so if rhee is sending her older kid to deal

[Anonymous]

I seriously hope the k-8 model isn't the issue, tho...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:10 Please on Warren Buffet! Rhee still has to do her daughter right. Deal's a great school. Oyster's Middle School is a potentially great school.

Warren Buffet is actually a Deal (and Wilson) alum!

[Anonymous]

Okay color me stupid (just this one time) but I thought he was from Nebraska.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay color me stupid (just this one time) but I thought he was from Nebraska.

He is--but his dad served in Congress while Buffett was in jr high/high school, and so Buffett lived in DC during those years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about what she owes to her own child?

I am no fan or Rhee (based mostly on what I have read about her), but she should not be obligated to sarcifice her children at the alter of political expediency. If Deal is the best choice for her child then so be it.

[Anonymous]

According to Rhee, it's her daughter driving the move to Deal. She likes all the extras. Lots of kids don't want to stick with Spanish after a few years. I can't blame them as there's more to learning than just a second language.

Anonymous wrote:Also as I posted earlier her daughter may be pining to go to Deal! So many of the Oyster kids did after they went and spent a day there.

[Anonymous]

12:23, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Children who have been in Spanish immersion or a strong bilingual program throughout all or most of their elementary school years should be fully (or at least functionally) bilingual, so by middle school, they shouldn't be "studying" Spanish at all anymore. Instead, they'd be conducting some of their studies IN Spanish. So the Spanish component of the middle school curriculum should actually be expanding their horizons rather than limiting them.

Which brings up a question about Oyster and its current level of achievement: ARE most students fully bilingual/biliterate by the end of elementary school?

[Anonymous]

If Melissa Kim ran Oyster-Adams and Monica Aguirre ran Deal, Oyster-Adams would be the hot place to send your kid and Deal would be floundering. That's the truth. There are enough resources and manpower at Oyster-Adams to really get its act together and it's a travesty that Rhee allows Oyster (esp. the MS but now there are unhappy parents in ALL grades! And Teachers leavaing the low grades too) to crumble beneath the inexperienced Aguirre. As someone posted recently Kim came pre-Rhee with A VISION. Aguirre HAS NO VISION and embraces relationships with people who will never challenge her. If one of the great teachers takes up an issue with her, they'll be listened to and then frozen out. With regard to the teaching corps, this hurts the school much more than some disgruntled parents. She should be replaced before Oyster is completely destroyed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:12:23, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Children who have been in Spanish immersion or a strong bilingual program throughout all or most of their elementary school years should be fully (or at least functionally) bilingual, so by middle school, they shouldn't be "studying" Spanish at all anymore. Instead, they'd be conducting some of their studies IN Spanish. So the Spanish component of the middle school curriculum should actually be expanding their horizons rather than limiting them.

Which brings up a question about Oyster and its current level of achievement: ARE most students fully bilingual/biliterate by the end of elementary school?

I think what 12:23 is getting at is that Deal has much more to offer. Kids at that age can really drive these decisions. My 4th grader is ecstatic about going to Deal in 6th - it really has a strong buzz among kids. In fact, one of the smartest things Deal does to promote the school is have former elementary students talk about their experiences at Deal to 4th and 5th graders. If Rhee's daughter isn't happy at Oyster, then she should make the change.

[Anonymous]

PP, you must have zero sense of irony or cotton wool in your ears when hearing the comments of the downward spiral of Oyster's Middle School hopes at the hands of Rhee. That most middle schools who leave Oyster head...to Deal... just compounds the irony. Sure, Rhee should transfer her daughter. She should also fire the incompetent she annointed to run Oyster, and pull out all stops to get the Middle School off the ground. Something she should have done two years ago.

When I observed the Middle School launch process at Oyster, the thing that struck me was that no outside consultant who had launched a Middle School was brought it. It (the planning) was all the backs of teachers with full course loads and well-intentioned parents with backgrounds in ed. The school system approved the expansion, but not a budget or mechanism to ensure its success. Crazy! I expected Monica to recognize this and call her good friend Rhee and shake her down for some serious-minded, professional back-up. Did she? I don't know. I had left Oyster by then (left singularly unimpressed with the listless, inexperienced Monica Aguirre).

[Anonymous]

6:18 Some inaccuracies here. The first year, middle school teachers did not have a full course load so they could develop curriculum, etc. Consultants were used, too, but not to the extent they should have.

[Anonymous]

So why, oh why, doesn't anyone from Oyster just contact Chancellor Rhee and beg for help? It's clear that the Oyster Principal does not have the confidence of many of her parents and teachers. Are they waiting for someone to blow their top and do an expose for the press of how things go up close in Rhee's back yard? I know more and more parents and teachers are getting more and more emboldened to speak freely and without fear about why they are abandoning ship. Maybe with the safe harbours lined up already (like those of us in Deal boundary) there is nothing to lose and maybe something to gain for families with no option but to stay at Oyster. Who is in charge of Aguirre?? Who reviews her?

[Anonymous]

Who is in charge of Aguirre? Isn't Rhee? Look, hiring Aguirre after canning her predecessor was one of Rhee's more controversial moves. Rhee handpicked her. Letting her go would be a public admission of failure. Not something Rhee seems likely to do. Not maximizing Oyster is an enormous missed opportunity. Maybe if she hadn't been so busy firing Pope from Hardy ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:6:18 Some inaccuracies here. The first year, middle school teachers did not have a full course load so they could develop curriculum, etc. Consultants were used, too, but not to the extent they should have.

I was referring to the planning year before the first year that the middle school was operationalized.

[Anonymous]

Anyone know how many teachers are leaving Oyster and what grades? This is potentially pivotal to some families, whether they stay or go. Is this something other schools reveal by now or not?