Entering Oyster as Spanish-dominant -- Spanish proficiency test?

[Anonymous]

Now I have to go find the Landon posts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about white kids and other non-Latino kids who have grown up in Spanish speaking countries? Oil brats, military folks, Foreign Service? Surely you are not suggesting that one must be Latino to be fully bilingual.

A previous poster already explained this. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It refers to one's primary language. If a military or embassy couple in Colombia has a kid there, is fully immersed in local culture and language, and as a result the kid feels most comfortable speaking Spanish, sure, he or she is Spanish dominant and can apply to one of those special spots at Oyster.

If not, he or she can apply to the school in the main English dominant group, like everyone else.

I think some posters are utterly ignoring the point of being bilingual. It's not just apples OR oranges, people. And, Previous posters seem to be suggesting that one must be Latino to get a Spanish Dom spot, i.e:

"No, this is directed at the poster with the "white" kid who says that she lied to get in. OOB Latinos (of all races) are welcomed at Oyster. Non-Latinos who get their kids in via nanny or daycare Spanish, like you, are liars and thieves."

In other words, PP seems to be saying that bilingual Latinos are welcome, but bilingual white or black or green people are not. This discussion is very one dimensional.

I don't think that anyone said that bilingual whites or blacks are not welcome at Oyster. There are white, black and Asian Latinos. Spaniards, according to the U.S. Census are also Latino. The United States Census uses the term Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." That's a very broad definition. Oyster has Latinos that look like every race on earth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about white kids and other non-Latino kids who have grown up in Spanish speaking countries? Oil brats, military folks, Foreign Service? Surely you are not suggesting that one must be Latino to be fully bilingual.

A previous poster already explained this. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It refers to one's primary language. If a military or embassy couple in Colombia has a kid there, is fully immersed in local culture and language, and as a result the kid feels most comfortable speaking Spanish, sure, he or she is Spanish dominant and can apply to one of those special spots at Oyster.

If not, he or she can apply to the school in the main English dominant group, like everyone else.

I think some posters are utterly ignoring the point of being bilingual. It's not just apples OR oranges, people. And, Previous posters seem to be suggesting that one must be Latino to get a Spanish Dom spot, i.e:

"No, this is directed at the poster with the "white" kid who says that she lied to get in. OOB Latinos (of all races) are welcomed at Oyster. Non-Latinos who get their kids in via nanny or daycare Spanish, like you, are liars and thieves."

In other words, PP seems to be saying that bilingual Latinos are welcome, but bilingual white or black or green people are not. This discussion is very one dimensional.

I don't think that anyone said that bilingual whites or blacks are not welcome at Oyster. There are white, black and Asian Latinos. Spaniards, according to the U.S. Census are also Latino. The United States Census uses the term Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." That's a very broad definition. Oyster has Latinos that look like every race on earth.

+1. Some troll has been trying to stir the pot with baseless, offensive accusations. Whatever her agenda, let's ignore her posts, simply report them to Jeff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about white kids and other non-Latino kids who have grown up in Spanish speaking countries? Oil brats, military folks, Foreign Service? Surely you are not suggesting that one must be Latino to be fully bilingual.

A previous poster already explained this. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It refers to one's primary language. If a military or embassy couple in Colombia has a kid there, is fully immersed in local culture and language, and as a result the kid feels most comfortable speaking Spanish, sure, he or she is Spanish dominant and can apply to one of those special spots at Oyster.

If not, he or she can apply to the school in the main English dominant group, like everyone else.

I think some posters are utterly ignoring the point of being bilingual. It's not just apples OR oranges, people. And, Previous posters seem to be suggesting that one must be Latino to get a Spanish Dom spot, i.e:

"No, this is directed at the poster with the "white" kid who says that she lied to get in. OOB Latinos (of all races) are welcomed at Oyster. Non-Latinos who get their kids in via nanny or daycare Spanish, like you, are liars and thieves."

In other words, PP seems to be saying that bilingual Latinos are welcome, but bilingual white or black or green people are not. This discussion is very one dimensional.

