Oakland Terrace

[Anonymous]

No doubt the county is flying by the seat of their pants with the new dual immersion programs. If it doesn’t show to be effective in improving test scores for key populations, I wouldn’t count on it to continue.

Schools and teachers seem to handle parent volunteers in different ways. Classroom volunteers are probably the least wanted. Offer to photocopy or help with decorating hallway areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No doubt the county is flying by the seat of their pants with the new dual immersion programs. If it doesn’t show to be effective in improving test scores for key populations, I wouldn’t count on it to continue.

Schools and teachers seem to handle parent volunteers in different ways. Classroom volunteers are probably the least wanted. Offer to photocopy or help with decorating hallway areas.

This school doesn't want any volunteers even for photocopying or hall decorating.

I think they will continue it as it is something parents want. I would think its better to have an 45 minute daily instruction for all kids in the school/county in elementary school than full immersion so all kids can get some language studies in. I wouldn't count on it continuing to Newport Mills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First time poster. My son is a rising 1st grader at OTES so he was in the pilot year of Spanish immersion. Like most of the PPs we felt and still feel so lucky to have gotten this giant perk. First, you don't need to do anything to prepare your child. My son came out of K with probably passable preschool level Spanish. They learn a lot through songs, which is very fun to hear when they come home. They learn the basics - letters, sounds, numbers, etc. The Spanish teacher that my son had was very impressive. It must be very hard to speak SOLELY in another language to first time kindergarteners! Of course, some of the kids go in with Spanish as their native language, which is why this is a good community for a two-way immersion.

We WANTED to love this program and really really are hoping for the best in first grade. We aren't the type to make waves or judge too quickly so we gave it the entire Kindergarten year. And after talking to a lot of parents that I've gotten to know, this seems this has been the prevailing sentiment - people haven't known what to expect and wanted to give a lot of leeway for the first year of the program, but everyone has had the same observations....

There was zero communication from teachers. Zero. Including e-mails that often went unanswered until I followed up twice. There was a complete stone wall about volunteering. I signed up to volunteer and then followed up 3 times and was told no. There was never any correspondence home and literally never an update on what the kids were doing in class. This is my first child in elementary school so I didn't know if I was expecting too much, but after talking to teachers in other schools I know that this is unusual. I don't need a weekly or even monthly newsletter. But we never ever heard from the teachers. It's strange to send your 5 year old to Kindergarten all day and NEVER hear what they are up to. And frustrating when you have a small concern or even question and don't get a response. I have a friend who e-mailed the teacher about her child's epi-pen and never heard back.

I didn't want to rock the boat and I'm not up the teachers asses or anything. But it was a very very disengaged year. My son came home happy. He made friends, liked his teachers, and learned Spanish. But I'm surprised because I heard it was such an engaged community and we as parents were not involved at all, even when we tried.

I have chalked Kindergarten up to a wash. It doesn't matter anyway, my son is academically fine, and I do understand that it must be quite the endeavor to start a new program.

That said, at least for his grade, its going to be a huge upheaval every single year. There are 3 new teachers teaching 1st grade this year because of course they need Spanish certified teachers. Each year he moves up, multiple teachers will have to move out. In this sense, there is no comparing the new OTES to the one parents of older children know.

And I'm surprised I guess at the low standards people who love OTES seem to have in general. We got a "back to school" postcard in the mail yesterday from the principal, directing us to the website to read her welcome letter. When you go to the website the welcome letter hasn't been updated - it's the 2018-19 one. It's not a school that feels on top of their stuff. The online portal where the teachers can update you or whatever stayed completely blank the entire year. They did standardized testing that they didn't tell us about ahead of time throughout the year, and the results sometimes showed up in the portal, sometimes not.

I'd actually love to hear from parents of older OTES students to see if this is a different experience from what they got. I still want to like OTES, and the Spanish program is invaluable, but our experience can't possibly be what people are talking about when they say they love the school.

Anyway, just some honest feedback. We have met some really nice families, love that it is a walking school and plan to be engaged members of the community. However, there are a number of things we are really hoping improve in our son's second year.

Good luck, OP! Kindergarten is exciting!

This is exactly our experience even in older grades. You summarized it nicely. It isn't going to change. At least this year we got the school supply list online earlier. I think a lot of parents like the school because they don't make a lot of demands on the parents. In older grades, they spend a lot of time playing "educational" games so the teachers can do their "centers" on the chrome books.

