Oyster-Adam teacher arrested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The post needs to do an article on men wearing short shorts.

I don't think it was really the short shorts per say but that the clothing was too tight and too informal for a professional setting like a classroom. On the soccer field or a more casual environment I'm sure they were fine.

[Anonymous]

This WaPo article has a picture of Toth when he was at Beauvoir.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/former-beauvoir-teacher-eric-toth-to-be-sentenced-for-producing-child-pornography/2014/03/11/38fa519e-a890-11e3-8d62-419db477a0e6_story.html

It does not appear that he wore short shorts to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without that snapchat proof, it might have been another "he said, he said" (not "she" in this case) and denied and swept under the carpet. Yet again.

Considering the evidence, the perp had to admit guilt.
Let's not fool ourselves here.

He's been abusing kids for a while. And now finally got caught. Red handed.

I knew it. God only knows how many poor children he's MOLESTED in that Oyster School. Lots of very well to do families there. Even rich kids aren't safe anymore. I feel so sorry for them all.

ni

Um, rich kids have always been molested...

[Anonymous]

The Post has not bothered following up reporting that the guy admitted guilt and that there is a hotline for others to call if they have heard of other instances where Pena molestrd children. That seems irresponsible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Post has not bothered following up reporting that the guy admitted guilt and that there is a hotline for others to call if they have heard of other instances where Pena molestrd children. That seems irresponsible.

Some of the news articles say that he was due in court today, but I have not seen follow up.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:47 is a mess. He keeps digging his hole deeper and deeper. He's a dead giveaway.

This is the last warning I am going to give you. If you can't stop accusing other posters of being child molesters, you will be blocked from posting.

Jeff, I am just so grateful to you for being a voice of reason on this thread and on this forum. That poster was driving me crazy, and so thank you for putting a stop to it. You're the reason that this website doesn't devolve into ridiculousness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG you people are psycho. You want to ban men from classrooms? Please get some perspective. Lots of research that children benefit from having male perspective in the classroom and as role models. Those of you saying that men shouldn't be around children need to get a grip, you are completely over-reacting. This is akin to saying that "gays" should be banned from the military, or from the Boy Scouts, it is that ignorant and misinformed.

Why then are you so afraid of having a vetted woman in the classroom with you?

Mary Kay, Mary Kay, Mary Kay! She was vetted before she raped an eleven year old and became his baby 's mama.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two best teachers my child has had have been men. By far better than all the others. My brother is also an amazing teacher of autistic children. It would be a shame if the fear-mongorers prevented them from doing their calling.

Why not allow a vetted woman in the classroom with them? Please explain...?

Pamela Smart was vetted.

[Anonymous]

Who thinks we might go 30 days in the DC area without another pervert arrested for molesting school children?
Maybe even 60 or 90 days? Perhaps the entire summer?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:47 is a mess. He keeps digging his hole deeper and deeper. He's a dead giveaway.

This is the last warning I am going to give you. If you can't stop accusing other posters of being child molesters, you will be blocked from posting.

Jeff, I am just so grateful to you for being a voice of reason on this thread and on this forum. That poster was driving me crazy, and so thank you for putting a stop to it. You're the reason that this website doesn't devolve into ridiculousness.

Some might disagree with you on both calling me a voice of reason and thinking the website is not well beyond the point of ridiculousness, but as long as you hold those views, I appreciate it. Thank you for the kind words.

[Anonymous]

http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/06/d-c-teacher-who-admitted-to-inappropriately-touching-4th-grade-students-to-appear-in-court--114523.html

Recent developments

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

As a former O-A teacher, I have to say that I do not know where this short shorts thing is coming from. I have never seen Mr. Pena in anything but long pants.
It is totally upsetting, but let's not add random stuff to the conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

As a former O-A teacher, I have to say that I do not know where this short shorts thing is coming from. I have never seen Mr. Pena in anything but long pants.
It is totally upsetting, but let's not add random stuff to the conversation.

Also, just to clarify about teacher screening, as a DCPS teacher who is returning after a year in Virginia, I can tell you that to teach in DC you have to get fingerprinted and there is an FBI screening from our fingerprints.

[Anonymous]

I am an Oyster-Adams parent. My child was in the 4th grade class where/when her classmate was victimized.

As the details became known, I had to face the fact that my child might have witnessed something. It puzzled me because I was sure we'd had careful, thorough conversations about telling trusted adults any time something suspicious happens. The school did a great job with those conversations too. As it turns out, my child saw nothing. I now know it was so subtle that no child in the room saw it. We feel guilty to be grateful they were spared that, as one child was not.

Like all of my fellow parents, I am heartbroken for the child. I'm heartbroken for the child's parents, who are navigating a problem that most of us don't consider in our worst nightmares.

I'd like to say I was heartbroken to see the focus of this thread: scapegoating male teachers, insinuating that the Oyster community failed this child by missing the signals, by attacking gay people, or by gloating at Oyster, a school that some people love to hate. I'm not going to say that, though, because this kind of thing is unfortunately how many folks choose to deal with this. I'll tell myself it's because casting blame makes this terrifying situation more bearable, not because the people are callous.

But I do know this: Neither the school nor the parents failed these kids by missing or enabling "red flag" behavior.

As others have written, auction items like Mr. Pena's are common and popular. The school does not manage the auction; parent volunteers run it.

I wasn't a fan of Mr. Pena. Because I was dissatisfied with his teaching approach I wasn't snowed by his charm, interested in his charisma, or inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt. There were a few parents (a minority, but a few) like me who didn't consider him one of the better teachers. I can tell you this: even the non-fans and tough critics like us did not see this coming. Our school community is not a bunch of rubes who can't see an obvious monster in our midst.

Whether this scares you are not, we are just like every other community. We are like YOUR community. And if we didn't see it-- and we didn't-- you wouldn't either. The best thing you can do is work very hard to ensure that your kids to go to a trusted adult if they suspect anything is wrong.

As other posters have written, male teachers can be among the best, and play an important role in children's development. The best teacher I ever had was a man, and the best teacher my child ever had was a young male pre-K teacher. I would hope that every child has an opportunity to be taught by men like these, who changed both of our lives for the better.


Incidentally, Oyster-Adams is not entirely a rich, privileged school. In fact it is among the only truly economically diverse high-quality neighborhood schools in DC. Unlike the JKLM schools, Oyster educates about 1/3 FARMS-eligible students. No one here has any way of knowing whether the victim was privileged or not-- and that shouldn't matter. But don't kid yourself that this is about rich or poor, black or white. It's about a sick individual.

The faculty and staff at Oyster-Adams are overwhelmingly wonderful. My child has had outstanding teachers in several grades, and has been blessed to have two teachers each year and the gift of bilingualism in addition to top-notch standard topics. If I had to make the choice again, I'd still choose Oyster-Adams, as I'm sure many parents would still choose Beauvoir.

Like a couple of other posters, I was not happy with the principal's delay in responding. She's brand new, young, and promising. The school did a great job putting together resources for the kids and parents after that.

Finally, please join me in focusing on the devastated family and child who will be dealing with this long after this thread dies down. Remember every time you open your mouth or put your hands to the keyboard: this is a small town. You don't know if they can hear you. Be kind to them and careful with your opinions.

[Anonymous]

Justin Coleman never wore short shorts, was not in shape and was assumed to be straight by his friends. All of these facts are completely irrelevant, as are the opposite ones about Mr. Pena.