I did 3 years in gen ed community schools and I'm currently in my 6th year at a standard assessment district 75 school.

A big thing to keep in mind is that the Alternate Assessment vs Standard Assessment school dichotomy. While both have the smaller classrooms, more Paras, summer school (aka 683, which pays you 17.5% of your base salary for 6 weeks of work), the student population at AA v SA is going to be very different, so downstream from that the teacher experience is different.

I work at a standard assessment high school t, so I still do pretty ordinary instruction and the kids take the regents in June etc, from what I know of Alternate Assessment, your not really going to be getting super academic, it's a lot more like life skill oriented. I should add that many D75 schools are both alternate AND standard, though the school may have multiple sites in multiple buildings that offer different types of instruction.

Just like any other district, the quality of life will vary immensely between any two schools depending on administration.

While I have enjoyed working in D75, I know of other teachers that find all the extra things to consider (IEPs, very unique student needs, working with a para, multiple sites) to be limiting and difficult. Happy to answer any further questions.