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While I worked at JPA, I was constantly terrified of being fired. I refused to say anything against the school to anyone other than my closest friends and family because I was worried that things would get back to the head of school, Steve McCambridge. Siem Reap is a very small town, and everyone knows each other. As such, it's necessary to watch what you say when you are out in public. I was regularly worried that if I said something negative and it made its way back to the admin they would fire me. In fact, that is exactly what happened to one teacher, who voiced her displeasure near the end of the year and was ratted out, then fired. As such, I felt it was necessary to always watch what I said everywhere except for in my own home. The school monitored your emails on the computers and would use that information against you. There were times there were cameras in the classrooms, unbeknownst to teachers, and this also resulted in people being fired. As if that wasn't bad enough, they didn't only spy on staff, they spied on the students too. I write this, because for those of you who are considering working at JPA, even if you speak with people who are currently employed there, in all likelihood, you will only get positive reviews of the school, because those people will also be afraid of losing their final pay if they are leaving (there were staff who had their pay/return airline tickets threatened because they complained about being fired) or their jobs for next year.
JPA tends to hire relatively new teachers, or teachers who are new to the international circuit. They do this, I can only assume, so that those teachers are unaware of how poorly they are being treated. I am currently employed at a school with an amazing head of school and I want those of you working at JPA or thinking about it to know that the way the admin treats you is unreasonable. Though there will always be issues at any school you work at, be it staff or admin, students or location, the admin in this situation (despite the campus, the students, its mission and Siem Reap being amazing) is about as bad as they come. They cultivate a culture of fear. If you decide to work at JPA, go in knowing that you will have to keep your head down and your mouth shut. The leadership, to the highest levels, is disinterested in hearing anything you have to say. This was clearly evidenced by the fact that the Pritzkers were written many letters last year outlining the serious ethical issues at the school with Steve in leadership, yet he remains as the head of school. While the school does amazing things for the students, there is no recourse for you as a teacher if you are fired out of your contract or their refuse to pay you. As Steve once said "there are no unions in Cambodia, so stop your whining".
