Asking for Advice - Rejection from Oyster-Adams Preschool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Umm, I used the 'counseling out' term and posted about SN kids being asked to leave Oyster. I'm not the Oyster stalker, whoever(s) that is. I'm more of an 'SN Advocate' - you can find my posts all over the SN board.

I'm not sure why 'counseling out' would be a private school only term if Oyster can ask SN kids to leave (and go to a monolingual school in the system). Doesn't 'counseling out' just mean being asked to leave a school? Not 'expelled', just suggested that "this isn't working for you", "we can't serve your child", and "we hope you will take the hint and leave".....

Charter schools can't do this -- when they did, years ago, there was a lot of complaints/upheaval around it. But Oyster still can.

Pressuring people to leave a school is often an easier path than working with a family to meet a child's special needs. It would also probably boost test scores.

You post that Oyster can pressure kids to leave. What exactly is that based on? Are you the "I heard it on the playground poster" or are you aware of actual litigation or complaints to the ombudsman or instructional superintendent or OSSE? Are you aware of OSSE due process hearings for OA students?

I ask because I am an Oyster parent, a parent of a kid with an IEP and significant LDs, and someone who works full time in the developmental disabilities field, and I simply haven't heard of the stuff that you are alleging. I will tell you that in my field, virtually everything that happens to move the needle has been driven by litigation (e.g. Evans lawsuit in DC, DRO class action in Ohio, Commonwealth/DOJ settlement in VA), so I'm pretty sure you that if Oyster were pressuring kids to leave due to SN, there would be some litigation (we wouldn't have hesitated to sue after exhausting other remedies, for example).

I DO know of several kids who left Adams because they couldn't do the work in Spanish, but none of them happened to be SN kids. If a SN kid left Oyster because s/he was unable to do the work or follow what was going on in class in Spanish, would you claim that was because they were "counseled out" as SN kids or would you acknowledge that the issue was Spanish?

[Anonymous]

Diego, do you have any update on where things stand? Have you talked to DCPS (above the Oyster level) and My School DC? I believe MSDC will place you back on the waitlists you were dropped from in the initial lottery based on your actual lottery number (and not at the end of the line as you would if you applied after the lottery). Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Umm, I used the 'counseling out' term and posted about SN kids being asked to leave Oyster. I'm not the Oyster stalker, whoever(s) that is. I'm more of an 'SN Advocate' - you can find my posts all over the SN board.

I'm not sure why 'counseling out' would be a private school only term if Oyster can ask SN kids to leave (and go to a monolingual school in the system). Doesn't 'counseling out' just mean being asked to leave a school? Not 'expelled', just suggested that "this isn't working for you", "we can't serve your child", and "we hope you will take the hint and leave".....

Charter schools can't do this -- when they did, years ago, there was a lot of complaints/upheaval around it. But Oyster still can.

Pressuring people to leave a school is often an easier path than working with a family to meet a child's special needs. It would also probably boost test scores.

I'm the parent of an Oyster-Adams SN student. I have NEVER heard of a SN student being 'counseled out' or asked to leave. It doesn't matter that O-A is a bilingual school. The school could be sued for doing what you are claiming.

[Anonymous]

Interested in knowing what a FOIA request is and how to submit it. Also concerned about the lack of transparency on the exam and the bias applied in the process. Some kids get a second chance, others do not. This is not fair. Some kids get in when you talk to the right person or the right person talks to Berrocal or the Principal. Not fair. The Principal does have something to say as I was told during the parent interview that I had failed.

[Anonymous]

Yes. How do you submit a FOIA request asking to see the instructions, training, documentation and directives given to the teachers conducting the test? Besides, release all results, make process transparent and stop making biased, personal and unfair admission decisions. I know students accepted this year and past years that are not Spanish dominant. How do they get accepted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. How do you submit a FOIA request asking to see the instructions, training, documentation and directives given to the teachers conducting the test? Besides, release all results, make process transparent and stop making biased, personal and unfair admission decisions. I know students accepted this year and past years that are not Spanish dominant. How do they get accepted?

