child development specialist

assistant

agent instructeur

occupational therapist

health care aide

Renfrew Educational Services

If you are in a secure position in life and are looking for a job with wonderful coworkers, unforgettable interactions with students, and secure employment Renfrew is the place to be. However, if you are looking for a job that provides proper pay, Healthcare insurance, and reliable administration this is not the place to work. 

As CDFs you will be effectively required to work extra hours that are not covered through overtime through poor management of student schedules by administrators. Generally, you are given 15 minutes of paid time to set up the classroom, prepare the materials needed for the day, and compose yourself before students come to the classroom. Additionally, you have another 15 minutes at the end of the day for prepping the classroom for the next day. However, all of this prep time is typically spent cleaning toys to follow covid guidelines. If you are needed to assist a student during prep time you will not be given any time to make up for the time lost and will be expected to do the additional work on your own time outside of work hours. Renfrew effectively does not provide proper paid time for workers to do any prep or collaboration within the classroom except for the occasional PD day which ranges from once a month to once every other month (you get a large spring break as a result).

Schools are consistently short staffed as well as a result of poor working conditions and workers quitting soon after they are hired. In training you learn that classes are designed to have around 9-10 students however most classes contain well over that amount.

You WILL need to use your health benefits as a result of working here yet several key benefits such as counseling (they have their own that maxes out at a month), and vision are not covered. The benefits that are covered run out quickly as well.

Overall:
-great coworkers (they are seriously amazing)
-poor administration restricting management
-little pay
-little prep and collaboration opportunities 
-bad benefits coverage

My experience at Renfrew was quite mixed. I absolutely loved my coworkers and the students that I worked with. It really can be a rewarding experience. It's a difficult job to leave because of the amazing people you meet. We also had lots of vacation time such as Christmas and Spring Break. Summer was not paid but it was nice to have a couple months off. 

However, working with children with such high needs can be exhausting. You are constantly in high alert because some kids can be aggressive, can choke, or are clumsy.  At the end of the day, you go home with no energy to do anything.  Additionally, we only had about 15 minutes to prep each morning and 15 minutes to wrap up in the afternoon. We were also expected to document on the student's progress and sometimes attend meetings during this time. This meant that we would have to work through our unpaid lunch. My coworkers and I also had some injuries from work and would get passive aggressive comments from managers and coworkers for leaving early to get WCB treatment.  All of this work was expected from you for a few dollars over minimum wage. 

After working there for a year, I wanted to ask for a raise. When I asked my supervising teacher for advice on talking to the manager she told me to not even try because she hadn't received a raise in over 5 years. People! That does not keep up in inflation!

I had a lot of fun during my time there, but unfortunately I got suprt burned out and ultimately decided to resign.  

The work culture here was horrifying. The classroom teacher is rude and aggressive to the CDF’s. when looking for support from management I was met with apathy and told they are aware of the problem, but not planning on addressing this. They have no training and just throw in new staff blind. Instead of training, they will come in every so often to observe and critique you. They have training videos they expect you to watch on your own time, which is not reasonable. Most of the staff are passive aggressive and cliquey. Most of them don’t seem to actually like each other or their jobs very much. They will often complain about the kids or each other whenever they’re given the chance. The overall attitude of the staff just breeds more negativity and burn out. The morale is seriously low. 
The treatment they give the kids seems unfair too. They’re treated as a diagnosis before they’re treated like children. The only way for the kids to get attention is by getting negative attention because positive behaviour is rarely reinforced. I would never recommend this place to a parent trying to find support for their child. Some staff members are incredible and you can easily see how much they care about the children, but that’s not the majority. 
Expect to come home with bites, scratches, and bruises. 

I liked my job for the first 9 years. I adored my manager. I loved working with the kids. Now that there are 3 managers. It's awful! No one is on the same page. Your walking on eggshells. People are getting fired for ridiculous reasons. Your always second guessing if you are doing things right. There is no consistency for rules between staff on all levels. Managers play favorites. The managers ask you to act fake and be in specific places for tours or do certain things when new families come by or donors are in the building. It's not like we already were doing our job and love working with these kids, that's why we are here. 
Management doesn't greet you or ask you how you are doing. They don't ask you how you are feeling after being away on sick leave or if you were hurt. They just keep walking past. They are very insincere. 
I don't suggest working at any renfrew location. I know that if the owners really new what was happening they would change things. This is not what they would want for their legacy. 