I don't think that anyone said that bilingual whites or blacks are not welcome at Oyster. There are white, black and Asian Latinos. Spaniards, according to the U.S. Census are also Latino. The United States Census uses the term Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." That's a very broad definition. Oyster has Latinos that look like every race on earth.

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer. For one, when the generation of kids coming out of bilingual programs are parents, they are going to seek Spanish dom. classification for their kids. This will be because many of those kids will chose to immerse their own children in the Spanish language, the language they themselves learned in a bilingual program. If they marry a fellow immersion alum or a Spanish-speaker of Latino decent and raise their children bilingual there would be no grounds to refuse their non-Latino or half-Latino native speakers a Span. dom. seat. I've engaged the principal about this and she's level headed and understands this, unlike the strangely angry IBs families who want to preserve Spanish dom. seats for people only of Latin decent. Secondly, Spaniards from Spain are not Latino. If you understand the origin of the term, Latino was coined by a Frenchman to refer to the peoples of America whose language was of Latin origin, including Spanish, French and Portuguese. You should do your research before posting falsehoods on here.

[Anonymous]

No dog in this fight (kids go to a different school), but my kids went to a bilingual daycare in that area. Any kid from that daycare would pass the Oyster Spanish test. Several kids I know over the years who are IB for Oyster didn't get in for PK4 and were from English-dominant families (even when one parent could speak Spanish fluently, they were honest that it wasn't the dominant language in the house) and did the right thing and waited a year until K. Others who were IB or OOB with proximity lied and got their kid in as Spanish dominant. I agree that this is totally wrong and the school should better enforce that rule. I'm not sure what it makes people crazy or racist to feel that way. Rules are rules.

[Anonymous]

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer.

The answer is YES they are welcome. Please let's put an end to this discussion. My kids are OOB at Oyster and we are white Latinos. There are MANY other families like us. There are also OOB Black Latinos at Oyster, my kids have friends in at least two of these families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about white kids and other non-Latino kids who have grown up in Spanish speaking countries? Oil brats, military folks, Foreign Service? Surely you are not suggesting that one must be Latino to be fully bilingual.

A previous poster already explained this. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It refers to one's primary language. If a military or embassy couple in Colombia has a kid there, is fully immersed in local culture and language, and as a result the kid feels most comfortable speaking Spanish, sure, he or she is Spanish dominant and can apply to one of those special spots at Oyster.

If not, he or she can apply to the school in the main English dominant group, like everyone else.

I think some posters are utterly ignoring the point of being bilingual. It's not just apples OR oranges, people. And, Previous posters seem to be suggesting that one must be Latino to get a Spanish Dom spot, i.e:

"No, this is directed at the poster with the "white" kid who says that she lied to get in. OOB Latinos (of all races) are welcomed at Oyster. Non-Latinos who get their kids in via nanny or daycare Spanish, like you, are liars and thieves."

In other words, PP seems to be saying that bilingual Latinos are welcome, but bilingual white or black or green people are not. This discussion is very one dimensional.

I don't think that anyone said that bilingual whites or blacks are not welcome at Oyster. There are white, black and Asian Latinos. Spaniards, according to the U.S. Census are also Latino. The United States Census uses the term Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." That's a very broad definition. Oyster has Latinos that look like every race on earth.

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer. For one, when the generation of kids coming out of bilingual programs are parents, they are going to seek Spanish dom. classification for their kids. This will be because many of those kids will chose to immerse their own children in the Spanish language, the language they themselves learned in a bilingual program. If they marry a fellow immersion alum or a Spanish-speaker of Latino decent and raise their children bilingual there would be no grounds to refuse their non-Latino or half-Latino native speakers a Span. dom. seat. I've engaged the principal about this and she's level headed and understands this, unlike the strangely angry IBs families who want to preserve Spanish dom. seats for people only of Latin decent. Secondly, Spaniards from Spain are not Latino. If you understand the origin of the term, Latino was coined by a Frenchman to refer to the peoples of America whose language was of Latin origin, including Spanish, French and Portuguese. You should do your research before posting falsehoods on here.

You sound very angry. I did my research, as you can see above. The U.S. census classifies Spaniards as Latino. They can identify themselves however they choose, but our government says Latino.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer.

