Job Discussion Forums

[bubblestroubles]

Howdy folks. Please heed my advice: Stay away from Kidz Academy Moscow. I have first-hand experience teaching here and it is a terrible school to get involved with. Currently the school is hiring and I am receiving threats from the director because I've been informing teachers of my experiences at the school, and exposing her lies. Currently the school is desperately trying to find English teachers so I hope this forum finds you before Kidz Academy does.

I'll give you the specs then tell you my story.

Name: Kidz Academy

Director: Erika Milkova

Type: Preschool/daycare

Location: Listed as "23km west of Moscow" but more like 40km west in a region called Istra. The school is in a wealthy gated community far from any grocery stores or otherwise. It's basically a ghost town as wealthy Russian families only use their multi-million dollar homes on the weekends. There is ZERO public transportation available in this region.

Pros: Free apartment

Cons: Illegal employment in Russia; no work contract; 90 day business visas available only (no work permit, meaning you have to leave Russia and return every 90 days); verbally abusive bosses (2 bosses); 45 hour work week; mandatory private lessons without compensation; no public transportation to leave the community; food only available from small store in the basement of your apartment building.

My story goes like this:

I was hired by Kidz Academy while still working in Korea. The director agreed to employ me legally in Russia, and provide me with a 1 year work permit. Instead what happened was quite the opposite.

My first day in Russia was December 1st, 2011. I was driven to the community where the school is located. The community is for millionaire expats and Russians that wish to live just outside the city in very large, very expensive houses. I quickly learned that the community was very isolated from anything. The school is attached to a private primary and secondary school called Lomonosovskya school.

The school was opened in July or August of 2011, which according to Russian law regarding the employment of foreign nationals, meant I would be working illegally. The immigrant laws in Russia stipulate that a company must submit a quota in May of the PREVIOUS YEAR in order to employ foreign nationals the following year. This means that a business must be in operation for at least one year before it can submit a quota for the following year. However, in that companies need to be specific in their quota, i.e. "we want to hire one America, two Canadians, and one Australian," many do not fill their quotas and instead sell them to other companies. This did not happen in my case.

I was told that I would receive a 1 year work permit. But when my first day turned into three months my employer informed me that I would need to fly back to America, on my dime, secure another (what she called) work visa that would be valid for a year, and return to work.

Well I had previously done my research on visas in Russia and I knew that work visas no longer exist. I figured that she was referring to a multi-entry business visa that was valid for one year but subject to the 90/180 day rule. The 90/180 day rule folks, requires that if a foreigner is in Russia for 90 days, they must then LEAVE RUSSIA FOR AN ADDITIONAL 90 DAYS. When I informed her of this she responded as she always had to my concerns, with anger and frustration.

From the get go I learned that both of my bosses were very rude, very verbally abusive people. Any concerns that I raised regarding my employment were met with ridicule. The director would regularly call me a child, or a rat, and tell me to stop raping her mind, whatever that means. The second boss doesn't speak any English, so she would scream at one of the teachers from Belarus, who spoke English and Russian, and tell her to translate.

After spending close to $3000 dollars on last minute flights and 4 day processing for a business visa, I decided to quit. Upon informing my employer of my intent to leave she threatened to cancel my visa and kick me out of the country, which I knew she couldn't do with a business visa without work permit. Further she has continued to harass me. Just yesterday I received this email in response to blacklisting the school:

"one more step against school or me, my Lawyers will deal with you. Russian and American Lawyers- both. You will understand their language better and much faster. you will answer for all blaming against school

watch your step"

Basically the English school is without an English teacher, and as many of you know, that's what sells the parents. I am the third English teacher, out of three, that has quit or been fired. In five months at the school I saw four good teachers fired from their jobs, and they were all foreign nationals. A common practice in Russia, as in many countries, is to hire immigrants illegally and basically work them into the ground as they are 100% reliant on their employer.

I don't want any good teachers getting mixed up in this school. I know a sinking ship when I see one.

[Peg Leg Pete]

What's she going to do? Stand up in court and say "I've broken the law by employing people illegally (and avoided paying tax) and now I want to have this guy prosecuted for telling the truth about us".

She's just trying to bully you into silence. Keep up the good work. It's obviously winding her up, and others will hopefully not fall into this trap.

If she emails you again tell her that you would welcome the chance to attend court and set the record straight.

[smithrn1983]

Totally agree with Peg Leg Pete. If the school is as bad as you say it is, other teachers have a right to know before going to work there. Besides, most English schools here are scared stiff of winding up in court.

[ecocks]

So, some thoughts.

You have $3,000 to make emergency flights back to the US but can't get out of the community to go shopping. Really?

The school's threats are merely the typical Russian blustering and bravado, tell her (in an email) that you contacted the US Embassy for a legal referral and they gave you a lawyer who will call the Foreign Ministry about the work permit situation.

But, most of all, my question is why don't you use a day off to get into Moscow and interview at one of the McSchools and get out of the situation you're in?

You're there. That's a big plus. Schools have people leave unexpectedly. However, summer is also the slack period for hiring, get a move on if you don't want to be trapped into working for the school through the next 3 month period.

[bubblestroubles]

[ecocks]

Hmmm, why did I think you were still teaching there despite the absurdity of putting up remarks about a school on a forum?

Your comment was:

"I have first-hand experience teaching here and it is a terrible school to get involved with."

You said "here", not "there", hence the initial source of my confusion.

You also didn't use an ID that would seem to give away your real name (like mine for instance) so unless you're the only one who could have "blacklisted them" or provided particulars, they wouldn't necessarily have immediately identified you as the poster. You may well be an experienced TEFL teacher but have a look over in the Saudi Section and read posts about schools from current employees about their employers.

Anyway, guess you showed/are showing them then.

Thanks for the info on the Academy, it's always good to let folks know about an unscrupulous employer. Unfortunately, the bad ones seem to greatly outnumber the good ones in this industry.

And yeah, I'd take their threats of legal action with a grain of salt.

[Sashadroogie]

Good on you for sharing this information.

Perhaps, we as readers of posts like these, could show a little more sympathy. No need for us to be adding to any difficulties for teachers in such awful situations.

[coledavis]

I agree with Sashadroogie. Do note that in warning people, such posts are providing a service and I think that we should be supportive.

On the subject of business visas: these are always illegal when it comes to the employment of teachers. The only case where this may be legal, and I emphasise the word 'may', is where the teacher is brought in as a linguistic consultant, e.g. maybe doing some conversational work, assisting local teachers, etc, but not, repeat not, taking up a workload of timetabled lessons. Even there, this needs to be clearly agreed with the immigration authorities, and I think that some previous advertisements for such consultants were in fact covers for actual teaching.

(My business visa was related to the setting up of a school, so even that was not the same thing and I am not sure of my grounds re linguistic consultancy. But teaching on a business visa - nyet!)

[bubblestroubles]

[bubblestroubles]

And you're right about the business visas. There is no way to teach legally in Russia with one. I was lucky to find a job in Novosibirsk that provided me with a work permit for one year, but even that process was tedious.

[coledavis]

Yes, visas are difficult (so have a little thought for the employers too in this respect).

[Sashadroogie]

As far as I remember, and that is none too clearly, to get a business visa, you need to be employed by a company OUTSIDE Russia. You are entering Russia on business for a non-Russian firm. Or at least, that is what you state on the visa application.

Of course, most teachers and schools ...erm... abused this visa type, in the good old days before the 90-day rule, but that doesn't change the fact that it was, as Coledavis has said, always illegal.