LAMB administrative changes -- fallout from sexual abuse case

[Anonymous]

Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope you're right that LAMB stays great (excluding how they deal with potential sexual predators--obviously that was a problem). Though certainly not everyone feels that way. In the hallway at school this morning I head some parents discussing where they were hoping to lottery into next year. Ie it sounds like, at this point at least, they are abandoning the school.

My concern is that the administration who is being fired was actually instrumental to the quality of the school (again, excluding the unforgivable mistakes made re Fernandez). The teachers are the key--but who hires and manages the teacher and sets the vision for the school? By analogy, by many accounts Steve Jobs was a real SOB however no one questions he was crucial to the success of Apple. The fact that some people--teachers included--found the principal etc. who are leaving annoying or bad or whatever does not mean that they people who are leaving weren't crucial to the success of the school.

My hope of course is that the people who fill those roles will be EVEN better than Encinas and co were. Of course, a truly excellent principal is hard to find. I've been super impressed by the other administrators I've interacted with, but that is just on a personal, bump-into-you-in-the-hall basis. I don't actually know what it takes to make a school great other than retaining great teachers.

There was lottery chatter last year too when things felt much worse and yet no mass exodus materialized. The Board is keeping Diane on through the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition. There are plenty of current and former teachers and administrators who could step into leadership roles too.

I'm not even going to bother with your atrocious analogy. I was a Cristina and Diane believer but they made major mistakes that put our children in jeopardy. This is called accountability and this is the right thing for the school.

Good to know about last year's experience with the lottery chatter not materializing. Aside from that, while we like our classmates they---like we---were just lucky to get in so I suspect any replacements will also be great (unless everyone is scared away from even entering the lottery). However, the innovation this year is that this report was extremely damning. It's hard to read it as anything other than gross negligence. Last year we didn't know that.

The Steve Jobs analogy (I do not know what your complaint with it is) was a response to the comments above that teachers and parents didn't like Cristina etc. (I wasn't aware of that---though employees often have problems with managers---and I never had an issue with them). There is obviously no question that they failed big time and need to go. But despite that major inexcusable lapse the idea that they were 100 percent terrible (clearly not an idea you hold) can't be right. The question I wonder about is what hard-to-replace skills will they take with them? And will LAMB replace those skills. I hope so!!

Sigh. The reason your analogy is a total fail is because the teachers didn't like Cristina because when they repeatedly told her they had concerns about another teacher she ignored them. Not because she was abusively mean.

Also, there are changes being made, significant, long overdue changes, as a result of the report. All the families that were thinking of leaving last year and this year were doing so because they didn't see any change happening so I don't know why you'd think there'd now be more movement than usual. Same goes for anyone entering the lottery. I'm willing to bet applications go up this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

True of for-profit companies too. And definitely true at LAMB.

[Anonymous]

There are significantly different opinions about Cristina's culpability for this among the Missouri Ave families and those at South Dakota, and among families whose children were exposed to Fernandez and those who weren't.

To some of the ECE families at ECE, this may as well have happened at an entirely different school. It did not affect them at all, although they were sympathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My hope of course is that the people who fill those roles will be EVEN better than Encinas and co were. Of course, a truly excellent principal is hard to find. I've been super impressed by the other administrators I've interacted with, but that is just on a personal, bump-into-you-in-the-hall basis. I don't actually know what it takes to make a school great other than retaining great teachers.

Yes. This is my fear as well. Things may get worse before they get better. And, hiring a new director is a risk - as with any change, the new one could end up being worse. I also don't know what running such a school takes, but, I am afraid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

True of for-profit companies too. And definitely true at LAMB.

What about at other charters though? Have the founders all left? Usually in DCPS people are complaining because principals DON'T stick around, not because they DO. Good ones are hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

LAMB alumni here. This. but also Cristina has an extreme bias toward Latino. The teachers whose concerns were REPETEDLY ignored because she saw it as "cultural conflict". Don't take it from me, it's in the independent report.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

LAMB alumni here. This. but also Cristina has an extreme bias toward Latino. The teachers whose concerns were REPETEDLY ignored because she saw it as "cultural conflict". Don't take it from me, it's in the independent report.

