Oakridge Principal

[Anonymous]

I heard a year ago that a 4th grade class had such behavior problems that it required the principal to intervene. Teachers left. Perhaps that is behind the poster's wish that the administration had handled earlier issues differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I heard a year ago that a 4th grade class had such behavior problems that it required the principal to intervene. Teachers left. Perhaps that is behind the poster's wish that the administration had handled earlier issues differently.

Well this also happened with the 5th grade class at Discovery last year. 2/3 teachers left mid year, kid's (particularly boy's) behavior was horrible and admin was no help. And these are 'nice rich white kids'.

[Anonymous]

“Admin was no help” is almost always the common denominator in severe behavior cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People ask me why I’m so hostile to so-called affordable housing.

This is why. This school. This fight. This incident at Outdoor Lab. That’s why I hate AHC, APAH, and all the so-called do glider SJWs who stick us with dangerous kids. No thanks. Put those kids into evening school and let real kids get an education without worrying about running into those kids and parents like these Oakridge fighters.

Real kids? That’s fun.

Ugh. This person wanted exactly this reaction. Don’t feed the trolls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone said this on the locked thread, and I have a question….

It was awful, but there is a backstory and I'm actually more interested in accountability for the way the school handled what led to the situation. I'd like that much more than public shaming those involved. I'm so disappointed with the school and I can't wait to be done with it. Also let's hear it for the elementary school teachers who broke up a fight! Sheesh, I bet that wasn't on their 2023 bingo card.

What did the school do wrong?

If there is was a significant back story that the school knew about, then they should have ensured the parents were nowhere near each other. Or maybe talked to each of them about NOT provoking each other. Obviously adults should be adults, but depending on whatever the backstory is (and clearly it was quite significant since it led to a fight), there should have been some planning by the school[b].

Disagree. Absolutely not the APS administration’s role (or any other school) to keep adults from physically assaulting one another. How can that possibly be? They are in charge of administering our children’s education. No one pays them enough to also keep adults from committing crimes.

It absolutely is any administration's role to keep school children safe. Whether the fight was foreseeable or not will depend on the facts we don't have here in this thread. I stand by what I said before. If there was a significant backstory the school now about, they should have ensured the parents were nowhere near each other.

[Anonymous]

My hypothesis is that if this involves the incident at the Overnight Lab, it would seem to be that it is being handled as a law enforcement investigation/matter. I imagine/hope that Oakridge would comply with any directives or guidance the APD/CPS would give the school as far as the children are concerned. I'd also guess that Oakridge cannot prohibit or otherwise restrict participation in school events absent criminal charges or restraining orders, etc. So, their hands may have been tied in this matter.

The sad part is that kids who have been perpetrated on typically are the ones that perpetrate on other children, but, given that this involves 5th graders, who are on the cusp of if not already hitting puberty, it could be that this involved curious kids--where both kids were curious, but, maybe one family party was upset by it and pressed charges or called for an investigation. Hopefully it was not an outright assault. Many facts are left out and unknown and likely to remain that way given the nature of the incident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My hypothesis is that if this involves the incident at the Overnight Lab, it would seem to be that it is being handled as a law enforcement investigation/matter. I imagine/hope that Oakridge would comply with any directives or guidance the APD/CPS would give the school as far as the children are concerned. I'd also guess that Oakridge cannot prohibit or otherwise restrict participation in school events absent criminal charges or restraining orders, etc. So, their hands may have been tied in this matter.

The sad part is that kids who have been perpetrated on typically are the ones that perpetrate on other children, but, given that this involves 5th graders, who are on the cusp of if not already hitting puberty, it could be that this involved curious kids--where both kids were curious, but, maybe one family party was upset by it and pressed charges or called for an investigation. Hopefully it was not an outright assault. Many facts are left out and unknown and likely to remain that way given the nature of the incident.

Yes, it is true that sometimes children who perpetrate on others have already been perpetrated on. There are other scenarios, though, like one that we encountered in preschool. A child accused the teacher of sexual abuse. There was a full investigation, children in the school had to go to speak with forensic investigators, etc. As it turns out, the accusing child was actually being abused by someone in their family, but said it was someone at school. Very difficult situation all around. For the teacher who was blamed falsely, the children at school who had to speak with forensic investigators and lose their teacher, and the child and family.

