Oakland Terrace

[Anonymous]

Our kids aren't at OTES, but are in a language immersion program in a language that we do not know. Our oldest is starting 4th this year, and it has not been a issue at all. We use google translate when we need to help explain something, but that's about it. Our kids also knew nothing in the target language when they started K, and it was not an issue. No need to do any prep before starting K.

[Anonymous]

Agree that the admin is an issue. About 7 or 8 years ago so many talented staff members left to go to flora Singer and other places. I’d look at Singer instead of OTES.

[Anonymous]

OP, you don't need to have any particular expertise to help your child with dual immersion. Homework is pretty minimal and consists mostly of helping with basic reading/writing/numbers/concepts. I was impressed by how much Spanish (and other things) my son learned in kindergarten at OTES, but I share some of the concerns voiced my other posters. Communication was lacking, there was no opportunity to volunteer or become involved, the PTA was meager/disorganized. I can't really evaluate how good the school is because of the limited information I had regarding what went on during the school day. I just know that it was not a good fit for my family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that the admin is an issue. About 7 or 8 years ago so many talented staff members left to go to flora Singer and other places. I’d look at Singer instead of OTES.

You’re suggesting OP move? This isn’t a “we’re looking at a house in this school zone” question. OP’s kid is going there in September. She wants advice about how to prepare him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that the admin is an issue. About 7 or 8 years ago so many talented staff members left to go to flora Singer and other places. I’d look at Singer instead of OTES.

You do understand why this happened, right? The school went from something like 900 students to around 500 when Flora Singer opened essentially in the neighborhood down the street. Many teaching positions were lost. When you go from, let’s say 9 kindergarten classes, to 5 classes,staff members have to leave. There just aren’t the same number of teaching positions as there once were when the school was severely overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP teacher (couple). NO ONE values the education of their children more than teachers. Look to where teachers send their children to school. That's a hint to the better schools: we find out about the best teachers, best admin. We do our research.

If for some reason things change down the line, we move/pull out. We don't waste our time in disappointing schools.

The admin is the issue. I'm surprised they don't have more turnover.

There is very little turnover. THAT should tell you something about the admin. If staff members aren’t happy, they would leave

My kids have been at the school for several years. We've had huge turnover in vice principals and other staff. We've lost staff too. I've also seen how the admin treat teachers and don't support their or the parents concerns for the kids. Not including how some kids are treated. They don't allow parent volunteers as they don't want parents seeing or knowing what is going on.

And this is because the assistant principal position is generally supposed to be a 2-year program. If the a.p. is a good one, they move on to be a principal at a different school. There really hasn’t been a lot of turnover in staff. With the new two-way immersion program, there will be new staff members at the grade levels implementing the Spanish/English dual instruction. A certain number of staff at these grade levels must be bilingual, which means new staff members

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that the admin is an issue. About 7 or 8 years ago so many talented staff members left to go to flora Singer and other places. I’d look at Singer instead of OTES.

You’re suggesting OP move? This isn’t a “we’re looking at a house in this school zone” question. OP’s kid is going there in September. She wants advice about how to prepare him.

If OP wants to prepare, teach your child to read, handwriting, spelling and math facts. Spelling and math facts are not taught. Handwriting varies by teacher.

Also, make sure they can fend for themselves in the lunch room as they only have a few aides and don't allow parent volunteers to help open containers. Get easy to open. For K. send them in easy to take off clothing as teachers cannot help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP teacher (couple). NO ONE values the education of their children more than teachers. Look to where teachers send their children to school. That's a hint to the better schools: we find out about the best teachers, best admin. We do our research.

If for some reason things change down the line, we move/pull out. We don't waste our time in disappointing schools.

The admin is the issue. I'm surprised they don't have more turnover.

