I have two sons at Oyster and have an absolutely amazing experience with the teachers, AP Rosa and school councilors. From my direct experience ID recommend the school 110%
But the principal resigned and at tonights community meeting the was all sorts of innuendo about issues at the school, rivalry between campus, unhappy parents etc… So please dump all the gossip here I want to know what the cool parents talk about when they are talking badly about the school, because I don’t see it, but I’d it’s there I want to invest energy in ensuring everyone has as a fantastic experience as my family and I have had |
This is only my opinion and point of view. In the three meetings that I attended with teachers and Principal, I saw disrespectful behavior towards the teachers, I understood questions from teachers but never hear answers from principal. I feel the issues and complaints from teachers were long time. They demanded answers, clarification and transparency. Principal said he was exhausted of explaining himself and being asked to prove his words.
I experienced when a group of teachers joined a meeting that was requested by parents to Principal to clarify the actions and decisions taken, parents invited teachers because they were being affected by these decisions. In the moment that teachers joined the meeting Principal stated he was not aware that the meeting will include teachers and because it was at school time he personally need to be sure classroom were being taken care. Principal abandonen the meeting and walked one by one all classrooms to be sure all kids were with an adult. In my opinion, a good leader will never doubt of the team and he will be always open to include anyone in a conversation to clarify. On the other hand, I have heard issues on lack of staff at Adams , and one teacher with a questionable behavior towards the students. But no actions taken. |
There are a few terrible teachers at Adams, and one who is pervy. The others just one or mean. |
A lot is here for you to read
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1173168.page |
This isn’t the place for these discussions. Attend OCC, attend LSAT… the issues are discussed. It is a great school but has problems, like everywhere. |
I second attending LSAT and OCC. We need more parent involvement. Not just complaints and gossip but actually helping. |
An anonymous forum is exactly the place for gossip and speculation! Especially since room parents ban it in the semi-official parent group chats.
Like it or not, humans like to informally share information. It's ridiculous to pretend someone will get the full story from official meetings and sanitized communications from DCPS. |
From the meeting a lot of us seemed to ask what’s the history not just with Pinera but with strife at OA. No one was able to answer that beyond the one teacher who seemed very angry that adams doesn’t get the love (but unclear what that means) and proud their team of underdogs still perform well. |
If discussed in that forum, or would devolve into a fight. Some comes down to resource allocations. One campus feels like they get less. Others feel that the money is just spent differently (admin heavy vs instructional assistant heavy). LSAT (and others) have been pushing for actual data on where money is spent, enrollment, which groups need the make help.. so that meaningful decisions can be made and we can make sure there isn’t an “underdog” so to speak. Everyone agrees Adams needs more support. The question is how to accomplish that. If it’s more money, let’s do that. But let’s be thoughtful about it and put it where it makes the most impact. Those are discussions the principal wouldn’t engage in. He didn’t want anyone questioning his decisions but also wouldn’t back them up with data. The campuses have different needs and are run differently. The discussions on change at either campus devolves into an argument. Part of it is parents. Early Ed parents are involved more. By middle school they check out. Adams feels that. More parents need to be at that school supporting it and that the lower campus gets more because parents are demanding and the upper campus wants that passion for them too. The move to Meyers has heightened this divide. Essentially we need a more united school. And Adams needs more. |
I will add that from what I see a lot of the divisive talk was coming from the principal’s handling of the situation. Instead if using numbers and data, he would make it an argument of one campus vs another, which is not a sentiment I have heard from any parents. Many of us have kids at both schools and don’t feel that way. So there is an issue, and we need to talk about it and address it, but the (now former) principal was making the situation much worse. |
This is very helpful context. The potential of having a high performing school k-8 is extremely exciting. The right leader seems to have a huge opportunity |
Maybe its time to just fully split the two campuses. I have not noticed any of the issues parents vaguely complain about either. My kid is having a great experience and the teachers have been amazing. |
That is also my opinion, we dont need 3 APs and 1 principal. If the campus were fully split: elementary will have 1 principal and middle school will have 1 principal. Then you have more money for teachers. The stopper is the physical space. We do not have the physical space to do so. ![]() |
What are the three AP scope of work? I’ve only been exposed to Rosa who is one of the most talented caring leaders I’ve ever seen. Is her scope PK-3rd? |
Yes. Only Oyster campus |