Oyster-Adam teacher arrested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Dr. Julie Lopez" is NOT the best person for this because she has two kids in O-A and one is in 5th grade--the year this crime was reported to happen. It is unethical for a therapist or psychologist to essentially treat her own family. I'm sure she's qualified for a lot of things, it would not be appropriate professionally for her to be hired or whatever it is her cheerleader is trying to do.

She was brought in at the last minute by other parents, not DCPS which had already had several meetings and publicly published very useful information from Dr. Biel, a pediatric psychiatrist and not an O-A parent. http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/2015/06/11/update-from-oyster-adams-principal-ultimas-noticias-de-parte-de-la-directora-de-oyster-adams/

Nobody has been silenced, but a lot of people are still in shock and many kids were out of town on class trips the week it came out. My kid is in Adams and we have been continually encouraged to raise concerns in these last couple of weeks of school.

Everyone handles these things differently and everyone has had different experiences with this type of trauma. But we can't let one person, that we know of, take down a whole school. Beauvoir is still standing, O-A can and will come back from this.

I'm glad the trial and media hype will be after this week. The kids really don't need anymore press attention and it seems to just stir up parents.

Why did you put "Dr Julie Lopez" in quotes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something tells me PP got in trouble for sharing this, so everyone's too afraid to share anything that Dr. Lopez had to say.



-----

I was the PP who posted the notes from the meeting with Dr Biel at Adams last Monday. There is nothing illegal or wrong or irresponsible about my posting; it was an open meeting. Everyone is getting crazy with the conspiracy theories. Such a weird paranoid bunch on here!

Not to mention that a summary was emailed to anyone who subscribes to the principal's updates. The summary is also available on the O-A website. There are some strange birds commenting here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Dr. Julie Lopez" is NOT the best person for this because she has two kids in O-A and one is in 5th grade--the year this crime was reported to happen. It is unethical for a therapist or psychologist to essentially treat her own family. I'm sure she's qualified for a lot of things, it would not be appropriate professionally for her to be hired or whatever it is her cheerleader is trying to do.

She was brought in at the last minute by other parents, not DCPS which had already had several meetings and publicly published very useful information from Dr. Biel, a pediatric psychiatrist and not an O-A parent. http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/2015/06/11/update-from-oyster-adams-principal-ultimas-noticias-de-parte-de-la-directora-de-oyster-adams/

Nobody has been silenced, but a lot of people are still in shock and many kids were out of town on class trips the week it came out. My kid is in Adams and we have been continually encouraged to raise concerns in these last couple of weeks of school.

Everyone handles these things differently and everyone has had different experiences with this type of trauma. But we can't let one person, that we know of, take down a whole school. Beauvoir is still standing, O-A can and will come back from this.

I'm glad the trial and media hype will be after this week. The kids really don't need anymore press attention and it seems to just stir up parents.

What did Dr. Biel say that might help weed out the next potential molester at the school?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:What did Dr. Biel say that might help weed out the next potential molester at the school?

A summary of the talk was posted earlier in this thread and another summary is available here:

http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/2015/06/11/update-from-oyster-adams-principal-ultimas-noticias-de-parte-de-la-directora-de-oyster-adams/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why did you put "Dr Julie Lopez" in quotes?

Not meant as disrespect to her. PP gave an incomplete impression of her by using her title and qualifications several times without mentioning that she's a parent of OA kids. Julie is a kind and generous person who doesn't walk around school calling herself Dr. Lopez. She is a valued member of the community and first and foremost a parent. I'm sure she was a comfort to people who were able to attend her talk. If there were notes or a presentation, it would have definitely been shared.

This situation is difficult for everyone. No offense was meant

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What did Dr. Biel say that might help weed out the next potential molester at the school?

A summary of the talk was posted earlier in this thread and another summary is available here:

http://oysteradamsbilingual.org/2015/06/11/update-from-oyster-adams-principal-ultimas-noticias-de-parte-de-la-directora-de-oyster-adams/

Thank you, but I don't see that he said anything that might help weed out the next potential child molester at the school. Do you?

[Anonymous]

This thread is really making me sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is really making me sad.

I think we can all agree that child molestation IS indeed sad on so many levels, but most of all for the innocent child victims.

We, therefore, absolutely must do what it takes (to whatever extent is possible) to clean out the predators from our schools. Who can best help with that? I don't know that the Dr. Biel said a single word about that. Perhaps that's simply not what he's equipped to do.

What you very clearly do not understand is that there is no formula which will guide you to the "weeding of predators". You clearly are uninterested in learning from and listening to the many professionals and caring individuals who have shared on this thread. Either you are as think in the head as they come, or you are just simply playing around. You will never "weed out" the pedophiles. What is wrong with you?

[Anonymous]

He says that if your child may have been abused, ALWAYS go STRAIGHT to the Police, NOT the school.

I was unaware of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He says that if your child may have been abused, ALWAYS go STRAIGHT to the Police, NOT the school.

I was unaware of that.

