Oyster-Adam teacher arrested

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Allegations made on Monday and the arrest on Tuesday? That's a very quick turnaround. Typically there is an interviewing process and information gathering process.

yes, there is either real evidence or they jumped the gun and the guy is possibly innocent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at Oyster-Adams. We have not had any information from school about this even though it was on the news last night. I wish DCPS could have at least put out a statement before kids got to school. Many will be upset and very confused. If parents had known, we could have prepared our children at least somewhat. There were parents crying on the sidewalks when they found out. Many are close friends with him and were in complete shock.

The principal made a huge mistake in not communicating with us about this before school.

I imagine that they're lawyering up, clarifying the scope of the situation, and creating a plan, but the lack of communication with parents is inexcuseable. Why were parents finding out first from the news. I would be livid.

Let us know the next time you have to deal with complex legal issues involving criminal charges. It could be that they were prohibited from speaking about this until the charges were filed. You have no idea what happened behind the scenes, as you shouldn't, because this involved minors. The amount of armchair quarterbacking of things the posters have no idea about amazes me.

Now whose doing the armchair quarterbacking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It happened so late, principal may not have had time to react before school and she may need some sort of DCPS clearance in these matters before speaking about it.

Principals are on call pretty much 24 hours a day. DCPS gave a standard statement to the media.

Would it have been so hard to send the same thing to parents who weren't up watching the 11pm news?

"The safety of our students is a top priority," a statement from the school system said. "As soon as we became aware of this situation, we acted promptly to remove the teacher from the school and fully cooperate with MPD in this investigation." That would've been enough for me.

They could have added more reassuring stuff like "Counselling staff will be helping kids who have concerns at school. We'll send home information on how to deal with these situations. You will be notified of any further developments."

How hard was that? Jeez

Lack of communication has been a big complaint of the new principal. Maybe this was a rookie mistake.

The principal just released a statement. Are you happy now, or is 10:50 am too late? Should we publicly flog her for not releasing the statement before you dropped off little precious this morning?

Who pissed in your coffee? If you even have kids, I'd like to think that you would want their school environment to be free from harm. This has nothing to do with parents thinking their kids are overly special or some shit, it's about wanting a school principal to have the common sense to communicate with parents before or around the time that news breaks on tv. This gives parents the confidence that the school is on it, and that information and counseling will be forthcoming. So to answer your question, yes. Yes, 10:50am is too late because news broke about this situation last night.

My guess, however, is that you don't have young children given the insensitive nature of your comment.

Wrong, my young children attend Oyster. I'm fine with when the announcement was released--accuracy and thoughtfulness trumps lightening speed for me. If it was too late for you...too bad.

[Anonymous]

^^^ I meant "lightning"

[Anonymous]

To the person who posted the Principal's notice.

Who did she send the notice to and how? I'm an O/A parent (with updated directory information) and have not yet received anything via email. Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Gio from a fair amount of interaction with him at OA. I am completely shocked --- I have never seen anything in his behavior that was anything but professional.

He's gay, right?

Yes. There are cases of homophobic bullying at the school. We have a large number of same-sex parent families. Some kids have been targeted for who their parents are. Some have been told they're going hell and all sorts of hateful things.

This whole situation is sad.

I've never heard any of that. There are plenty of same-sex parents at OA and never have any said anything like that I've heard. It's 2015, almost all kids in places like DC are pretty much oblivious to same-sex parents.

I am a same sex parent at O-A and have never experienced, or heard of, homophobic bullying. We have had a great experience in this regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It happened so late, principal may not have had time to react before school and she may need some sort of DCPS clearance in these matters before speaking about it.

Principals are on call pretty much 24 hours a day. DCPS gave a standard statement to the media.

Would it have been so hard to send the same thing to parents who weren't up watching the 11pm news?

"The safety of our students is a top priority," a statement from the school system said. "As soon as we became aware of this situation, we acted promptly to remove the teacher from the school and fully cooperate with MPD in this investigation." That would've been enough for me.