There is very little turnover. THAT should tell you something about the admin. If staff members aren’t happy, they would leave

My kids have been at the school for several years. We've had huge turnover in vice principals and other staff. We've lost staff too. I've also seen how the admin treat teachers and don't support their or the parents concerns for the kids. Not including how some kids are treated. They don't allow parent volunteers as they don't want parents seeing or knowing what is going on.

And this is because the assistant principal position is generally supposed to be a 2-year program. If the a.p. is a good one, they move on to be a principal at a different school. There really hasn’t been a lot of turnover in staff. With the new two-way immersion program, there will be new staff members at the grade levels implementing the Spanish/English dual instruction. A certain number of staff at these grade levels must be bilingual, which means new staff members

Also, in the specific case of OTES, the former AP *moved* to another state. It's flat-out false to say there's "huge turnover" at the school.

Look, I get it. There's one or maybe two parents on this board who despise OTES and seem to have an issue with the principal. The fact that ~75% of the teachers have been there 5+ years tells you all you need to know about the strength of the administration. If the teachers didn't like their administrators, they'd leave. Just the opposite occurs. The Flora Singer example above is the same: PP is either misinformed or purposely lying about the reason OTES teachers moved to Singer.

OP, we're happy there and have a younger kid starting K this year. We're excited about the immersion program and glad to be part of the community. Every school has its challenges, but overall, we're very happy where we are. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP teacher (couple). NO ONE values the education of their children more than teachers. Look to where teachers send their children to school. That's a hint to the better schools: we find out about the best teachers, best admin. We do our research.

If for some reason things change down the line, we move/pull out. We don't waste our time in disappointing schools.

The admin is the issue. I'm surprised they don't have more turnover.

There is very little turnover. THAT should tell you something about the admin. If staff members aren’t happy, they would leave

My kids have been at the school for several years. We've had huge turnover in vice principals and other staff. We've lost staff too. I've also seen how the admin treat teachers and don't support their or the parents concerns for the kids. Not including how some kids are treated. They don't allow parent volunteers as they don't want parents seeing or knowing what is going on.

Any word on how it will work when the Two Way Immersion has aged up to the whole school and families with older children move into the neighborhood? Will they be able to start at OTES in 3rd or 4th grade? I know for the regular immersion programs to start after 1st grade the kids have to pass a language proficiency test in the foreign language. What will non-Spanish speaking kids who move in later do? Will the OTES enrollment numbers decline in later grades if people move out but fewer kids can move in (if English-only speakers are sent to a different school after a certain grade)? Just curious. Sorry to derail.

And this is because the assistant principal position is generally supposed to be a 2-year program. If the a.p. is a good one, they move on to be a principal at a different school. There really hasn’t been a lot of turnover in staff. With the new two-way immersion program, there will be new staff members at the grade levels implementing the Spanish/English dual instruction. A certain number of staff at these grade levels must be bilingual, which means new staff members

Also, in the specific case of OTES, the former AP *moved* to another state. It's flat-out false to say there's "huge turnover" at the school.

Look, I get it. There's one or maybe two parents on this board who despise OTES and seem to have an issue with the principal. The fact that ~75% of the teachers have been there 5+ years tells you all you need to know about the strength of the administration. If the teachers didn't like their administrators, they'd leave. Just the opposite occurs. The Flora Singer example above is the same: PP is either misinformed or purposely lying about the reason OTES teachers moved to Singer.

OP, we're happy there and have a younger kid starting K this year. We're excited about the immersion program and glad to be part of the community. Every school has its challenges, but overall, we're very happy where we are. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Any word on how it will work when the Two Way Immersion has aged up to the whole school and families with older children move into the neighborhood? Will they be able to start at OTES in 3rd or 4th grade? I know for the regular immersion programs to start after 1st grade the kids have to pass a language proficiency test in the foreign language. What will non-Spanish speaking kids who move in later do? Will the OTES enrollment numbers decline in later grades if people move out but fewer kids can move in (if English-only speakers are sent to a different school after a certain grade)? Just curious. Sorry to derail.