Please do buy extra schools supplies to donate to the classroom teachers (and specials) directly. They are not allowed to ask for what they need even if you ask them and if parents don't send it in, the teachers have to buy it. The PTA does not allot funds to the teachers for supplies (or maybe I missed it at the meetings and their website which isn't updated either). They always appreciate extra pencils, erasers, markers, crayons, kleenex, wipes, soap, glue sticks (especially glue sticks). Also, some of the teachers appreciate books and games for indoor recess (but that is teacher specific on what they need).

[Anonymous]

I guess I’m finding these responses a little odd. I have volunteered at the school for many years, and have always felt very appreciated. No, we never got weekly summaries of their school activities, but this is public elementary, not daycare. The transition to elementary school can be hard, but public elementary schools just do not communicate as much as private daycares and preschools. And these complaints about the school’s and PTA’s websites not being up to date enough... Do you know they are managed by staff who are 10-month and currently not being paid to work? Some teacher or administrator is literally updating the website from home. And the PTA website is done by overworked volunteers. How much do you do for the PTA? Would you like to do the website? This school is free, and its focus is on educating the kids — now bilingually — not marketing and customer service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First time poster. My son is a rising 1st grader at OTES so he was in the pilot year of Spanish immersion. Like most of the PPs we felt and still feel so lucky to have gotten this giant perk. First, you don't need to do anything to prepare your child. My son came out of K with probably passable preschool level Spanish. They learn a lot through songs, which is very fun to hear when they come home. They learn the basics - letters, sounds, numbers, etc. The Spanish teacher that my son had was very impressive. It must be very hard to speak SOLELY in another language to first time kindergarteners! Of course, some of the kids go in with Spanish as their native language, which is why this is a good community for a two-way immersion.

We WANTED to love this program and really really are hoping for the best in first grade. We aren't the type to make waves or judge too quickly so we gave it the entire Kindergarten year. And after talking to a lot of parents that I've gotten to know, this seems this has been the prevailing sentiment - people haven't known what to expect and wanted to give a lot of leeway for the first year of the program, but everyone has had the same observations....

There was zero communication from teachers. Zero. Including e-mails that often went unanswered until I followed up twice. There was a complete stone wall about volunteering. I signed up to volunteer and then followed up 3 times and was told no. There was never any correspondence home and literally never an update on what the kids were doing in class. This is my first child in elementary school so I didn't know if I was expecting too much, but after talking to teachers in other schools I know that this is unusual. I don't need a weekly or even monthly newsletter. But we never ever heard from the teachers. It's strange to send your 5 year old to Kindergarten all day and NEVER hear what they are up to. And frustrating when you have a small concern or even question and don't get a response. I have a friend who e-mailed the teacher about her child's epi-pen and never heard back.

I didn't want to rock the boat and I'm not up the teachers asses or anything. But it was a very very disengaged year. My son came home happy. He made friends, liked his teachers, and learned Spanish. But I'm surprised because I heard it was such an engaged community and we as parents were not involved at all, even when we tried.

I have chalked Kindergarten up to a wash. It doesn't matter anyway, my son is academically fine, and I do understand that it must be quite the endeavor to start a new program.

That said, at least for his grade, its going to be a huge upheaval every single year. There are 3 new teachers teaching 1st grade this year because of course they need Spanish certified teachers. Each year he moves up, multiple teachers will have to move out. In this sense, there is no comparing the new OTES to the one parents of older children know.

And I'm surprised I guess at the low standards people who love OTES seem to have in general. We got a "back to school" postcard in the mail yesterday from the principal, directing us to the website to read her welcome letter. When you go to the website the welcome letter hasn't been updated - it's the 2018-19 one. It's not a school that feels on top of their stuff. The online portal where the teachers can update you or whatever stayed completely blank the entire year. They did standardized testing that they didn't tell us about ahead of time throughout the year, and the results sometimes showed up in the portal, sometimes not.

I'd actually love to hear from parents of older OTES students to see if this is a different experience from what they got. I still want to like OTES, and the Spanish program is invaluable, but our experience can't possibly be what people are talking about when they say they love the school.

Anyway, just some honest feedback. We have met some really nice families, love that it is a walking school and plan to be engaged members of the community. However, there are a number of things we are really hoping improve in our son's second year.

Good luck, OP! Kindergarten is exciting!

