With 179 of 180 school days completed, I can safely say we have made it to the end of a very successful school year. I want to take a moment to thank you, the parents of Oyster-Adams for your welcoming support this year.  For me it has been a tremendous year of growth and learning and an excellent model of productive collaborative work between school staff and parents. I strongly believe that what we have accomplished this year has poised us for continued success next year.

You have done your jobs as parents and you have done them well.  You are fierce advocates for your children and their classmates, you bring new ideas to the table and help implement them, you raise funds, you bake cookies, you attend field trips, you pick up your children when they are sick and you have helped instill in your children the love of reading.  For this, and for the many other things you do, all of the staff at Oyster-Adams thanks you.

As we wrap up the year, I would like to give you a few more updates and let you know of the changes and transitions that will occur in our staffing for next year.  

New Inclusion Pre-Kinder
We are excited to announce that we are opening up a second pre-kindergarten class at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School for the 2009-2010 school year

Because of the heavy demand both district-wide and at Oyster-Adams, we are collaborating with DCPS to offer one of three new inclusion pre-kindergarten classes in DCPS (the other two will be at Bancroft and at Payne ES).  This new class will be an integrated inclusion class and will have a total class size of approximately 15 students.  Ten of the students will be typically developing students and five will be students with already identified special needs.  Ms. Melissa Grant, our current teacher in the Early Childhood Center, will be the English language teacher.

Moves
We have a number of teachers and staff members who are making some professional moves within Oyster-Adams:

Sr. Oscar Ramirez will be serving as Oyster-Adams' Dual Language Coordinator and Ms. Wendy Reeve will be the new Instructional Coach for Literacy at the Primary Campus.  Although many parents will be sad to see them leave the classroom, I know that they will be able to touch many students' lives by supporting teachers in all classrooms.  Mr. Hector Alfonso will be returning to his original passion and serve as one of our special educators at the Intermediate Campus.  

Departures
The following teachers will be leaving the Oyster-Adams community at the end of this year for a variety of reasons.  While some have been with us for several years and others only for one year, all of them have had a positive impact on the school and the community and we thank them for passion for kids and commitment to education.  Please join me in thanking all of them and wishing them the best in their new endeavors.

Ms. Jodi Cohen, 2nd grade English, 4 years at OA-off to new adventures!
Ms. Libby Fallon, Kinder English, 1 year at OA- attending law school next year.
Ms. Dani Fuller, 4th grade English.  After six very joyful years Mrs. Fuller will be finishing her masters in school counseling to become a school counselor! She will attend school full time next year. Mrs. Fuller is very grateful for all the kindness and support she's received from the Oyster Adams community and proud to have been a part of a school with such a clear and compassionate mission.
Ms. Hope Harrod, Literacy Professional Developer, After one year at Oyster-Adams, Hope realized she misses having her students and will be returning to the classroom.
Mr. Prince Hunter, 7th/8th grade math, one year at OA-transferring to another school.
Ms. Chithalina Kanchalern, special education teacher, one year at OA-transferring to another school.
Ms. Lynn Kauffman, part-time librarian at the Intermediate Campus, one year at OA -- transferring to another school.
Ms. Encarnación Lillo, 5th grade Spanish, 2 years at OA- returning to Spain.
Mr. John Petersen, 6th grade English Humanities, one year at OA- going to work in the Chancellor's office.
Ms. Valarie Redd , 6th grade math, one year at OA--  retiring from DPCS after 33 years of service.
Ms. Kathleen Smith, 1st grade English, 3 years at OA-transferring to another school to work as an ESL teacher.

The recruitment and hiring committee has been working hard to recruit excellent candidates for the vacant positions as well as the new positions we are adding next year.  We are making excellent progress and I'm very confident that we will have all of our positions filled with excellent individuals by mid-summer.

As our students and teachers depart for the summer, the school buildings will, of course, be open daily with summer school, Spanish language camp and administrative activities, which kick into high gear over the summer.  The administrative staff is available throughout the summer and we look forward to keeping in touch with you.

I wish everyone an enjoyable summer in which you and your family can enjoy each other's company in peace, talk together, relax together and of course, read together.  I look forward to seeing everyone again in August.

All the best,

-Monica Liang Aguirre