They could have added more reassuring stuff like "Counselling staff will be helping kids who have concerns at school. We'll send home information on how to deal with these situations. You will be notified of any further developments."

How hard was that? Jeez

Lack of communication has been a big complaint of the new principal. Maybe this was a rookie mistake.[/quote

The principal just released a statement. Are you happy now, or is 10:50 am too late? Should we publicly flog her for not releasing the statement before you dropped off little precious this morning?

Who pissed in your coffee? If you even have kids, I'd like to think that you would want their school environment to be free from harm. This has nothing to do with parents thinking their kids are overly special or some shit, it's about wanting a school principal to have the common sense to communicate with parents before or around the time that news breaks on tv. This gives parents the confidence that the school is on it, and that information and counseling will be forthcoming. So to answer your question, yes. Yes, 10:50am is too late because news broke about this situation last night.

My guess, however, is that you don't have young children given the insensitive nature of your comment.

Wrong, my young children attend Oyster. I'm fine with when the announcement was released--accuracy and thoughtfulness trumps lightening speed for me. If it was too late for you...too bad.

My children also go to Oyster. Imagine if your child was in this teacher's class, and you had no idea that his arrest was publicized in the news before school began (a situation which really happened). Wouldn't you have liked the opportunity to speak to your child about this before sending him or her to school? This morning in front of Adams, the principal was on the steps, the APs were on the sidewalk, there were police, and at least one news camera. Had I known first thing in the morning, I would have made sure to discuss the situation with my child before going to school, and accompany them to school (and get to work late) to find out what was going on. Better than sending a 9 year old to fend for themselves. DCPS could have sent a brief email giving parents the heads up to the news reports.

[Anonymous]

My goodness! Life is sometimes messy, and things don't always work out exactly as you would like. I think that the principal and APs did the best they could under very trying and fast moving circumstances. That is enough for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who posted the Principal's notice.

Who did she send the notice to and how? I'm an O/A parent (with updated directory information) and have not yet received anything via email. Just curious.

There's a link to sign up for the school e-newsletter on the school website homepage.

[Anonymous]

Why can't the children find out after school? What's the big deal about knowing before school started today?

The teacher not in class today could just be a random day where the teacher is absent. Talking to the child after school may be best as they have the entire evening/night to get digress.

[Anonymous]

I'm a mom of an Oyster student in the 2nd grade, so he hasn't had any interaction with this teacher. (For folks who don't know, the primary campus goes to third grade; the Adams campus, where Mr. Pena taught, has the fourth through eighth grades.) This weekend, Oyster had its big annual fundraiser -- the Fiesta. My kid is into baseball, so he spent a lot of time at the dunking booth, trying to dunk the Adams kids and the Oyster-Adams teachers who had volunteered to sit in the booth.

That's the first time I saw Mr. Pena, who volunteered to sit in the booth for a while. I took notice of him because he seemed so engaging -- handsome, always smiling, and the kids seemed to love him. I truly hope these allegations aren't true. If they are, I hope justice is done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person who posted the Principal's notice.

Who did she send the notice to and how? I'm an O/A parent (with updated directory information) and have not yet received anything via email. Just curious.

I posted it. I get weekly emails from her and my kid's teachers, do you get those? I might be signed up for a bulletin or something.

She just sent a followup email today as school was ending. Basically a thank you to everyone that helped deal with everything today. And explaining what info the students have and what happened today. But I assume that was only at Adams, I doubt anyone said anything to anyone at Oyster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom of an Oyster student in the 2nd grade, so he hasn't had any interaction with this teacher. (For folks who don't know, the primary campus goes to third grade; the Adams campus, where Mr. Pena taught, has the fourth through eighth grades.) This weekend, Oyster had its big annual fundraiser -- the Fiesta. My kid is into baseball, so he spent a lot of time at the dunking booth, trying to dunk the Adams kids and the Oyster-Adams teachers who had volunteered to sit in the booth.