This is exactly our experience even in older grades. You summarized it nicely. It isn't going to change. At least this year we got the school supply list online earlier. I think a lot of parents like the school because they don't make a lot of demands on the parents. In older grades, they spend a lot of time playing "educational" games so the teachers can do their "centers" on the chrome books.

Please do buy extra schools supplies to donate to the classroom teachers (and specials) directly. They are not allowed to ask for what they need even if you ask them and if parents don't send it in, the teachers have to buy it. The PTA does not allot funds to the teachers for supplies (or maybe I missed it at the meetings and their website which isn't updated either). They always appreciate extra pencils, erasers, markers, crayons, kleenex, wipes, soap, glue sticks (especially glue sticks). Also, some of the teachers appreciate books and games for indoor recess (but that is teacher specific on what they need).

DP: our oldest is entering second, and our experience has had some overlap with PP's. The website needs better updating, and communication from PTA is fair, at best. The dynamics I've observed there haven't been great, although I'm optimistic that with more engaged parents getting involved, that could change. I plan on getting more involved this year, and am not going to complain a lot when I didn't participate as much as I theoretically could have (we have two younger children and between them and working FT, didn't have the bandwidth). But, I'll also take our PTA over some of the over-organized ones I've heard about at other schools. We really liked the PTA sponsored activities we attended, and our oldest had a great time at the various after school activities in which he participated.

We had plenty of communication from our child's K and 1st grade teachers. The latter proactively emailed us throughout the year with spontaneous updates about him, e.g., if he did something particularly noteworthy that day. This teacher responded to all emails within the same day (and dear lord, I hope she is one of the ones who is still there this year). Our K teacher wasn't as proactive, but she responded quickly to emailed questions, as well, and in general was enthusiastic and responsive. All that being said, we also didn't feel like we needed a ton of information about our child on a daily basis. We generally knew what was going on based on information from Back to School night, parent-teacher conferences, and what he brought home, and that sufficed. A teacher not responding to emailed questions would bother me, but that hasn't been our experience at all.

We haven't tried to volunteer yet, so can't speak to that. I called the front office today to ask about medication forms for my rising K, who has food allergies, and got all my questions answered quickly.

So, yeah, we like OTES a lot. It's a smaller school, both in terms of total students and class sizes, the principal is a strong administrator*, there's a lot of continuity in the teachers, we see our child learning and being engaged, he has made friends, etc. It's a public school. We have reasonable expectations and, so far, OTES has met them easily.

*Some parents really don't like her, I suspect because she doesn't do exactly what they want. I prefer that she focus on running the school well, and believe she does that.

[Anonymous]

I recommend that every parent who can possibly make it go in for the Columbus Day Open House in October. It helped me SO much to understand my young elementary schoolers' classroom set-up and routines. Then I could ask my child more specific questions about their day and get more information from them than when I didn't know the terminology and routines the teacher was using. The Columbus Day Open House is MCPS-wide and to my knowledge every MCPS elementary school does it.

We have only had 1 teacher who sent a weekly update out of 7 school years between my 2 kids. Volunteering depends a lot on the individual teacher, and I can see it definitely taking a back seat when the teachers are new/doing something completely new like two-way immersion.

It does suck that one grade is basically always going to have teachers who are doing that particular job for the first time. But then again, it also kind of sucks for the rising 2nd graders who missed two-way immersion by 1 year. Such is life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No doubt the county is flying by the seat of their pants with the new dual immersion programs. If it doesn’t show to be effective in improving test scores for key populations, I wouldn’t count on it to continue.

Schools and teachers seem to handle parent volunteers in different ways. Classroom volunteers are probably the least wanted. Offer to photocopy or help with decorating hallway areas.

This school doesn't want any volunteers even for photocopying or hall decorating.

I think they will continue it as it is something parents want. I would think its better to have an 45 minute daily instruction for all kids in the school/county in elementary school than full immersion so all kids can get some language studies in. I wouldn't count on it continuing to Newport Mills.

