Comments on: Srithammarat Suksa School

By: Glen Hallead

Glen Hallead — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:47:37 +0000

make that GREET A. Siripit and the Principal…

By: Glen Hallead

Glen Hallead — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:42:42 +0000

I worked as the Christian Volunteers in Thailand Program Coordinator overseeing the placement of volunteers at the 25 schools which the Church of Christ in Thailand maintains. Srithammarat Suksa is one of those. It consistently placed at the top for those teachers who were interested in teaching and serving. Because of its relatively great need it had to loosen its standards for teachers as it built its English Program. During the period of 2000-2006 (while I lived in Chiang Mai) the school hired many questionable characters just to keep the program growing in its infancy. Much, if not most, of the negative comments on this site seem to arise from those who had unrealistic expectations of their roles. The school is a challenge (as is any Thai school) for westerners unacquainted with Thai customs, expectations, and the workplace ethos. But it is a good school with good administrators and the program continues to be one of the leading in southern Thailand. And let it be said that I am currently encouraging my daughter to apply for a position in the next year or two. Thanks for your leadership JJ and great your principal and director from Ajahn Glen.

By: JJ Brownlee

JJ Brownlee — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 08:13:52 +0000

Thank you for letting these posts go up. I hope that it will be free for everyone to post on once again and that each post, good and bad, will be added as they are received. As I said, not everyone will like it here at Sithammarat(and I wish that Gregory would have not had such a bad experience), but it will be nice to let posts go up instead of censuring them and only letting one side of the story post.
I wish that no one would leave the school or Thailand with ill feelings. That being said, it will happen and people need to understand the reasons why. Reading forums like this can help. Know what you are getting into before you commit.
As for “owning up” about not wanting more Christian teachers. That is not true. However, someone would have heard me talking about not hiring only Christian teachers. At one time, the school only hired Christian teachers. It was my experience that this caused many problems and we needed to hire teachers based on merits, all merits, not just being Christian. I still stand by this. It would be great to have more Christian teachers, but it is important to have people that are “teachers” and that are willing to stay, enjoy the students and learn to develop. I am sorry these comments offend Mr. Gregory.
Anyway, thanks again.
BTW, I believe I remember the website Gregory set up, it had a chat forum, log data, and other things, and I remember using it while I was in America to keep in touch with students. It was very good, and he should have been paid for it.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:23:03 +0000

well, I guess I am one of the infamous employees who left so I guess I need to talk about some of the issues 4 years on.

1) The food sucked at the school, 4 years on, I still feel sick thinking about it. It wouldn’t have been much of a problem but we were not allowed to leave campus during our lunch period so that we could get other food. It was either eat the food(that sent me to the hospital more than once) or eat nothing.

2) Jordan Reeves is an asshole of epic proportions. He was a know it all who knew nothing. His curriculum for his students sucked. He thought he was a teacher, but was just another loser trying to make it in Thailand. He made the comments about communing with Satan while the director at Srithammarat so until the school disowns him, they continue to own that comment.

3) I personally overhead a conversation between Jordan and JJ in 2006 detailing how they wanted the school to reduce its number of Christian teachers. They felt that it was important to have fewer Christian teachers. It’s interesting to note that when I left, they had just 1 Christian teacher employed by the school. JJ, are you going to own up to that conversation?

4) I am not the only one with complaints about the school as this thread demonstrates. It’s easy to say that I am the only one who complained, but I am not. Several teachers left and complained viciously about how the school was being managed, not by the Thais but by the Westerners.

5) Biggest Beef with Jordan: On my personal time with my own money, I developed a website for my students to use and enjoy. When I quit the school, I was told that all of my pay and my wife’s pay would be held unless I turned over that site. I wasn’t offered any compensation for it. I turned the domain over and then grabbed it back just as soon as I received my pay. I would have given it over for nothing, but Jordan’s threats, Hong’s backing of him, was what made the school go from not so good to Hall of Shame. It showed that the leadership was out to f*ck teachers any time they had a chance.

If you would like to be Christianly, JJ, I suggest that you get the Christian bosses to apologize for the actions of their employees.

By: JJ Brownlee

JJ Brownlee — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:05:50 +0000

Hello, I am Jonathan Brownlee, or better know as teacher JJ. I am writing (again) to ask you to please take down the post above. Especially in regards to Satan and Christianity. I am not sure what happened, but it was many years ago. We are a Christian school and do try our best. Not everything is perfect at our school, but it is very good. Every year gets better and better and we retain 80-87% of our teachers. This is because it is a great place to work, if you have to work, in Thailand.