My point is sometimes these cases aren’t straightforward. There are times when a child blames another child because something else is actually going on at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My hypothesis is that if this involves the incident at the Overnight Lab, it would seem to be that it is being handled as a law enforcement investigation/matter. I imagine/hope that Oakridge would comply with any directives or guidance the APD/CPS would give the school as far as the children are concerned. I'd also guess that Oakridge cannot prohibit or otherwise restrict participation in school events absent criminal charges or restraining orders, etc. So, their hands may have been tied in this matter.

The sad part is that kids who have been perpetrated on typically are the ones that perpetrate on other children, but, given that this involves 5th graders, who are on the cusp of if not already hitting puberty, it could be that this involved curious kids--where both kids were curious, but, maybe one family party was upset by it and pressed charges or called for an investigation. Hopefully it was not an outright assault. Many facts are left out and unknown and likely to remain that way given the nature of the incident.

Yes, it is true that sometimes children who perpetrate on others have already been perpetrated on. There are other scenarios, though, like one that we encountered in preschool. A child accused the teacher of sexual abuse. There was a full investigation, children in the school had to go to speak with forensic investigators, etc. As it turns out, the accusing child was actually being abused by someone in their family, but said it was someone at school. Very difficult situation all around. For the teacher who was blamed falsely, the children at school who had to speak with forensic investigators and lose their teacher, and the child and family.

My point is sometimes these cases aren’t straightforward. There are times when a child blames another child because something else is actually going on at home.

There’s a huge difference between a preschooler and a fifth grader

[Anonymous]

We tolerated her for years for our older kid, who was an excellent student and put with the gifted clusters and thrived. Our younger student had more issues, and the principal was completely unresponsive. We moved her out, and didn't even consider sending our third there. I would do Montessori or Claremont or ATS instead.

[Anonymous]

PS Any consideration we might have given to reconsider Oakridge was washed away when the principal announced that there would no longer be any homework besides reading. I don't know if that's still the policy, but I'm a firm believer in math practice.... but especially at Oakridge, where the students already come in with extremely different levels of parental involvement and preparation, "no homework" makes it that more difficult to make sure everyone is keeping caught up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PS Any consideration we might have given to reconsider Oakridge was washed away when the principal announced that there would no longer be any homework besides reading. I don't know if that's still the policy, but I'm a firm believer in math practice.... but especially at Oakridge, where the students already come in with extremely different levels of parental involvement and preparation, "no homework" makes it that more difficult to make sure everyone is keeping caught up.

That’s happening across APS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS Any consideration we might have given to reconsider Oakridge was washed away when the principal announced that there would no longer be any homework besides reading. I don't know if that's still the policy, but I'm a firm believer in math practice.... but especially at Oakridge, where the students already come in with extremely different levels of parental involvement and preparation, "no homework" makes it that more difficult to make sure everyone is keeping caught up.

That’s happening across APS

+1. Not an Oakridge parent. Firmly behind the no homework in elementary school policy. And so is widely held science. But you drill your kid on some math practice all afternoon 🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS Any consideration we might have given to reconsider Oakridge was washed away when the principal announced that there would no longer be any homework besides reading. I don't know if that's still the policy, but I'm a firm believer in math practice.... but especially at Oakridge, where the students already come in with extremely different levels of parental involvement and preparation, "no homework" makes it that more difficult to make sure everyone is keeping caught up.

That’s happening across APS

+1. Not an Oakridge parent. Firmly behind the no homework in elementary school policy. And so is widely held science. But you drill your kid on some math practice all afternoon 🙄

WE recently found our elementary school handbook from a local APS school from 1983 (maybe 82) and it also said that they homework is not helpful for elementary school kids and recommended they read the newspaper each day

[Anonymous]

Mileage may vary, but, our 3rd grader started homework this year--and it was VERY eye opening. It allowed us to see our child's strengths and deficits--granted this is a kid whose kindergarten year-2nd grade basically was disrupted by COVID. But, I've been grateful for the homework as a tool to help me know where my child is and where they need additional support. In addition to prepping them for eventual middle school, etc.

[Anonymous]

Don’t kid yourself, people. People with resources have their kids do extra work (after school, on weekends, or at least during the summer) even if there isn’t homework assigned by the school. Especially private school kids. You know, the other kids your child will be competing against when applying to college.

The gap keeps widening and widening…