I taught at this school and was sorely disappointed by the lack of professionalism and lack of organization of this supposed "international" school. AIS hires international faculty under fradulent pretenses and does not honor the contract it offers, choosing instead to stave off contract negotations/signing until well past the academic hiring season--thereby forcing teachers to agree to less than desirable terms. Salaries and housing allowances are low, teacher qualifications and ability are not comensurate with assignments and the result is that many international faculty have departed this school less than satisfied and on heavily strained terms with administration. This so-called "international school" only has about a 5% international hire and retention rate with a student body to match and is not doing itself any favors by mistreating the few qualified international faculty members who agree to teach there. In short, it is a local school masquerading as an international school, run by a poorly trained US expat who is caught up in agrandising her own "accomplishment" (in establishing the school)which is a disorganized, filthy, poorly supplied mess by all accounts. In fact, the Head of School is so busy patting herself on the back for founding the school and has become so greedy for recognition that she has run what started out (to her credit) as a good school, straight into the ground. The Head seems oblivious to how her own behavior contributes to the revolving door for international faculty that AIS has become. The school now clings to life based on an old reputation that no longer applies, with a spoiled, wealthy student body that--in this chaotic and disorganized environment--is difficult to teach. The most highly qualified faculty at the school complain about the disrespectful nature of the student body, the inadequate supplies and lack of organization while the Head and her Deputy dismisses the complaints as trivial--failing to recognize that keeping the international faculty happy is key to growing the international faculty roster and turning the school into what it aspires to be.

A whopping 5 international faculty abandoned the school for a myriad of reasons in 2010 and 2011, which represented a loss of roughly half the school's total international teaching staff in just one year. The Head replaced those internationals with less qualified locals, seemingly unaware that the loss could have been avoided by fair and timely contract negotations, professional behavior and a school environment that is better organized and cleaner. No doubt, if the "Head" ever takes her head out of the sand and reads this post, she will reply as she did to the last poster here--pointing her finger at everybody but herself. She will rant and rave about how unfair this post is before pointing out why the poster "deserved" the ill-treatment they received at the hands of her and her administrative henchmen. But the truth is, the blame rests squarely with her and the rest of AIS' top administration. They all live in big fancy houses in the nicest neighborhoods in Addis Ababa and whine about how they can "barely afford to live" while most AIS local teachers earn just $400 per month and several internationals earn barely double that in a city where a minimum of $1,500 per month enables you to live decently. My advice? If you want to teach at AIS, be sure to have a second income stream available, be prepared to lose the cost of your ticket--because chances are they will not reimburse you for it even though they say they will--and be prepared to be jerked around on your contract and treated like dirt by a snobby Administration while working long hours at a filthy, disorganized, poorly supplied school full of spoiled rich kids. Or if you really know what's good for you, don't bother with this school and take your expertise to some other Ethiopian school where it will be respected, appreciated and adequately compensated!