s/o Future of Oyster-Adams
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Anonymous
Hmm. Nothing easy, and certainly nothing that will make everyone happy. 1. Dump the 50:50 spanish-english speakers, accept only in boundary kids and fill the rest with OOB lottery. 2. Dump the middle school, expand the lower grades to accommodate all IB (mostly English dominant) kids and be able to balance them fully with OOB (mostly Spanish dominant) kids. 3. Move to lottery only, 50-50 english and spanish. 4. Disallow families from having another choice for middle school, thereby retaining most of the population who would peel off for Deal. I guess people could still leave for private or Basis. But this doesn't solve overcrowding issues at the lower levels. 5. Re-draw boundaries, shaving off some of Woodley Park to reduce the English-dominant kids. Fill the Spanish dominant slots with lottery. Still unanswered: what happens to kids already enrolled? Are any changes effective immediately or do they change from the year 20__ (whenever changes are made) forward? This response is only from a parent who has kids at the school and who is full of opinions but does not possess any real power other to attend meetings at which these topics are discussed. Also the list (obviously) is not comprehensive. |
Anonymous
| My child went through OA and now, in high school, is finding gaping holes in Spanish grammar and English spelling. There needs to be more focus on these areas, starting in middle school. |
Anonymous
+1000 Non-native Spanish speaker here who worked long and hard to gain a fairly deep understanding of Spanish grammar and syntax. I find the writing of some of the MS students surprisingly poor. There seems to be an idea that kids will magically absorb grammar from the couple of hours of Spanish verbal instruction per day, with no instruction of the Spanish language. For a school that talks about graduating biliterate students, it's surprising that they don't see that kids need to be taught language. |
Anonymous
| Perhaps a native Spanish speaking principal would have an edge... |
Anonymous
+1. Dozens of other schools have more than one campus, and don't get hysteric about it. Also, wasn't the current principal the one in favor of taking over the Adams campus? |
Anonymous
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The school had the two campus model before the current Principal came on board.
To the poster who said the Spanish teacher after pre-K isn't so important, why do you think that? The Spanish teacher is important through all the grades. My two kids had a very different experience in learning Spanish at O/A. One had the "great" teachers and the other did not. I am fortunate that the second DC has an ear for language and has picked up a lot, but it is because we speak Spanish at home (altho non-native). To the poster with the list, I would add the following, altho my list is more on changing the academics: 1. Remove some of the teachers (some English/some Spanish): There are three or four "floating" teachers who need to be replaced with those who can focus on math or Spanish. I am amazed that the Principal retained a few of the teachers for this year. She simply had them switch campuses so parents are not aware of what they were getting. 2. Require middle school teachers to differentiate, particularly in math. 3. Needs to be oversight of teaching pods to ensure that each group of kids is benefitting from the great ideas of the teachers. Right now, one pod will require certain reading and writing assignments and the other does not. Parents feel that their child is not learning as much as the children in the other class. Honestly, it would cut down on some of the internal complaints. 4. Not everything can be done online. My kid goes weeks with no assignments for homework. There are math assignments online but it isn't geared for his level. 5. Follow up, follow up, follow up. The leadership must follow-up with teachers, parents, and other administrative folks with respect to disciplinary issues and academic concerns. When issues are raised and all parties agree on a plan, there seems to be no follow through (except maybe for a week or so). 6. Leadership needs to realize that confrontation is part of the job. That said, certain parents need to realize that sometimes it is their kid who is the problem. |
Anonymous
+1000. My impression from attending the LSAT meeting was that a move to one building in a new neighborhood (I heard Petworth mentioned) is really about the principal's (and some other admins/teachers') convenience. There was absolutely no mention about how disruptive a move will be for the students. So much for putting the children first. |
Anonymous
| Gee, why would DCPS consider having Walls' principal reside over two campuses now (Francis Stevens and Walls at GWU) if it's so difficult? How do GDS, WIS, and other successful schools manage more than one campus with one principal? Isn't it clear where the weakness lies? With the robotic, lousy principal. |
Anonymous
| WHo makes the decision to move? Does DCPS? How can a principal just move an entire school? You have got to be kid ding me. |
Anonymous
Neither WIS nor GDS has a single principal spanning two campuses. WIS has a principal for each division (primary, middle, and upper) and a head of school (all 3 divisions) over them. Same for GDS, I think. |
Anonymous
And OA has multiple assistant principals, so it's the same thing, overall |
Anonymous
no, not really the issue, as there are deficiencies in english instruction also |
Anonymous
| 20:51 is correct, of course it equals out -- OA principal boosters are full of excuses, excuses! And at WIS and GDS there is a single person over-seeing all campuses, which touches upon yet another obvious weakness of OA principal, they know how to DELEGATE. Monica can't deal with talented talent, nor can she handle confrontation whether in the best interests of the school or not. An excellent leader is able to appoint and mobilize, as the recent refrain has been around presidential politics, a 'team of rivals'. She is intimidated by talent in her own teaching corps, and is incapable of recruiting strong AP staff. A weak leader can hang on and mask deficiencies by smartly appointing staff who will make them look good -- she can't even tell the difference. |
Anonymous
No, she can't. DCPS makes the decision, not the principal. Monica saw the boundary issue as an opportunity to advance her own agenda. Not a smart move on her part. I guess she didn't realize that it's much easier to replace a mediocre principal than to move a successful school. She may be an educator, but she's about to be schooled. |
Anonymous
I thought Michelle Rhee fired the principal of Oyster... |