The police have experience handling these situations, and specially trained personnel. Most schools just don't have the experience, and can tip off the perpetrator or otherwise inadvertently make a mess of things. Schools are mandatory reporters, but that doesn't mean they do it correctly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why did you put "Dr Julie Lopez" in quotes?

Not meant as disrespect to her. PP gave an incomplete impression of her by using her title and qualifications several times without mentioning that she's a parent of OA kids. Julie is a kind and generous person who doesn't walk around school calling herself Dr. Lopez. She is a valued member of the community and first and foremost a parent. I'm sure she was a comfort to people who were able to attend her talk. If there were notes or a presentation, it would have definitely been shared.

This situation is difficult for everyone. No offense was meant

That makes sense; thanks for th clarification. I am not an OA parent but know Julie well and think she's very down to earth and pretty amazing at her job. I also can't imagine her asking anyone to call her Dr Lopez. I hope that she was helpful to you all at OA. My heart is breaking for everyone affected by what happened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That makes sense; thanks for th clarification. I am not an OA parent but know Julie well and think she's very down to earth and pretty amazing at her job. I also can't imagine her asking anyone to call her Dr Lopez. I hope that she was helpful to you all at OA. My heart is breaking for everyone affected by what happened.

Thank you.

I am an OA parent and my heart broke when I read that fellow parents had written letters in support of Pena. The news coverage did not say whether the letters were written before or after he confessed. Since the timeline was less than a day, I find it hard to imagine it was before.

Frankly, I don't even think the timing matters. Writing a letter in support of the accused is tantamount to saying you're disinclined to believe a child and his parents about something so serious it got the man arrested.

Imagine being this child's parents and reading that members of your own school community stepped up to write such a letter. Or don't. It's too painful.

Now imagine being the parent of another child who was victimized (because let's be real, this guy was 31 and had been teaching for years. People do not start victimizing kids at age 31). You know that Pena is going to jail regardless and you're weighing whether you can put your child through the added agony of talking to police, prosecutors, and forensic psychiatrists (expert witnesses). You know you could send him away for longer-- maybe-- but it's daunting to consider and you don't have a Snapchat smoking gun. Imagine hearing that people you pass in the hallways have written in support of him.

To draw upon my French bilingualism, I'd be fucking outraged. In fact I am fucking outraged.

[Anonymous]

Pp your post is one of the most rational. The he quiet is eerie considering the facts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That makes sense; thanks for th clarification. I am not an OA parent but know Julie well and think she's very down to earth and pretty amazing at her job. I also can't imagine her asking anyone to call her Dr Lopez. I hope that she was helpful to you all at OA. My heart is breaking for everyone affected by what happened.

Thank you.

I am an OA parent and my heart broke when I read that fellow parents had written letters in support of Pena. The news coverage did not say whether the letters were written before or after he confessed. Since the timeline was less than a day, I find it hard to imagine it was before.

Frankly, I don't even think the timing matters. Writing a letter in support of the accused is tantamount to saying you're disinclined to believe a child and his parents about something so serious it got the man arrested.

Imagine being this child's parents and reading that members of your own school community stepped up to write such a letter. Or don't. It's too painful.

Now imagine being the parent of another child who was victimized (because let's be real, this guy was 31 and had been teaching for years. People do not start victimizing kids at age 31). You know that Pena is going to jail regardless and you're weighing whether you can put your child through the added agony of talking to police, prosecutors, and forensic psychiatrists (expert witnesses). You know you could send him away for longer-- maybe-- but it's daunting to consider and you don't have a Snapchat smoking gun. Imagine hearing that people you pass in the hallways have written in support of him.

To draw upon my French bilingualism, I'd be fucking outraged. In fact I am fucking outraged.

all of you need to turn the paranoia and knee-jerk reactions down and put on your thinking caps. that article said his defense attorney said that. hey, i have a bridge in brooklyn that i'd like to sell you, while we are at it.

I am on O-A parent with a child in Pena's class. very little of this thread bears any relationship to reality. VERY LITTLE. this is a scary lesson for me in internet gossip. very scary.

[Anonymous]

I've been semi-following this thread for a while, and I'm curious if across the board parents think OA acted quickly enough or not quickly enough. It seems they responded in a day or so, and are giving parents resources, is that correct? I ask because for all the critics, it seems to me that OA is doing a very good job. This whole sad thread has brought up a lot of memories of when I was in middle school and an English teacher was arrested for decades of molesting boys, and ultimately for raping his nephew. The school knew for YEARS and never did anything. So many backroom conversations, whispering that we were semi-privy too. It's traumatic just to think back to it. The weird thing is, when it came out, I wasn't surprised at all. So how could the admin not know? My school acted criminally and only recently tried to make peace with the episode. In comparison I am buoyed by OA's response (I am not a parent) and glad that they responded after only one reported incident so that there are not decades of damaged children, who become damaged adults, as in the case at my school. It could have been much, much worse. And my heart goes out to all of you parents. I'm sorry you are dealing with this.