JPA Staff Update

The previous post was a pros and cons list for prospective teachers. Most poignantly, a student's email was included, one that describes Steve McCambridge and the current state of JPA.

Teachers from the previous school year have submitted a staff update.

For the 2013-14 school year, 17 new staff members were hired. Here is a report of what happened to 10 of them:

-Teacher 1's classes were reduced to one per day without warning, pay reduced. Teacher 1 quit. Steve and Naomi discussed Teacher 1 with the staff, then drafted a two-paragraph notice on due process: teachers will receive a verbal warning, then a written warning.
-Teacher 2 was verbally warned on a Friday, and fired the subsequent Monday.
-Teacher 3 & 4 complained to Steve about the fact that the Khmer staff cannot have their children attend the school but expats' children can. They were fired the day before Christmas break.
-Teachers 5, 6, 7, & 8 quit mid-year. They were all veteran teachers who could not withstand Steve's leadership any longer.
-Teacher 9 posted a picture on FB that was perceived to be negative to JPA and was fired.
-Teacher 10 made negative comments about the school around another teacher who took the "whistleblower" policy very seriously and reported her to the administration. She was fired immediately after her students took a crucial standardized test.
-Teachers 11-14 did not renew their contracts. Out of 17 new staff members, only 3 stayed on.

I understand that international/foreign schools have problems hiring dedicated and experienced teachers. They don't know if they're hiring a tourist-teacher or a professional teacher who really cares about the students. That being said, would you want to work at a school with a trigger-happy principal? Sure, maybe you think, I won't put up a stupid FB picture. I won't complain. I'll close my eyes to the inequality shown to the Khmer staff. I won't talk poorly of the admin while at school. But really, whatever you do, the odds are, you'll be fired, you'll leave mid-year, or you'll leave at the end of only a year. And it'll be a painful exit, without even so much as a reference.