or group (everyone wants something different).
3) Whats the enrollment? Ask what they expect and what they have. The bigger the gap between the two the bigger the problem. Whats the school organization. Is it just the principal and Assistant principal doing everything, and how much have they got done already (is there even an HR and technology department, or is a hotmail/yahoo address for the principal the only thing they have going)? Do they have a classroom schedule, and have they cleared it with the cafeteria (a lot about a schools daily schedule really revolves around the cafeteria). Look for indicators of thoughtful organization.
4) Whats the personality of the admin your talking too. Chances are they are putting on their mask of seduction. This is the nicest your going to find them, some admins stay nice, many "change".
5) Ask what challenges and obstacles they have. Many times they give your the sales brochure and everything sounds "WONDERFUL" thats an illusion there are always problems, and issues. If they dont want to discuss them, thats a problem. Any admin who's done this before expects problems, and challenges and doesnt avoid them.
6) Whats the work load that they are expecting? Being at a new school as a startup is a lot of work. You should really plan on working more then you normally would. The issue for you is when is a enough, enough? New schools tend to keep asking/demanding more and more from their staff. They pay you, they own you. You need to know that going into the job, and plan to be compensated accordingly.
Is the school a non profit or for profit. For some people this is really important throughout a schools life, but more so at the beginning. Investors/owners want to see a return, and its very unlikely a school will be profitable in its first 5 years. Owners start seeing "their school" become a hole that they dump money into instead of an investment. Why is this an issue, because when owners go crazy, they start doing crazy things with their admins, and thats when the school breaks down. Owners and investors are happy as long as money is coming in, its hard for them to keep writing checks, and also keep their hands out of micromanaging everyone.
Administrators history is also a significant factor. First, are they qualified educators, or business people, or even worse "friends of the owner". Second, whats their background, have they been doing this a while, and can their career recover if the school fails. new admins that start out at a startup school are under IMMENSE pressure to succeed and that usually ends up meaning "do what the owners/board say", and they lack the experience to know a bad idea when they see one (and there will be lots of bad ideas).
New schools dont attract the best teachers. Most teachers want above anything else security and stability, they want to know their paychecks will be paid in full and on time. Most startups just cant afford a competitive salary. They have to entice a teacher to their school for two years on what is essentially an unknown school with an unknown reputation. Most teachers are going to want to be compensated for that risk. As a result you get a lot of "newbies" in the school and without strong business practices to or veteran teachers to fall back on, a lot of newbie teachers are just left to sink or swim. Thats not a good recipe in any school, but even worse for a start up.
Students at "new" startups is kind of a coin flip. Most students would rather go to an established school. If the new startup is the only one in the area, it usally means its a pretty remote area, and while the students may be an are often pretty bright they arent the most sophisticated. The other scenario you see with new startups, is the "PTA" school where the parents think they can do it better then the local school and were heavily involved in the creation of the startup school. usually these parents have money. The problem with that is it becomes a school run by parents, and they seldom have any interests outside those of their own kids in mind. They care more about the end product then they do the process.
Parents, are either going to be your BEST friends or your WORST enemies. Either they will support you, or they wont.
Did I mention Money, I hope so because the two biggest factors that influence the success of a startup are going to be money and admin support. Some things you should look for:
1) Whats the technology look like. Schools that invest in technology have money to spend, and arent afraid to invest it. 1:1 programs are the best. Labs a good second. Anything else is trouble.
2) What type of classroom facilities do you have? Ask them what they have ordered, and also understand that if they are new, they may be expecting you to order most of the stuff. Thats actually bad, because your going to be fighting with admins over everything that you want and they can afford. If youve never had to do it before you might be tempted to just order lots of everything. Even worse is if you have to do purchasing as a department or group (everyone wants something different).
3) Whats the enrollment? Ask what they expect and what they have. The bigger the gap between the two the bigger the problem. Whats the school organization. Is it just the principal and Assistant principal doing everything, and how much have they got done already (is there even an HR and technology department, or is a hotmail/yahoo address for the principal the only thing they have going)? Do they have a classroom schedule, and have they cleared it with the cafeteria (a lot about a schools daily schedule really revolves around the cafeteria). Look for indicators of thoughtful organization.
4) Whats the personality of the admin your talking too. Chances are they are putting on their mask of seduction. This is the nicest your going to find them, some admins stay nice, many "change".
5) Ask what challenges and obstacles they have. Many times they give your the sales brochure and everything sounds "WONDERFUL" thats an illusion there are always problems, and issues. If they dont want to discuss them, thats a problem. Any admin who's done this before expects problems, and challenges and doesnt avoid them.
6) Whats the work load that they are expecting? Being at a new school as a startup is a lot of work. You should really plan on working more then you normally would. The issue for you is when is a enough, enough? New schools tend to keep asking/demanding more and more from their staff. They pay you, they own you. You need to know that going into the job, and plan to be compensated accordingly.
I worked at a start up school. I didn't particularly enjoy it, however, I don't believe that my director was very competent. The biggest problem was that we didn't have adequate classroom materials. The English teacher had to teach English without any books, for example. The school was also largely staffed by teachers who had never taught overseas before, many of whom were new to teaching. It was like the blind leading the blind. I'd be wary of working at a start up school. With the right person at the head, it could probably be a good experience, but it wasn't for me and I didn't stay long.