Although, most of the teachers are also Latino. So are you saying those who complained weren't? It's not mentioned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

True of for-profit companies too. And definitely true at LAMB.

What about at other charters though? Have the founders all left? Usually in DCPS people are complaining because principals DON'T stick around, not because they DO. Good ones are hard to come by.

People complain when principals leave after a year or two. Ten years is a very long tenure -- probably too long in one place.

As for DC charters whose founders have left or retired, off the top of my head Washington Latin (founder left; longtime HOS retired after 8-9 years); YY; DCI; EL Haynes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Founding LAMB parent here.

Virtually every nonprofit reaches a point where it outgrows its founders.

Frankly, Cristina and Diane should have retired or moved on at the school's 10th anniversary. The skills needed to start and launch a school are not the same ones needed to manage a growing enterprise. When LAMB started they intended to have only 6 classrooms total!

It is time for a change and more professionalism. That will be hard for some of the teachers, and others will embrace it.

The friends and family, informal management and hiring style that made the place warm and homey was also their Achilles heel. They just couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that someone they knew, hired and trusted could be a sexual predator -- so they brushed aside the warnings.

LAMB alumni here. This. but also Cristina has an extreme bias toward Latino. The teachers whose concerns were REPETEDLY ignored because she saw it as "cultural conflict". Don't take it from me, it's in the independent report.

Although, most of the teachers are also Latino. So are you saying those who complained weren't? It's not mentioned.

I know that two upper elementary teachers that Fernandez was partnered with, and who reported concerns, were white and African-American respectively. There may well have been others.

The Board letter said that FERNANDEZ explained his behavior as a difference in style (he described his way of relating to the students as "open and Spanish," as opposed to "closed / American." The Board letter did not say that Cristina agreed or that this was the reason she did not act on the reported concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP must be a new parent who realizes we don't talk about LAMB business on DCUM

Wow. Your kind of thinking is the reason pedofiles are able go undetected.

Exactly what type of creeps do you have to be to talk about secrecy and someone's child was molested!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP must be a new parent who realizes we don't talk about LAMB business on DCUM

Actually, OP must be a parent of a kid who was not sexually assaulted by this monster.

Its completely unbelievable that w/in 30 minutes of LAMB sending out the investigation results, that it is already posted on DCUM.

Do you have no regards for the victims at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP must be a new parent who realizes we don't talk about LAMB business on DCUM

Wow. Your kind of thinking is the reason pedofiles are able go undetected.

Exactly what type of creeps do you have to be to talk about secrecy and someone's child was molested!

There has been robust discussion for many months on the parents’ message board.

I don’t mind that this particular topic is discussed publicly, but I always liked it in the former era when someone on this board might shit on LAMB and no parents would take the bait or feel the need to get in the last word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP must be a new parent who realizes we don't talk about LAMB business on DCUM

Actually, OP must be a parent of a kid who was not sexually assaulted by this monster.

Its completely unbelievable that w/in 30 minutes of LAMB sending out the investigation results, that it is already posted on DCUM.

Do you have no regards for the victims at all?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope you're right that LAMB stays great (excluding how they deal with potential sexual predators--obviously that was a problem). Though certainly not everyone feels that way. In the hallway at school this morning I head some parents discussing where they were hoping to lottery into next year. Ie it sounds like, at this point at least, they are abandoning the school.

My concern is that the administration who is being fired was actually instrumental to the quality of the school (again, excluding the unforgivable mistakes made re Fernandez). The teachers are the key--but who hires and manages the teacher and sets the vision for the school? By analogy, by many accounts Steve Jobs was a real SOB however no one questions he was crucial to the success of Apple. The fact that some people--teachers included--found the principal etc. who are leaving annoying or bad or whatever does not mean that they people who are leaving weren't crucial to the success of the school.

My hope of course is that the people who fill those roles will be EVEN better than Encinas and co were. Of course, a truly excellent principal is hard to find. I've been super impressed by the other administrators I've interacted with, but that is just on a personal, bump-into-you-in-the-hall basis. I don't actually know what it takes to make a school great other than retaining great teachers.

I agree with this. Speaking for myself, I am not overjoyed. Accepting as necessary because the lapses were too significant. But also anxious. I am not jumping ship because I believe in our teachers.