Oyster-Adam teacher arrested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I would like someone to clarify that as well, because while I accept that we can't necessarily pick out the molester ahead of time, this is an obvious bad policy, which opens the door. This is something that can and should be changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I read through a few of the auction nights and didn't notice any that specifically said "at his place"; whereas many others mentioned a couple of people's names or a Mr and Mrs, this one stood out. I think OA was probably blinded by his star quality and charisma and let some things slide that are there own would have not been "red flags" of abuse, but would have been addressed as perhaps not responsible behavior for an adult teacher. For example, a female teacher friend invited a female ESL student (who was over 17 and in DC without her parents) to her house for Thanksgiving at her home, the principal saw the notice about the family Thanksgiving party and told the teacher that she could not invite a student to her home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

15:48 again. Also, I'm sorry this happened at your family's school. It really is devastating, and I feel so badly for those children who are struggling with this betrayal by a beloved teacher. It must be very difficult for them to wrap their head around it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I read through a few of the auction nights and didn't notice any that specifically said "at his place"; whereas many others mentioned a couple of people's names or a Mr and Mrs, this one stood out. I think OA was probably blinded by his star quality and charisma and let some things slide that are there own would have not been "red flags" of abuse, but would have been addressed as perhaps not responsible behavior for an adult teacher. For example, a female teacher friend invited a female ESL student (who was over 17 and in DC without her parents) to her house for Thanksgiving at her home, the principal saw the notice about the family Thanksgiving party and told the teacher that she could not invite a student to her home.

"You and two friends will join Mr. Peña for pizza and a movie at his place." I'm assuming this means at his home, maybe not.

http://oysteradamsauction.maestroweb.com/Details.aspx?OrgID=911&ItemID=472

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I read through a few of the auction nights and didn't notice any that specifically said "at his place"; whereas many others mentioned a couple of people's names or a Mr and Mrs, this one stood out. I think OA was probably blinded by his star quality and charisma and let some things slide that are there own would have not been "red flags" of abuse, but would have been addressed as perhaps not responsible behavior for an adult teacher. For example, a female teacher friend invited a female ESL student (who was over 17 and in DC without her parents) to her house for Thanksgiving at her home, the principal saw the notice about the family Thanksgiving party and told the teacher that she could not invite a student to her home.

"You and two friends will join Mr. Peña for pizza and a movie at his place." I'm assuming this means at his home, maybe not.

http://oysteradamsauction.maestroweb.com/Details.aspx?OrgID=911&ItemID=472

What else could it mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

15:48 again. Also, I'm sorry this happened at your family's school. It really is devastating, and I feel so badly for those children who are struggling with this betrayal by a beloved teacher. It must be very difficult for them to wrap their head around it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I read through a few of the auction nights and didn't notice any that specifically said "at his place"; whereas many others mentioned a couple of people's names or a Mr and Mrs, this one stood out. I think OA was probably blinded by his star quality and charisma and let some things slide that are there own would have not been "red flags" of abuse, but would have been addressed as perhaps not responsible behavior for an adult teacher. For example, a female teacher friend invited a female ESL student (who was over 17 and in DC without her parents) to her house for Thanksgiving at her home, the principal saw the notice about the family Thanksgiving party and told the teacher that she could not invite a student to her home.

"You and two friends will join Mr. Peña for pizza and a movie at his place." I'm assuming this means at his home, maybe not.

http://oysteradamsauction.maestroweb.com/Details.aspx?OrgID=911&ItemID=472

Of course it means at his house.
This particular child had been victimized for how many months before anything came to light? Since last year?
Mr. Pretty Guy apparently wanted to step-up his selection of prey.

[Anonymous]

Pena took care of some oyster kids during the summers -- picking up from camp etc

[Anonymous]

This all sounds a lot like what happened at Beauvoir. There the teacher got very friendly with certain families, spent the night at their homes, took care of kids off school hours, etc. As a parent, I think that's the behavior I'd watch out for, not a knee jerk reaction of no male teachers. It's not weird for a man to want to be a teacher or take care of kids. It's weird when your fourth grade teacher sleeps over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pena took care of some oyster kids during the summers -- picking up from camp etc

Great. More potential victims.
At his place or the kid's place?
The police posted a phone number someplace for more victims to please come forward. This may take a while to unravel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I would like someone to clarify that as well, because while I accept that we can't necessarily pick out the molester ahead of time, this is an obvious bad policy, which opens the door. This is something that can and should be changed.

Agreed, but it should be made clear in the ad to protect teachers and students. Oyster-Adams should review some of their policies around teacher and student conduct.

[Anonymous]

I just want to point out that the auctions are conducted by the PTA. These events are huge and require an enormous amount of work by busy parent volunteers. It is very common for teachers to offer special experiences at the auction, and these are often the most popular items.

This is all just to say that I wouldn't necessarily blame the school for "allowing" this to be in the auction. The auction team was probably overworked and didn't really register this as an ill-advised idea. Obviously moving forward this needs to be something the auction committee is aware of and vigilant about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an O-A family. Mr. Pena was everyone's favorite, smart, engaged, and never set off anyone's creep detector. It is completely and totally astonishing to me. People on this thread understandably are trying to come up with "red flags" that weren't seen or policies that weren't implemented to make themselves feel better, like now they know what DIDN'T work they can prevent whether it could possibly happen to them, their kids, their school. But it can. This case is proof that it can. It is a terrible terrible thing that has happened. Teach your kids to talk to you and believe them when they do.

I agree.

My DC will be starting O-A in August. One of the issues raised that concerns me is the offering of the movie night auction item. I'm not suggesting that the children who attended or were going to attend the movie night hosted by Mr. Pena were harmed or there was intention to harm them. It just seems odd that the administration would condone that level of familiarity. Admittedly, I'm ignorant about the details and whether or not a parent chaperone would have been required to be present.

I would like someone to clarify that as well, because while I accept that we can't necessarily pick out the molester ahead of time, this is an obvious bad policy, which opens the door. This is something that can and should be changed.

Agreed, but it should be made clear in the ad to protect teachers and students. Oyster-Adams should review some of their policies around teacher and student conduct.

And teacher dress code. Most schools certainly have a dress code in place for the kids. I still can't quite envision a teacher wearing "short shorts" and all people did was flutter their eyelashes.

[Anonymous]

Can the OA people posting on this thread please try to remember that our kids are being impacted by not only by this event but also by what's said about it by adults?

Kids at the school already think they know who the victim is based on details reported by the news media. Can we please not contribute to more kids potentially being thought by their classmates to have been involved in this by posting details of all of Mr. Pena's interactions with OA families over the years? If you have concerns, please immediately report them to MPD, but don't dig into kids personal lives on an internet forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can the OA people posting on this thread please try to remember that our kids are being impacted by not only by this event but also by what's said about it by adults?

Kids at the school already think they know who the victim is based on details reported by the news media. Can we please not contribute to more kids potentially being thought by their classmates to have been involved in this by posting details of all of Mr. Pena's interactions with OA families over the years? If you have concerns, please immediately report them to MPD, but don't dig into kids personal lives on an internet forum.

I understand your concerns, but doubt many students read this thread or any other on DCUM. However, they do use many other forms of social media to communicate. I think this is a valid forum for adults to post their concerns, and for the most part, with the monitoring by Jeff, the posts have remained non-intrusive, non-salacious, and non-malicious.