Village Learning Place

A great place to work!The Leadership Team and VLP Staff are very supportive. I love the collaboration and the practice of virtue acknowledgement. I love the freedom to be creative in the teaching and learning process. I love that VLP is inclusive and committed to restorative practice in dealing with conflict. I am so grateful for my job!

I worked as a teaching assistant for work-study for about two years. The best part of the job was the kids and my teacher who truly cared about them. The Village Learning Place provides an invaluable resource to its community and the kids. The leadership program for the older kids is great too. Giving them more responsibility really helped to mellow out some of the more “rowdy” students; I think they just needed someone to believe in them. I truly looked forward to coming to work every week and working with our wonderful students!

I bring my daughter to Tot's Tuesdays. All the teachers are great and Ms. Jen is especially special. She is super patient with all the kids and is great and getting their attention in a story. Snacks and crafts are also provided after story time and you are constantly meeting new parents and children every week. It's so welcoming that my daughter gets a little too comfortable sometimes, and it's hard to get her to leave, but like I said...they are super patient.

The unfortunate thing about this ‘non profit’ organization is that they care about profit and their own personal dramas in the workplace more than they do the actual children. Working as an academic lead teacher at this organization has forced me to witness levels of unprofessionalism I did not know existed. It is not uncommon to observe profanity-laden fighting matches between certain ‘higher up’ employees. It is not uncommon to observe inappropriate romantic relationships develop between ‘higer up’ employees and the work studies they employ. I have often times questioned the conflicts of interest and integrity of this organization. The most unprofessional of all this is the disconnect that resides between the executive director, Liesje Gantert, and the children of the organization. She openly voices her disregard for the youth’s demographic. The rare time the executive director showed her face in the classroom, I remember the children staring in awe as though they were just meeting a stranger. This spoke immensely on the disengagement the executive director has with the youth and community she serves. I am writing this review to provide an insight for people who are not readily able to view the inner workings of this organization. The depth of this review is separate from the reviews of college work studies who are hired to be teacher assistants to the academic leads and it is separate from the reviews set forth by parents of the children who attend the organizational programs. If people actually saw what goes on behind the scenes of this organization, I am sure company partnerships, the support from the community, and grant money would be in jeopardy.

I started this job in September, short of 3 months and I have been terminated. First of all this program is horrible. They are falsifying data. Lying in order to keep money coming in. Secondly, the pay is horrible. 35,000 non exempt for a full time worker. 930am until 6pm. You are forced to attend events outside of the 6pm schedule because it's mandatory without being paid bc of the exempt they tried to use. They gave out new job roles to the full time staff. Making us do administration work clearly when we applied to be Academic lead teachers. When I said administration work I was keeping track of dinner data, how long does it take to put data in for a program that is only 3 hours a day? Requiring lesson plans for the week. I was fired because my lesson plans were late different occasions. The point is lesson plans can take 1 hour if I wanted them too but instead being a teacher prior to this bogus job, I sent in detailed lessons. Barely even got to do them because the kids were so rowdy. Mondays they did science activities with someone else. Thursday they did art brigade with someone else. I only needed lessons for 3 days and still sent lessons for the whole week. My concern is okay after lesson planning what are we doing at work all day? After we have completed our task? We are just sitting there. I asked what was the big deal as long as my kids are working. I always sent the planning even if it wasn't sent on time. The communication sucks. They don't respond to emails and I mean LITERALLY they do not respond at all. I came to work last Wednesday before Thanksgiving break at 930 am and because the Director did not see me she assumed I was LATE. Btw she never comes out of her office. They dont even speak or hold conversations. Didn't even ask how Thanksgiving break was to the staff. Pathetic. I left early a little before 6pm. She had the audacity to tell me I came in at 11am and left before 6pm. Why did my timesheet say 930 to 6pm. Being a salaried employee, what does it matter that I left at 530 pm? Basically, she accused me of lying on my timesheet. I emailed a new offer letter Monday 12/02 to move down to part time [no response to my email]. Tuesday, I worked the full day and once I got back to the office the supervisor I guess gave me a sheet of paper stating why I was being terminated. No, the director Liesje B. Gantert was not here at this meeting. Although, I seen her 2 minutes prior. She somehow mysteriously left the building. We can't use PTO bc they don't have coverage for the little 3 hours to work with the kids. We had meetings about pay regarding the extra jobs they gave us and never heard nothing else about it. The whole staff is new this year [sep 2019] because all the prior teachers quit. There is one employee been there for a 1 year and updated us with all the info. They don't even address their staff properly. It makes no sense. To be accused of falsifying a timesheet for 1 day , where I am from 930 until 6pm bc I'm a salaried employee makes no sense. I came in on time and left a little before 6pm [this is the day before Thanksgiving]. Yes, we had to work for no reason. They didn't even have the kids that day. Also 11/24 and 11/25 they kept the program open and DID NOT HAVE DINNER. The program is required to serve dinner everyday to the students. But they falsified that data as well. Anyways, I am done with my rant. This is not the place to work unless you want to sit in an office all day listening to pens drop. No conversation unless you talk to other teachers who relate to you. Short staffed and underpaid. Ridiculous job. Part time pay with a fulltime job title. They were called out on their BS and never responded. I would not recommend this place for work or for your children for that matter. They don't even stop by the classrooms or ask if we need help. This is what happens when you work in a white environment. The unprofessionalism in this "place of work" is absurd. You are never directly approached and when you have concerns they go unheard. DO NOT WORK HERE!

Great resource for the neighborhood. Beautiful and historic building. Simple library and resource center that has several community events all year. Check it out!

Warm and friendly space. I like to relax with th magazines or take laptop to garden. Very interesting speakers. This is truly a little gem here in charles village

The cutest lil library right in the middle of charles village you are able to print for 10 cents a page!

The best library ever,They are respectful and they care. Jeremiah Powell