Contact the DCPS FOIA officer with questions. https://dcps.dc.gov/page/open-government-and-foia-dcps

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I will do that. It is time that this process becomes transparent. Parents will be more likely to accept a rejection if they know it is the result of an objective, thorough and fair process, not a personal decision. Are there any other ideas in case this does not work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. I will do that. It is time that this process becomes transparent. Parents will be more likely to accept a rejection if they know it is the result of an objective, thorough and fair process, not a personal decision. Are there any other ideas in case this does not work?

Your best bet: Move IB.
Other parents appeal their Oyster OOB rejections all the way up to the Chancellor's Office EVERY YEAR...their children still don't get in. The FOIA request won't help you either. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP parent of a kid with an IEP at Oyster who also works in the DD field and said that I expect there'd be litigation if SN kids were being discriminated against.

Here's an article about getting your child's educational records using FERPA and/or FOIA request that may be of interest to you. This kind of issue comes up all the time with families that I work with:

https://www.pogowasright.org/requesting-your-childs-education-records-ferpa-foia-or-both/

[Anonymous]

Thank you but I am in boundary, with sibling preference and Spanish proficiency. It hurts to see that they accept whoever they want and that what they sell as a "rigorous admission process" is that a personal decision, not sure based on what. I am not so much interested in trying to appeal the decision as in making sure that the process becomes open and fair, which it is not at the moment. Glad to hear that parents are doing something and I believe that the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to be forced to do something. Will a lawyer help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you but I am in boundary, with sibling preference and Spanish proficiency. It hurts to see that they accept whoever they want and that what they sell as a "rigorous admission process" is that a personal decision, not sure based on what. I am not so much interested in trying to appeal the decision as in making sure that the process becomes open and fair, which it is not at the moment. Glad to hear that parents are doing something and I believe that the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to be forced to do something. Will a lawyer help?

A lawyer probably won't help. No one is entitled to PK in the city, and if you are IB your child can attend by right in K.

I agree DCPS should have clear criteria and training so that the screening is done consistently. I also believe that a preschool child's language dominance would be easier to determine during a home visit than an interview at an unfamiliar school. What I wouldn't want to see is lots of specific details about what is on the evaluation published, so that people could game the system by prepping the child. That would ABSOLUTELY happen in this city, and it would advantage families with more resources, whose children may or may not really be dominant in the target language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you but I am in boundary, with sibling preference and Spanish proficiency. It hurts to see that they accept whoever they want and that what they sell as a "rigorous admission process" is that a personal decision, not sure based on what. I am not so much interested in trying to appeal the decision as in making sure that the process becomes open and fair, which it is not at the moment. Glad to hear that parents are doing something and I believe that the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to be forced to do something. Will a lawyer help?

Probably not, but why don’t you hire a lawyer and see what happens. You won’t be the first person to (unsuccessfully) sue Oyster because you don’t like the admissions result.

You’re also NOT an IB parent.

[Anonymous]

OP, did you have any luck with My School DC getting back on the waitlists for the schools that you were initially dropped from? They should put you on based on your lottery number, so you would not be at the end of the line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you but I am in boundary, with sibling preference and Spanish proficiency. It hurts to see that they accept whoever they want and that what they sell as a "rigorous admission process" is that a personal decision, not sure based on what. I am not so much interested in trying to appeal the decision as in making sure that the process becomes open and fair, which it is not at the moment. Glad to hear that parents are doing something and I believe that the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to be forced to do something. Will a lawyer help?

Probably not, but why don’t you hire a lawyer and see what happens. You won’t be the first person to (unsuccessfully) sue Oyster because you don’t like the admissions result.

You’re also NOT an IB parent.

Curious- do you know the PP?

Or this classic oyster bully culture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you but I am in boundary, with sibling preference and Spanish proficiency. It hurts to see that they accept whoever they want and that what they sell as a "rigorous admission process" is that a personal decision, not sure based on what. I am not so much interested in trying to appeal the decision as in making sure that the process becomes open and fair, which it is not at the moment. Glad to hear that parents are doing something and I believe that the more complaints they get, the more likely they are to be forced to do something. Will a lawyer help?

Probably not, but why don’t you hire a lawyer and see what happens. You won’t be the first person to (unsuccessfully) sue Oyster because you don’t like the admissions result.

You’re also NOT an IB parent.

Curious- do you know the PP?

Or this classic oyster bully culture?

Both