I'm an OTES parent and kind of agree with this- especially in an area with so many native Spanish speakers, ALL elementary students should get some exposure. They are a sponge at this age. The program at OTES is wonderful, but will not be easily replicated across the district as it is difficult to find enough teachers. MCPS is setting up a system such that a segment of the student population will be very proficient in a second language by middle school while the rest of the student population will have had no instruction at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess I’m finding these responses a little odd. I have volunteered at the school for many years, and have always felt very appreciated. No, we never got weekly summaries of their school activities, but this is public elementary, not daycare. The transition to elementary school can be hard, but public elementary schools just do not communicate as much as private daycares and preschools. And these complaints about the school’s and PTA’s websites not being up to date enough... Do you know they are managed by staff who are 10-month and currently not being paid to work? Some teacher or administrator is literally updating the website from home. And the PTA website is done by overworked volunteers. How much do you do for the PTA? Would you like to do the website? This school is free, and its focus is on educating the kids — now bilingually — not marketing and customer service.

This is the PP who wrote the book above I'm glad you have felt appreciated as a volunteer. I didn't have that experience, but once again I just started last year, and plan to try again and in different ways this upcoming year. Actually, any tips would be helpful. I completely understand why a first year teacher (which is what my son had) who is already scrambling to start a new immersion program in a new school in their first year of teaching would not have time to task manage volunteers. My concern comes from the potential that this will continue with my child's specific grade every year because the teachers will always be scrambling in their first year of teaching this way. I'm sure you can understand how you'd feel more connected after many years of feeling appreciated as a volunteer.

I also think you are overstating my expectations of a public school system. I actually stated the opposite of what you said - that I DON'T expect a weekly or even monthly update. But to never get any information home the entire year is unusual. I just spoke to a friend who works as a first grade MCPS teacher and she has an app that she uses to communicate with her parents on. She told me she tries to update it with at least one little tidbit or photo daily (!!) but if she can't, at least a few times a week. I also have a friend who worked at OTES for 12 years but is now elsewhere, whose child is in my son's grade at OTES and she is extremely surprised and disappointed by the lack of communication with parents, based on her own experience working as a teacher in the school. Of course it is not a private daycare, but getting a quarterly update on what your children are learning and not having to rely on the 5 year old to tell you is not too much to ask. Add to that unanswered e-mails, there was no way to be involved in my child's year at all.

Do you remember that survey MCPS sent home mid-year about the school/teacher's performance? MOST of the questions surrounded whether you felt you had a good handle on your child's education, and whether you felt involved in the school if you wanted to be. It's not unreasonable or holding the public school to the standard of a private daycare to want the same things that the county is clearly striving for.

As for the website, once again I feel like my bar is pretty low. We are in the digital age; the website has taken the place of sending home correspondence. I didn't go to the website to nitpick - the school sent home a letter directing me to the website, and then it was not updated since last year.

I don't want to dislike the school, and I don't. I'm hoping this year will be great, and I'm certainly going to be more proactive now that I've gotten my sea legs. I joined the PTA last year, but this year I plan to really take an active role. But communicating with parents is and always has been a part of the job description, and I think I'm rightfully disappointed that we had a radio silence Kindergarten year, especially since our children are the guinea pigs for a "pilot program."

[Anonymous]

I do not care about the website. I have tried many times to volunteer and only have once. I tried to get involved with the PTA several years and now gave up. I email offering to do what they ask and never get a response or no. It’s great if the one poster got to volunteer but they only allow a select few.

[Anonymous]

I also don’t like how they take away lunch and recess as a consequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don’t like how they take away lunch and recess as a consequence.

What does that mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don’t like how they take away lunch and recess as a consequence.

What does that mean?

It means kids eat in the office and spend lunch and recess in the office as a punishment.

[Anonymous]

The website had been updated with the new Back to School letter when I checked last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forget about that stupid lottery process. Buy a house in-bounds and your kids are on their way to bilingualism. Good show, MoCo.

Glad we bought here last year. Oldest starts in a few weeks!

Yeah I wish we had bought in-bounds for OTES! We had zeroed in on there and Flora Singer when buying a house and ended up in a neighborhood that goes to the latter. This was a few years ago and the bilingual program hadn't been proposed yet. I'm kinda bummed now even though I've heard good things about Flora Singer.

Singer is the better school overall. Much better principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The website had been updated with the new Back to School letter when I checked last night.

This is the PP who said the website wasn't updated. Credit where credit is due, they e-mailed the back to school letter and updated the website yesterday. I live extremely close to the school so maybe I got the postcard a day before they intended I'm actually feeling really hopeful for the upcoming school year. I've talked to a number of parents who feel similar to me and we have all agreed that if we feel this way we need to step up and be a presence in the school or else we can't expect change.