Your experience here will vary wildly depending on the classroom team you are assigned to. Some teams work great together but many do not.  There is a general culture of mistrust, judgement, gossip and frankly, a high-school like environment of cliques and mean girls. Be prepared to be criticized at every turn for every decision or call you make.  

There are many amazing children to work with, however, it feels chronically understaffed and stressful with many extremely high-needs kids in small, overcrowded rooms. The noise level is unbearable at times.

Plus - It's a little demoralizing to walk into work everyday making barely over minimum wage, past a parking lot full of these the non-profit executives' Porches and BMWs. And be careful what you say, because they hire half their relatives to work here too.  I question my decision every day to have spent the money I did on my own education to be certified to work here.

Some pros:
 - Lots of time off (Summers, spring break, Christmas break)
 - Decent benefits - Pay is low, but unfortunately not that different from similar positions at other organizations.
 - Some great professionals to learn from (Psychologists, Speech Therapists, etc.)

Working for Renfrew was a high-stress job, and appreciation was shown in company wide gifts and “energize day” but a simple sit down with a manager to talk about the things that you do that are appreciated and heard would go a long way! 

Renfrew would pride itself on understanding work/life balance but at the same time, would threaten and guilt endlessly if I had to go home to a sick kid, even if my position was covered. 

The work itself was great but a lot of super high needs, sometimes extremely violent children. There was a huge sense of purpose and belonging at Renfrew.

They really need to pay their classroom CDFs more if they don’t want so much turn over. They renovate their spaces constantly - it looks good for donations and support from sponsors but $18 to look after the types of children I described earlier is an insult. They ask a LOT of their employees who barely make a livable wage. 



There are some great things about Renfrew, but unfortunately the turn around for staff is really bad and no one seems to care.  Over the years I’ve watched too many incredible employees leave Renfrew.  This could be due to a number of reasons, specifically poor management (starting with the executive team)  The employees at Renfrew feel undervalued on a consistent basis. An example of why the staff feel this way it would be currently, during a pandemic where all other school boards and schools are allowing their staff to feel safe and work from home, Renfrew has forced their staff on site creating stress and fear amongst them, ultimately continuing to decrease an already extremely low morale. What’s worse is that staff have no voice and don’t feel heard when expressing concerns like this. In an already highly stressful job nothing is done to support or encourage stuff in such a crazy time.

Permanent staff there never used my name.  Was referred to as the 'lunch lady' or 'her' or 'that lady over there.  Had to go out of my way to get to know the staff.  Thanks ladies.

Too many special needs kids cramped into rooms.

Staff were all unhappy, fake and came across mean, unhelpful, had borders/walls around getting to know them.  Not personable at all.  No one smiled.  I couldn't tell if they were a teacher or a parent or a volunteer.  Could be someone who walked off the street for all I knew.

Pay was minimum wage, wasn't worth it for me in gas to drive from one side of the town to the other.  No benefits.  No perks.  Nothing.

Believe me when something bad happens, the staff are all over it, wanting to out do the other person, rat them out, get them fired, talk bad about them etc. and this all happens during school time while they are supposed to be concentrating on the kids.  

I wouldn't want my kid here ever.  Bad toxic environment.

This company claims to be against bullying, drama, and gossip among staff members but I found it to be the opposite. I did not feel welcome or appreciated here from day one and was constantly criticized for every reason imaginable. This workplace is not good for mental health and the majority of the people I worked with were very unfriendly and unapproachable. There is no eye contact, forced conversation, and whispers behind doors. I had high hopes of working here as teaching special education is my biggest passion; however, this job made something I love truly miserable. It has been one year since I left and I am still continuing to struggle from intrusive thoughts and continuing to relive the traumatic experiences I went through. I do believe certain people do enjoy working for this company, it just wasn't for me.

I have had an amazing experience with Renfrew. The staff and management are so kind and welcoming and offer all the support you need. The way the staff help these children with their development and the compassion they show towards them is incredible. The support they offer to families and the lengths they go to do so is immeasurable. A great place to work, really makes you feel like you are making a difference in your community. They have something called energize day, it is a paid day where staff from all Renfrew schools can choose to do different activities, such as the zoo, science centre, bike rides etc all covered by Renfrew. They also provide generous Christmas gifts, paid gift days, and commitment bonuses. They definitely go out of their way to ensure the staff knows how appreciated they are.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Child development specialist 1 salary reported	$22.81 per hour
Assistant 3 salaries reported	$16.00 per hour
Agent instructeur 3 salaries reported	$80.00 per hour
Occupational therapist 1 salary reported	$37.00 per hour
Health care aide 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour

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