s/o Future of Oyster-Adams

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

I thought Michelle Rhee fired the principal of Oyster...

Michelle fired Monica's predecessor. Now it's time for Kaya to fire Monica. Monica’s poor leadership actually makes (former) Principal Guzman look good.

[Anonymous]

DC should require not only proof of DC residency but also proof of legal status. THAT would address over-enrollment pretty fast!

[Anonymous]

Some posts have referred to the "cramped building" at the Oyster campus. I agree that the playground is small and
I wish the condo building had never been built on that green space. The hallways in Oyster are noticeably
narrow, but I would choose narrow hallways over small clsasrooms.

The big picture, though, is that the Oyster classrooms are pretty spacious and the building
space works out to about 120 square feet per student at the moment. This average is about the same as the average of
all of the Bethesda elementary schools, though Oyster offers more space per student than some of the
Montgomery county elementary schools. There has been a trend towards the macmansionizing of the schools, adding
expensive atriums and spaces that are more show than function. I think money would be better spent on teachers
and programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC should require not only proof of DC residency but also proof of legal status. THAT would address over-enrollment pretty fast!

Um, illegal and racist. Please tell me this is a sick joke. Move to Arizona.

[Anonymous]

Getting back to solutions. One option that was posted was to get rid of the middle school and fill the two buildings with prek-5. - thus creating more ES seats and a focus on that level of education Thinking about it in another way -- that would also have one principal who could focus on lower grades -- expand and make the middle school big enough to provide a richer and more differentiated cirriculum. How could that happen? Here is one scenario:

1. To address demographics (lack of native Spanish speakers), partner with a school that has a complementary mix. Marie-Reed Elementary school is an obvious candidate. It is one block away from the Adams building and has 50% second-language learners and is 60% hispanic. It has recently started a biligual track. Its test scores have been low, but are now rising rapidly suggesting strong leadership. Marie Reed building has 357 students, but could accommodate up to 480.

2. The vision would be two elementary schools (pre-k-5) that would draw from a common boundary and one principal who would work to develop a common culture in the two school. Being IB would mean getting a spot at one of the two buildings and with an aim to balance demographics among the two buildings.

3. Adams would become a much larger middle school fed by the two elementary schools with its own dedicate principal.

This is clearly not something that could happen over night and it would take resources from the city, as the Marie Reed buidling need work. It would take time to build a common culture, something that could start ahead of a merger. But why not think big and bold? The city needs more quality middle and ES slots and this would offer the promise of greater reasources with more students both at ES and MS level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC should require not only proof of DC residency but also proof of legal status. THAT would address over-enrollment pretty fast!

Um, illegal and racist. Please tell me this is a sick joke. Move to Arizona.

I don't care if they're documented or not. I just want them to pay taxes like everyone else. That pays for our schools. A lot of tax payer's kids are shut out while tax cheats get slots. Hope there's a road to citizenship FAST!!!

[Anonymous]

14:26: good idea if u could replace Monica with Marie reed principal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to solutions. One option that was posted was to get rid of the middle school and fill the two buildings with prek-5. - thus creating more ES seats and a focus on that level of education Thinking about it in another way -- that would also have one principal who could focus on lower grades -- expand and make the middle school big enough to provide a richer and more differentiated cirriculum. How could that happen? Here is one scenario:

1. To address demographics (lack of native Spanish speakers), partner with a school that has a complementary mix. Marie-Reed Elementary school is an obvious candidate. It is one block away from the Adams building and has 50% second-language learners and is 60% hispanic. It has recently started a biligual track. Its test scores have been low, but are now rising rapidly suggesting strong leadership. Marie Reed building has 357 students, but could accommodate up to 480.

2. The vision would be two elementary schools (pre-k-5) that would draw from a common boundary and one principal who would work to develop a common culture in the two school. Being IB would mean getting a spot at one of the two buildings and with an aim to balance demographics among the two buildings.

3. Adams would become a much larger middle school fed by the two elementary schools with its own dedicate principal.

This is clearly not something that could happen over night and it would take resources from the city, as the Marie Reed buidling need work. It would take time to build a common culture, something that could start ahead of a merger. But why not think big and bold? The city needs more quality middle and ES slots and this would offer the promise of greater reasources with more students both at ES and MS level.

I like this idea a lot (I am the poster who suggested getting rid of the middle school and expanding the elementary grades). I wonder how much resistance would be put forward by Woodley and Kalorama triangle folks, though. I don't imagine they'd be too happy with Reed's test scores.

[Anonymous]

I (Kalorama family) would be delighted to send my kids. It would help solve both keeping the school 50% english dominant and 50% spanish dominant, and maybe help DCPS with the boundary/overcrowding issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:26: good idea if u could replace Monica with Marie reed principal

Found this quote in a separate Oyster thread (on special ed), but it should be in this one:

"The principal is WEAK. Let her go!! Find a real leader with a thicker skin who may find a way to make the current 2 buildings, in highly desirable towns where parents from all socio economic levels feel safe delivering their children, where good teachers like to commute and be guaranteed to still attract Spanish dominant speakers. Ms Aguirre would enjoy the cover of moving to a more challenging neighborhood where parents may have less time and connections to complain that their child is STILL not being challenged! Don't let OA fall prey to the growing theme of mediocrity above all as in the totally idiotic Walls move to hv that (very competent) principal to span Francis Stevens and walls. Op I would run from this place."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting back to solutions. One option that was posted was to get rid of the middle school and fill the two buildings with prek-5. - thus creating more ES seats and a focus on that level of education Thinking about it in another way -- that would also have one principal who could focus on lower grades -- expand and make the middle school big enough to provide a richer and more differentiated cirriculum. How could that happen? Here is one scenario:

1. To address demographics (lack of native Spanish speakers), partner with a school that has a complementary mix. Marie-Reed Elementary school is an obvious candidate. It is one block away from the Adams building and has 50% second-language learners and is 60% hispanic. It has recently started a biligual track. Its test scores have been low, but are now rising rapidly suggesting strong leadership. Marie Reed building has 357 students, but could accommodate up to 480.

