High-ranking charter school scores with employees, too

A public charter school system founded 18 years ago, The Classical Academies specializes in alternative schooling for more than 4,000 primary and secondary students in North San Diego. As such, the not-for-profit aims to attract employees who approach teaching and education with out-of-the-box thinking.

The company employs a lengthy hiring process designed to weed out those who want the structure of a traditional school system, and as such has created a workplace that’s yielded perhaps the most important result of all: a nationally recognized institution. This year, Newsweek ranked the charter’s high school 135th in the nation, 20th in the state and second in San Diego County.

Executive Director Cameron Curry explains what, in his mind, makes The Classical Academies a top workplace.

Q. How do you keep quality employees?

A. We keep quality employees by treating them with great respect, involving them in decision-making and reminding them of how important they are on a daily basis.

So, for instance, this morning, I sent an email to the entire organization with a quote from Thomas Edison … and that’s something I’ll do, I’ll send a motivational quote out every couple of weeks. Also, every Friday morning, I sit down at my computer and do a 5- to 7-minute, personalized video that gets sent out to employees. People love that. They love the fact that we’re being purposeful in how we communicate.

As for involving staff in the decision-making process, here’s one example: I sat down with several of our teachers and said, “I’d love to get your thoughts on how we should be compensating you. Call your colleagues. Call your friends within public education, private education and get where they are. And give me your recommendations.”

We had two teachers from every one of our sites sit down and go through that process. We looked at high (salaries). We looked at low. And I took that information directly to our board. The result of that was that we invested $3 million more into salaries for the upcoming school year. As we came into this new year, Aug. 1, pretty much every employee in the organization saw an increase in compensation.

Q. What about recruiting?

A. We recruit employees by taking referrals from our existing employees. So what will we do is, every Wednesday, our HR department will launch out if there are any jobs currently available. And we will take a personal referral over a blind resume.

Q. What is the best benefit offered to employees?

A. Our greatest benefit is our flexible schedule. We serve students, typically, Tuesday through Friday, which opens up that Monday to all kinds of opportunities. So maybe you want to work from home that day. Maybe you want to work offsite somewhere. Maybe you want to collaborate with your colleagues at a different school site. Monday is the time to do that. Go offsite and have coffee with all those teachers and do planning together.

Employees love it, because it’s not the typical 9 to 5. And, because it’s not the traditional classroom setting, …so even the flexibility of that one day makes all the difference.

Q. What is your favorite perk?

A. The ability to come to work every day and spend time with people who are passionate, loving and grateful.

There’s just something amazing about when everybody is on the same page. Primarily, all of our team for the last 18 years, has been hand-selected. It’s such an honor to work here that we have lots of people who line up for the open jobs we do have. So when people say there’s a teacher shortage, we have not seen that.

Q. What is your top tip for having a productive workforce?

A. Great people are hired to do their jobs. Trust them to do it and provide them an environment where their voice and opinions are valued.

The leadership of this organization gets up every single day and says, “What am I doing for the vision, the mission and the values of this organization?” You’ve got to take the time every single day to focus on that.

Q. How would you define your company culture at the Classical Academies?

A. Positive, flexible, mission driven and caring, with an eye on continuous measurable improvement. It comes back to the actions of the leadership team every single day. We’re constantly reminding ourselves that the only reason why we are here is for one reason: students. So what are we doing today for students?

The Classical Academies

Founded: 1999

Ownership: nonprofit

Sector: K-12 primary / secondary school

Local employees: 263

jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin