Do not come to this place - Art Teacher CalColor Academy Employee Review

1.0
Mar 7, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people to work with (For the most part), great students, and I love the personal connections with students, parents, and teachers. Site managers are great,

Cons

This company does not care about you. Overworking is normal and expected, even though they claim otherwise on the surface. The company does not care about students; the only thing that matters to them is the registration rate, seeking market domination at the expense of both teachers and students. Poor management often places unskilled employees in charge of important tasks and ignores complaints. The workplace is toxic, with gossip, backstabbing, blame games, and other shady behaviors. The company (not the teachers) pretends to have culture and values, but all they really care about is money and exploiting workers.

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CalColor Academy Response
1y
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and for recognizing the relationships you built with students, parents, fellow teachers, and site managers. Those personal connections are a core part of what makes CalColor special, and we are grateful for the many team members who contribute to that experience every day. We are disappointed to hear that your overall experience did not reflect the culture we strive to create. While we recognize that periods of growth can create challenges and that some employees may experience workload and organizational decisions differently, we do not agree with the characterization that CalColor prioritizes growth at the expense of students or employees. Our mission has always been centered on delivering meaningful educational experiences for students while creating opportunities for teachers to grow professionally. We take concerns about communication, management effectiveness, workplace culture, and employee support seriously. Over the past several years, we have invested significantly in improving operational processes, management training, employee benefits, compensation, and teacher support systems. We have also implemented changes to scheduling and staffing practices to help create a more sustainable work environment for our team. We agree that listening to employee feedback is essential. Many of the improvements we have made over time—including enhancements to benefits, compensation, scheduling, and professional development opportunities—have been informed by feedback from teachers and staff across the organization. While we understand that your experience led you to different conclusions, we appreciate your contributions during your time at CalColor Academy and thank you for sharing your perspective.

Explore other reviews about CalColor Academy

5.0
Aug 12, 2024
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

1. nice coworkers 2. family culture environment

Cons

1. have to work at the weekends

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CalColor Academy Response
1w
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and for your years of contribution to CalColor Academy. We're delighted to hear that you enjoyed working with your coworkers and experienced the family-oriented culture that we strive to build. The relationships among our team members are one of our greatest strengths, and we're grateful for the many employees who help create a supportive and collaborative environment. We also appreciate your candid feedback regarding weekend work. Because many of our classes are scheduled when students and families are available, weekends have always been an important part of our educational model. At the same time, we recognize the importance of balancing work responsibilities with personal and family commitments. In recent years, we have continued refining our scheduling practices, and we are now beginning to offer qualified senior employees additional weekend time-off flexibility to better support their evolving life and family needs. Thank you again for your contributions to our students, families, and community. We wish you continued success and appreciate the role you played in helping build the culture that makes CalColor special.
1.0
Jun 17, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

One of the few art schools that offers full time positions with benefits

Cons

Only work here if you really need the money. Terrible hours, heavy work load and low pay. Management is overbearing and expects you to work extra (unpaid) and offers little to no support. One of the worst companies I have ever worked at.

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CalColor Academy Response
5d
Thank you for sharing your feedback and for your years of service to CalColor Academy. We appreciate your recognition that CalColor is one of the few art education organizations that offers full-time teaching positions with benefits. Providing stable career opportunities for art educators has been an important part of our mission from the beginning. We are sorry to hear that your experience regarding workload, management support, and compensation did not meet your expectations. Teaching is a demanding profession that requires dedication, creativity, and responsibility, and we recognize the importance of ensuring employees feel supported and valued. We would also like to provide additional context regarding compensation and career growth. CalColor's compensation philosophy is centered on pay for performance and long-term professional development. Rather than treating teaching as a static role, we encourage educators to continuously develop their skills, expand their impact, and take on greater responsibilities. Through our structured career framework, teachers have opportunities to advance into senior and leadership-level positions with increased responsibilities and compensation. Many of our long-tenured educators have successfully progressed through this system and built rewarding careers with CalColor. We also take concerns regarding workload seriously. Over the past several years, we have continued to improve scheduling, staffing support, benefits, and employee wellbeing initiatives. While weekend teaching remains an important part of serving students and families, we have introduced additional planning time, greater scheduling flexibility, improved leave support, and enhanced benefits to better support our team. Finally, we would like to clarify that CalColor expects teachers to complete their responsibilities within their scheduled working hours. We recognize that teaching requires planning, preparation, and classroom management, and we continuously work to improve staffing, scheduling, and operational support so employees can perform their work effectively and sustainably. We appreciate your contributions to our students and community and wish you success in your future endeavors.
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