2. The vision would be two elementary schools (pre-k-5) that would draw from a common boundary and one principal who would work to develop a common culture in the two school. Being IB would mean getting a spot at one of the two buildings and with an aim to balance demographics among the two buildings.

3. Adams would become a much larger middle school fed by the two elementary schools with its own dedicate principal.

This is clearly not something that could happen over night and it would take resources from the city, as the Marie Reed buidling need work. It would take time to build a common culture, something that could start ahead of a merger. But why not think big and bold? The city needs more quality middle and ES slots and this would offer the promise of greater reasources with more students both at ES and MS level.

I like this idea a lot (I am the poster who suggested getting rid of the middle school and expanding the elementary grades). I wonder how much resistance would be put forward by Woodley and Kalorama triangle folks, though. I don't imagine they'd be too happy with Reed's test scores.

I'm a Kalorama Triangle folk and have mixed feelings about PP's suggestion. On the one hand, in the near term I would NOT agree to send my child into such a situation given the unfavorable level of achievement Marie Reed kids show today. In fact, as it is, Oyster loses IB familes at a certain point because, as several PPs have said, it simply hasn't been willing to step up to the task of providing the academic challenges they need as it focuses on its weaker students.

On the other hand, although I'm not so certain about M. Reed's boundary, it probably covers now-very-comfortable neighborhoods with lots of young, educated parents itching for a suitable in-bounds elementary option. I'm guessing that at the moment, Reed is probably very heavily OOB, because the surrounding neighborhood is heavily gentrified. If Reed were to become suitable, that would be great news for the future of families within its urban boundary. Of course, it probably would not offer so many more native Spanish speakers, but I'm not convinced this is a reasonable priority, just as my family decided the false choice between Spanish immersion and appropriate academics (and behavior!) was unreasonable.

[Anonymous]

19:18 again. Just took a look at the Reed boundary. That's an odd one, because a large section is sort-of-nice-but old-fartish Kalorama proper, which isn't going to yield a lot of public school kids one way or the other, and many blocks that are far more commercial than residential. I guess I thought it covered more of Dupont and Adams Morgan.

I would think the "formerly Meyer" and Garrison neighborhoods could appreciate a high-performing elementary school, but then, DCPS and apparently the current Oyster administration (not suggesting anyone brings back the crazy plastic lady) don't seem to have the balls or interest to create one for them.

[Anonymous]

I live in old-fartish Kalorama and there are many families with young kids -- plenty of these families would have been happy to send their kids to Oyster Bilingual as a school of right rather than paying for private, and it would attract future young families if that became an option. Marie Reed on its own has never been something real estate agents highlight around here like they do Oyster in Woodley Park.

[Anonymous]

I think if Marie Reed reaches the achievement levels and popularity of Oyster, and gets a nice modern building (both likely prospects IMO), it will soon be overwhelmed with demand from local residents and face a problem similar to Oyster's: that there are not enough OOB spaces to balance the demographics to achieve the linguistic and socioeconomic diversity you want for a dual-language program.

There are other models of bilingual instruction that can work, but I think there is tremendous value in this two-way bilingualism project. Especially for lower-income immigrant Hispanic kids who get access to it. I think it is worth trying to preserve it. And that means increasing the capacity of the schools that are doing it, in the prosperous locales where they are now situated.

The only location where there is significant room to grow is the Marie Reed campus. How about if DCPS, instead of renovating the awful MR building for the same 400 or so students it currently serves, built a big new middle school building that could serve 1000+ students.

Give the Adams building (hopefully improved and perhaps even expanded) to Marie Reed, and shrink the area that feeds Oyster so that it can keep taking out of boundary kids (and achieve the diversity goals that are so critical to its identity). Then Oyster and Adams (aka MR) elementaries both have dual language programs that feed into dual-language Marie Reed Middle (maybe grades 4-8 or 5-8).

I have kids at Oyster, and I have my little quibbles with how they do things, and I share some of the above-discussed concerns about the effectiveness of the Spanish instruction and the math and science curriculum. But overall I think it's a great school that offers something really special. And it's my neighborhood school. I want it to stick around, and to succeed at what it does. I think some kind of partnership with Marie Reed in which DCPS makes a big investment in school capacity is going to be vital.

[Anonymous]

^+1,000 Please tell me you're on the LSAT or OCC or somehow involved with the advisory process. We are IB on Kalorama side and totally agree that some type of partnership with Reed for a dual immersion PK-8 school makes logistical and linguistic sense. A school of about 1,000 sounds about right to sustain interest and resources with a goal of bi-literacy by 8th grade. I, too, am willing to send my child to Reed from IB at Oyster (test scores are overrated) if it meant ensuring a truly dual-immersion model through 8th. Staying in DCPS system as a magnet or demonstration school could mean students who really could benefit from long term dual-immersion could have a chance to be educated bilingually even if they lost out on the charter lotteries.

There are no easy answers. But splitting elementary grades across two buildings a mile apart in current Oyster-Adams configuration was a short-sighted compromise from now-gone egos in the pre-charter explosion era.