The answer is YES they are welcome. Please let's put an end to this discussion. My kids are OOB at Oyster and we are white Latinos. There are MANY other families like us. There are also OOB Black Latinos at Oyster, my kids have friends in at least two of these families.

+1. This must be the same poster from last night who is accusing IB parents of being racist. If her next post keeps pushing the crazy envelope, I'll report it to Jeff.

[Anonymous]

From the OA website

As part of the application, all applicants must complete a “language dominance” declaration stating whether the applicant is “Spanish-dominant” or “English dominant/other.” After the specified application deadline, a lottery will be conducted under the auspices of the DCPS. Two lists will be compiled: Spanish-dominant and English-dominant/Other. Each child on the lists will undergo oral and/or written language screening to confirm language dominance.

We are OOB and Spanish dominant. Only the child was tested, not the rest of the family. At home we speak Spanish and DC went to a Spanish speaking daycare. When DC was accepted at OA, DC's English was very poor in spite of having been born in the US and never living abroad (I say this in response to an earlier posting that said it is not possible for a child not being Spanish dominant if you are not a recent immigrant). After one year at Oyster, DC's dominant language changed to English.

[Anonymous]

^ correction

(I say this in response to an earlier posting that said it is not possible for a child being Spanish dominant if they are not a recent immigrant)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer.

The answer is YES they are welcome. Please let's put an end to this discussion. My kids are OOB at Oyster and we are white Latinos. There are MANY other families like us. There are also OOB Black Latinos at Oyster, my kids have friends in at least two of these families.

+1. This must be the same poster from last night who is accusing IB parents of being racist. If her next post keeps pushing the crazy envelope, I'll report it to Jeff.

I'm going to report to Jeff any comment from a purported IBs Oyster family who states that Spanish Dominant seats are only for Latinos. That is racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer.

The answer is YES they are welcome. Please let's put an end to this discussion. My kids are OOB at Oyster and we are white Latinos. There are MANY other families like us. There are also OOB Black Latinos at Oyster, my kids have friends in at least two of these families.

+1. This must be the same poster from last night who is accusing IB parents of being racist. If her next post keeps pushing the crazy envelope, I'll report it to Jeff.

I'm going to report to Jeff any comment from a purported IBs Oyster family who states that Spanish Dominant seats are only for Latinos. That is racist.

She's baaaaaack. Jeff?

[Anonymous]

I'm going to report to Jeff any comment from a purported IBs Oyster family who states that Spanish Dominant seats are only for Latinos. That is racist.

The official school policy does not reserve Spanish Dominant seats for Latinos only. Period

In practice, it would be extremely rare to have a Spanish Dominant child from a non-Latino family.

[Anonymous]

The one time I visited oyster I saw the librarian RIP into a little boy (4ish?) because he didn't sit silently on a rug with the other kids for longer than 5-10 minutes. Why were they sitting on the rug? Because the librarian was chatting with some people about the book fair. So she forced a bunch of little kids to sit silently on a rug. They looked totally cowed.

Second interaction was with the school at Ed-Fest. I asked them about the Spanish test and they dismissed it as easy. They said my kid would have no trouble passing. We definitely speak English at home but some spanish too.

This thread worries me too. I'm sure there are tons of great things about O-A, but I'd visit the school and talk to parents first. That said, there is a LONG waitlist!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are black, white or Asians not of hispanic origin, but natively fluent in Spanish welcome? By this thread it seems they are not. They have to have a classification of Latino. Every time someone mentions black and white people, someone reminds us that Latinos can be black and/or white. Great. Fine and dandy. Now can those without Latino or Hispanic heritage be considered for a Spanish dominant spot at Oyster. That is my question. If the answer is "no" Oyster won't be around for much longer.

The answer is YES they are welcome. Please let's put an end to this discussion. My kids are OOB at Oyster and we are white Latinos. There are MANY other families like us. There are also OOB Black Latinos at Oyster, my kids have friends in at least two of these families.

+1. This must be the same poster from last night who is accusing IB parents of being racist. If her next post keeps pushing the crazy envelope, I'll report it to Jeff.

Yes, probably same troll. Just reported it