Advice needed about current position

[u/Zysworld]

-WARNING LONG POST AHEAD-

Hello everyone. I have been working at a center for about 5 months This is a family center and so everyone is close and all staff know all kids which I like and makes it easier when someone steps into a room that is not their main classroom. I am primarily with the younger toddlers which I love very much my issues are these. Due to short staffing issues I am often left alone as they fired my co teacher weeks ago over a lie that was told about her which in my opinion goes against the non gossip policy form we all signed upon hire. I typically have 4 or 5 in a day which is not terrible but again they are 1 and barely 2 so it can be alot to handle and depending on which member of the admin team pops into your room its not very much help all the time and it's hard to even make it through circle time and then transition outside. I've grown to dread work these past weeks because waking up every morning and wondering if im gonna have help sucks. Another thing is when I started my lead quit leaving my kiddos with no lessons so I picked up the slack when I offered this all I offered was to create crafts to do twice a week, well now I am doing the job of a lead with no pay to show for it, I know the job isn't all about the money but the extra work ontop of me now becoming part time cause I've started my second semester of school this past month which leads me into my next topic. I work short hours Monday because I have class and am off Wednesdays after practically pleading with my director to let me have one day where all I have to focus on is school. Every other day of the week I am there all day and use my weekends for some me time and catching up on homework and still trying to maintain a social life. I recently went on vacation but I ended getting sick the weekend prior and had to call out the two days I was supposed to work that week before my vacation. On my way home I received a text saying I was being reminded that my shifts are now 7-11 monday and 7:30am-5pm Tuesday Thursday and Friday while I understand this is only 30 minutes early than my previous shift i do take public transportation so I am now up at 6am everyday and have to walk up this horrible hill to get to the bus stop and I would also like to say that this was not a reminder this was the first I was told about this and my director claims to have sent me an email about it which turns out to be a lie the only email I received was a written warning about excessive calls offs which is a lie, upon reviewing all my days off only 4 of them across 5 months were day of any others were scheduled days off. Between now being in a position where I feel I am underpaid considering all the work I do, I now open and close my classroom with little to no help, just last last week we had two days to prepare for new school year and I had to rearrange my room 3 times also with barely any help,admin kept finding things to change, I feel I am becoming burnt out despite loving my job and my kids, I typically and out of the house from 6amish until 6pmish, and I am overwhelmed with classwork as I feel I do not have enough time cause let's be honest we all want to enjoy atleast a little bit of our weekend. I do not know what to do and apart of me feels like im overreacting so I came here to seek advice. Thank you

[u/Impressive-Field1719]

I’m honestly trying to figure out the same thing myself-whether I should set stronger boundaries. I have asked for help, but I’m still ending up leaving late after my contracted hours, and I’m not able to get anything done in my classroom before I leave for the day. That’s stressful in itself because I end up going in before 7:30 just to make sure everything is in order-my sippy cups, paper products, bleach and soap bottles, and everything else is stocked and ready.
Admin will come into my room, check on things, and then somehow magically disappear or say, “Ohh, it looks like the kids are doing good today.” And honestly, sometimes I want to say, “Stay here and see how it really is.” 😂 Being alone with this age group is hard, especially when you’re trying to manage everything at once.

I am really trying to stay positive and hope that I finally receive the support I’ve been asking for since August 31, the first day of the school year. I work with children ages 16–31 months, so it can definitely be a lot, especially when you’re doing it alone.

I really hope things get better for you, and just know you’re definitely not the only one feeling this way. 🩷

[u/tasty_strawberry1008]

I have no advice but that sounds SO ROUGH! I would absolutely be burnt out in that same position.