Sorry for formatting fail above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the PP teacher (couple). NO ONE values the education of their children more than teachers. Look to where teachers send their children to school. That's a hint to the better schools: we find out about the best teachers, best admin. We do our research.

If for some reason things change down the line, we move/pull out. We don't waste our time in disappointing schools.

The admin is the issue. I'm surprised they don't have more turnover.

There is very little turnover. THAT should tell you something about the admin. If staff members aren’t happy, they would leave

My kids have been at the school for several years. We've had huge turnover in vice principals and other staff. We've lost staff too. I've also seen how the admin treat teachers and don't support their or the parents concerns for the kids. Not including how some kids are treated. They don't allow parent volunteers as they don't want parents seeing or knowing what is going on.

And this is because the assistant principal position is generally supposed to be a 2-year program. If the a.p. is a good one, they move on to be a principal at a different school. There really hasn’t been a lot of turnover in staff. With the new two-way immersion program, there will be new staff members at the grade levels implementing the Spanish/English dual instruction. A certain number of staff at these grade levels must be bilingual, which means new staff members

Also, in the specific case of OTES, the former AP *moved* to another state. It's flat-out false to say there's "huge turnover" at the school.

Look, I get it. There's one or maybe two parents on this board who despise OTES and seem to have an issue with the principal. The fact that ~75% of the teachers have been there 5+ years tells you all you need to know about the strength of the administration. If the teachers didn't like their administrators, they'd leave. Just the opposite occurs. The Flora Singer example above is the same: PP is either misinformed or purposely lying about the reason OTES teachers moved to Singer.

OP, we're happy there and have a younger kid starting K this year. We're excited about the immersion program and glad to be part of the community. Every school has its challenges, but overall, we're very happy where we are. Good luck!

One of the other APs that left was taken to be an acting principal (of my kids’ school), even though he hadn’t done an internship year. If anything, that specific instance shows that admin is actually pretty good. I’m a MCPS teacher, and OTES has a good reputation. I have a close friend who happily taught there for many years until his recent retirement (and was always trying to convince me to apply whenever an opening came up).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Agree that the admin is an issue. About 7 or 8 years ago so many talented staff members left to go to flora Singer and other places. I’d look at Singer instead of OTES.

You’re suggesting OP move? This isn’t a “we’re looking at a house in this school zone” question. OP’s kid is going there in September. She wants advice about how to prepare him.

If OP wants to prepare, teach your child to read, handwriting, spelling and math facts. Spelling and math facts are not taught. Handwriting varies by teacher.

Also, make sure they can fend for themselves in the lunch room as they only have a few aides and don't allow parent volunteers to help open containers. Get easy to open. For K. send them in easy to take off clothing as teachers cannot help.

There goes your credibility. You clearly have your own opinion of what should be taught and how. OTES teaches the same curriculum as every other MCPS ES. The immersion factor does not change the material that is covered in kindergarten.

OP, you don’t NEED to do anything to prep your son for the Spanish part, but if you want to do something, you could check out some Spanish “my first words” board books from the library. Also, the Disney channel app has Disney Junior shows in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks all for the helpful feedback! It won't always be positive, and that's fine, but I appreciate the honest answers and positivity in answering my question.

[Anonymous]

OP, I expect it will be great. There are very few families with direct experience of the new 2-way immersion, but many local families who have loved OTES and are jealous of the new families getting immersion!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are *many* teacher parents whose kids go to OTES. They are onto something.

They don’t make a lot of money and their options are limited in this very expensive metro area. That is what it is saying

Those parent value and know a good education. Former colleague (with PhD Justin and spouse we/masters) were very happy with OTES. Children were prepared for MCPS magnet programs and are excelling.

And the local lower cohort will help your middle class kids stand out and justify magnet slots. If you went to better schools they might only be average and most of those parents have both advanced degrees and incomes compared to only the later. I would do the same if I were you and that was my best option.