LAMB administrative changes -- fallout from sexual abuse case

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


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.

Why do you think the only problem people had with Cristina was her dealing with this situation? Lots of faults to find in her and other administrators (true of basically every executive of a group that involves more than 50 people anywhere ever). It sounds like that was your only probably with her, but most LAMB parents were completely unaware of the Fernandez situation.

Also, why do you expect LAMB will be in higher demand AFTER such a damning report? Even despite the new ranking about Tier 1 status and how awesome LAMB is, it's hard for me to imagine MORE people saying, "I really want to get my kid into that school." But I hope you're right!

[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.

Trust me, Encinas was not crucial to the success of the school. By all the accounts I've heard from teachers and staff, not an effective manager. And as a parent who needed her leadership on a few key things unrelated to Fernandez - she was a major disappointment. I will not revel in anyone's demise, but it is was an excellent move by the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

MV is overdue for a change as well because there are obvious blinders on from both top leaders.

IT had outgrown its principal, so the transition has been positive with the new leader. (Note- former Principal is still beloved, but moved to be nearer family with her husband and children.)

[Anonymous]

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.

Trust me, Encinas was not crucial to the success of the school. By all the accounts I've heard from teachers and staff, not an effective manager. And as a parent who needed her leadership on a few key things unrelated to Fernandez - she was a major disappointment. I will not revel in anyone's demise, but it is was an excellent move by the board.

Then what would you say HAS been crucial to the school's success, especially recently? Hoping to avoid throwing baby out with the bathwater, and, curious.

[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.

Trust me, Encinas was not crucial to the success of the school. By all the accounts I've heard from teachers and staff, not an effective manager. And as a parent who needed her leadership on a few key things unrelated to Fernandez - she was a major disappointment. I will not revel in anyone's demise, but it is was an excellent move by the board.

Then what would you say HAS been crucial to the school's success, especially recently? Hoping to avoid throwing baby out with the bathwater, and, curious.

Thank you for this important follow-up question. Why are people so confident the school will be fine? This is important for our next Principal to understand. And necessary for those so happy about this dismissal to let us know why they are so confident. I guess I would appreciate the reassurance. The teachers are wonderful and I have confidence in them. But they have had a leader to direct their approach to educating our students. And something was working. How are you so confident it wasn't the principal?

I have had a different experience with Cristina on meeting the special needs of my child. She has been responsive and willing to do what is needed. I am sorry others have not had this experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


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.

Why do you think the only problem people had with Cristina was her dealing with this situation? Lots of faults to find in her and other administrators (true of basically every executive of a group that involves more than 50 people anywhere ever). It sounds like that was your only probably with her, but most LAMB parents were completely unaware of the Fernandez situation.

Also, why do you expect LAMB will be in higher demand AFTER such a damning report? Even despite the new ranking about Tier 1 status and how awesome LAMB is, it's hard for me to imagine MORE people saying, "I really want to get my kid into that school." But I hope you're right!

I was responding to the comparison of Cristina to Steve Jobs.

LAMB will be in higher demand because they're taking action to change things as a result of the report. Plus the new ranking. I can't remember if applications were up or down last year.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree with the poster who found Cristina less than responsive. Here are my major complaints (aside from the whole Fernandez issue):

She has an "in group" of preferred people.

She was loathed by many if not all teachers. Many were put off my her treatment of parents (again aside from the Fernandez issue)

She was a terrible communicator.

Here's what she did well:

Hire great teachers

Have a wonderful idea for the school.

Last year when Diane repeatedly complained about parents and gentrifiers I knew her time had come to leave. They really hated parent involvement and wanted all parents to be dirt poor new immigrants to this country she could boss around.

Here is what will make lamb continue to be great:

Top teachers

Super involved parents.

Experienced admins who will learn from this

Fresh ideas and fresh blood.

[Anonymous]

This is a much needed change. I am happy that the Board had the guts to hold people accountable for their gross negligence.

At the same time, one does wonder who will run the school now and whether it will be successful. It's not just Cristina, but also Dr. Rosario and Diane. Diane was spearheading the Kingsbury move. I highly dislike Diane. But will the Kinsgbury move still go through now? We had an excellent experience with Dr. Rosario this fall as special education coordinator. On several occasions, I noted that Cristina made really good staffing decisions to maintain balance between weak teachers and strong teachers. She was also always trying to improve the teaching model. Those strengths will be missed.

But we are hopeful that LAMB is an institution that can attract high caliber talent in school administration. It is such a lovely school with an amazing mix of people. And a lot of great teachers.

That said, we are not moving out of bounds for our relatively well regarded in bounds DCPS any time soon. And if we weren't in bounds there, we might just lottery this year to hedge our bets....

[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?

I work at a school (not LAMB). It is incredibly difficult to get information on potential abusers and people can be lax if they haven't dealt with this kind of thing before. Too many people feel that it can't happen in their community. What the families have gone through is horrendous but I believe that they would want to make sure that all schools are more diligent. Sharing this kind of information helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a much needed change. I am happy that the Board had the guts to hold people accountable for their gross negligence.

At the same time, one does wonder who will run the school now and whether it will be successful. It's not just Cristina, but also Dr. Rosario and Diane. Diane was spearheading the Kingsbury move. I highly dislike Diane. But will the Kinsgbury move still go through now? We had an excellent experience with Dr. Rosario this fall as special education coordinator. On several occasions, I noted that Cristina made really good staffing decisions to maintain balance between weak teachers and strong teachers. She was also always trying to improve the teaching model. Those strengths will be missed.

But we are hopeful that LAMB is an institution that can attract high caliber talent in school administration. It is such a lovely school with an amazing mix of people. And a lot of great teachers.

That said, we are not moving out of bounds for our relatively well regarded in bounds DCPS any time soon. And if we weren't in bounds there, we might just lottery this year to hedge our bets....

I won't miss Rosario at all.
I also equally disliked Diane.
I thought the Kingsbury move was sunk when they wouldn't agree to increase the cap to 600?

[Anonymous]

Who wouldn’t increase the cap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who wouldn’t increase the cap?

The ANC? I may have this wrong, but I thought lamb's petition was denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who wouldn’t increase the cap?

The ANC? I may have this wrong, but I thought lamb's petition was denied.

No that is incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

LAMB should have put out a press release about this and otherwise disseminated it widely. It is a significant decision and would demonstrate its commitment to transparency.

Yeah, like Sidwell: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/in-its-response-to-a-sexual-abuse-allegation-sidwell-friends-joins-other-private-schools-in-pursuit-of-more-transparency/2017/05/09/aa2d6d76-31ac-11e7-8674-437ddb6e813e_story.html?utm_term=.cbeaa5e890fc

[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.

Agreed. Scary. People wrapped up in avoiding shame rather than the protection that transparency offers children.