That's the first time I saw Mr. Pena, who volunteered to sit in the booth for a while. I took notice of him because he seemed so engaging -- handsome, always smiling, and the kids seemed to love him. I truly hope these allegations aren't true. If they are, I hope justice is done.

Emails I've seen going around from Adams parents suggest he was one of the best teachers at the school. Very sad if true. Very infuriating if not true. Either way, a rough day but all will be well. I like our new principal, she can handle this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the person who posted the Principal's notice.

Who did she send the notice to and how? I'm an O/A parent (with updated directory information) and have not yet received anything via email. Just curious.

I posted it. I get weekly emails from her and my kid's teachers, do you get those? I might be signed up for a bulletin or something.

She just sent a followup email today as school was ending. Basically a thank you to everyone that helped deal with everything today. And explaining what info the students have and what happened today. But I assume that was only at Adams, I doubt anyone said anything to anyone at Oyster.

Oyster (elementary) parents were notified too, both in the morning and now. Just saw this in my inbox:

======================================================


June 3rd, 2015

Dear Oyster Adams Family,

I would first like to thank my administrative team and DCPS central office for their support today.

I also would like to say thank you to Ms. Shaw and Sra. Gonzalez for leading our team as we debriefed with students today about recent events. The DCPS Crisis team was amazing to work with and from the classrooms that I observed- I can personally say all students received excellent support. Please note, that students were not given any additional information other than what has been already shared publicly. Ultimately, the team of experts created a space where students could express themselves in a healthy way and ensured that all messaging was age appropriate.

Thank you to all parents who have offered their support to our school. We realize this is a difficult time for the entire community, as such the crisis team will continue to meet with students as needed.

Below are links that may be useful as you speak to your children tonight:
http://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/TalkingChild?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
https://rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/child-sexual-abuse/if-you-suspect


I thank you for your unwavering and relentless commitment and dedication and for your faith that our community will prevail among any and all situations.

In solidarity,

Mayra Canizales
Principal
Oyster Adams Bilingual School
[phone]




======================================================

Ultimas Noticias de parte de la Directora


3 de junio del 2015


Estimada familias de Oyster Adams,

En primer lugar quiero dar las gracias a mi equipo administrativo y DCPS por todo el apoyo que ofrecieron hoy.

También quiero agradecer a la Sra. Shaw y Sra. Gonzalez por dirigir a nuestro equipo hoy cuando platicamos acerca el incidente con los estudiantes. La ayuda del equipo de Crisis de DCPS fue increíble y en las aulas en las cuales yo visite-los niños recibieron un apoyo excelente. Tomen en cuenta, que a los estudiantes no se les dio ninguna información adicional a lo que ya ha sido compartida públicamente. El equipo de expertos creo un espacio donde los estudiantes podían expresarse de una manera sana y nos aseguramos que toda la información fuera apropiado para la edad de los estudiantes.

Gracias a todos los padres que han ofrecido su apoyo a nuestra escuela. Nos damos cuenta de que este es un momento difícil para toda la comunidad, como tal, el equipo de crisis continuará reuniéndose con los estudiantes, según sea necesario.

A continuación encontrará recursos que pueden ser útiles cuando usted habla con sus hijos esta noche :

http://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/TalkingChild?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
https://rainn.org/get-information/types-of-sexual-assault/child-sexual-abuse/if-you-suspect

Le doy las gracias por su compromiso y dedicación incesante y por su fe en que nuestra comunidad prevalecerá entre cualquier situaciones.

En solidaridad,

Mayra Canizales
Directora
Escuela Bilingue Oyster Adams
[phone]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Gio from a fair amount of interaction with him at OA. I am completely shocked --- I have never seen anything in his behavior that was anything but professional.

He's gay, right?

The old tv show "In the Heat of the Night" actually had a storyline one episode where a gay teacher was accused by homophobic parents of molesting their boy in school. The student recanted the abuse charges, but only after the teacher committed suicide.

We will have to see how the process plays out. If the allegations are true, then the teacher should be punished accordingly.