I would like to please ask that we be given a fair chance. Not that only good post be put up, but that all post will be added.
I don’t think that the school, Church of Christ in Thailand, my staff or my self should have to suffer because of a spat between two people, who have moved on years ago.
could you please send me an email to jjandjasmine@gmail.com to let me know you are receiving this posts. Thank you and God Bless.

By: Richard Carroll

Richard Carroll — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 01:03:15 +0000

I am the Head of Primary at SSS. I will say that this school is no different from any other Thai Private school in Thailand; nop better, no worse. During my stay, I have implemented inquiry-based curriculum in grades 1-3 and project-based curriculum in grades 4-6. The staff is made up of teachers from all over the world (South Africa, US, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England). They are a mix of qualified teachers and TEFL teachers. Next year, grades 1-3 will be taught be qualified teachers only adept at delivering “best teaching practices”.
We are still confronted with being “out of the loop” when it comes to decisions or hearing about events at the last minute but this is how it works at all Thai schools. I can’t say what happened in the past but my experience here has certainly not been negative. We get paid (directly into our bank accounts) on time, we are re-imbursed for expenses relating to medical or school supplies without hassle. Is this an international school or comparable to one in the western world? NO. Is it comparable to Thai schools? YES. Out of the 22 foreign teachers here, only five are on their first contract and out of those, 1 did not finish his contract because he had to go back to Australia to Australia to finish his teaching contract there and another did not stay because of culture shock. If you do decide to consider this school, ask to speak to people who are actually here at the moment and not rely on past experiences. I have taught in 7 countries around the world and not one person would have the same experience at the same place. And don’t let the admin. suggest a person to talk to but ask for a specific person (ideally the person you will be replacing). You can find their profiles on the school’s website. Best of all, always keep an open mind. What they say about administrators is completely correct; if the person is not working for you, then your time could be miserable but if they are, you might just like teaching knowing that someone has your back. Feel free to email me or any other teacher here to get some real-time feedback. richard1carroll@gmail.com

By: JJ

JJ — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:24:24 +0000

Jordan is no longer with the school. We try our best to do right and good in life and with our students. The above post are not all true, and/or accurate. While I believe you are entitled to be angry at Jordan, our school isn’t bad. The director tried to help you many times and many things have changed. This year,2010, the 3rd most positive thing reported by teachers was the food.(for example). I am asking you as a Christian friend to please take down or at least explain in “real” terms your problem with the school(Jordan).2.There has never been an Adam at our school, and I am the DOS(and was except for a 2year off period). I don’t understand how or why we would need to make up email address, when after hiring 27 teachers year after year, we would surely have teachers who like it. I think you know most people like working here. I think you know, the school tries to do a good job, although admittedly, they need to do better as do all schools in Thailand. We try to give a little Christian morale standards to everyone. We do help students learn. We do create a professional, safe working environment. I just lost what might have been a good teacher because of this website. That doesn’t effect me too much as there are always others. But, it does effect our students, who are always getting burned by teachers who don’t finish contracts, think Thailand sucks, or are just here to party….they(the students) didn’t do anything to deserve this. Anyway, best of luck and blessings to anyone who reads this.

By: JJ

JJ — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:02:19 +0000

I think Srithammarat is a great school. I’ve worked here for 9 years. We have 7 teachers here that have stayed for more than 4 years. I think this must tell the story of the school. I used to be a manager of a restaurant years ago. While there my goal was to keep employee turnover below 75% (set by company). It was usually around 80%. Here our turnover has been between 38-51%. This is counting, people who come for their year and leave(as agreed). Many people only wanting to work for a year, end up staying. Another comparison would be, when some has a bad steak,they tell everyone.When the steak is good it is expected,and noone comments. When you cook the bad steak, you make up reasons why its burnt.

By: Teacher Will

Teacher Will — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 04:35:46 +0000

I am in my third year at Srithammarat Suksa AMC English Programme. This position is my 5th though I’ve worked in 13 schools total. No place is perfect I promise.

This school is a fine place to work. As in most Thai schools there are few resources and the pay is low etc. etc. but it’s all about the kids folks, and the culture here respects teachers.

I hope that since the whines like Jordan Reeves who left are gone, you can take the same chance working here as you will any place else.

But if you do, please don’t piss everybody off, leave no materials that you have created, and don’t leave a mess.

By: John

John — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:46:39 +0000

This school is amazing!! I love working here. Prior to coming to this school, I earned my masters in elementary education and teaching credential from California and had five years teaching experience. Everyone on staff is friendly, reliable, and easy to work with. I am so pleased with this school’s commitment to making me feel welcome that I am planning to stay for two-three more years. Thanks and have a great day!