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Oyster-Adams Bilingual School

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Oyster-Adams Bilingual School
Adams Campus
Address
Map
2801 Calvert Street NW (Oyster Campus)
2020 19th Street NW (Adams Campus)

Washington, D.C.

United States
Information
Former namesJames F. Oyster School
John Quincy Adams School
TypeElementary School
Middle School
EstablishedSeptember 20, 1926; 98 years ago (1926-09-20)
StatusOpen
School boardDistrict of Columbia State Board of Education
School districtDistrict of Columbia Public Schools
NCES District ID1100030[1]
NCES School ID110003000160[2]
PrincipalCarolina Brito
GradesPK-8
Enrollment781[3]
LanguageBilingual (English-Spanish)
MascotTigres
AffiliationInternational Spanish Academy (ISA)
Websiteoysteradamsbilingual.org

Oyster-Adams Bilingual School (Oyster-Adams or OA) is a bilingual (English-Spanish) elementary school and middle school in Washington, D.C. The Oyster Campus in Woodley Park serves grades PK to 3 and the Adams Campus in Adams Morgan serves grades 4 to 8. It is part of the District of Columbia Public Schools system.

History

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The schools that formed Oyster-Adams date back to 1926. The current form of the school, Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, was created through the merger of the James F. Oyster School and the John Quincy Adams School in 2007.

James F. Oyster School

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The James F. Oyster School opened on September 20, 1926, at the intersection of 29th St NW and Calvert St NW in the Woodley Park neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The school was built over a period of ten months by contractor George E. Wyne at a cost of $250,000. The school was named after Captain James F. Oyster, a member of the D.C. Board of Education. The school opened with 208 students in grades Kindergarten through 5th grade.[4]

In the 1950s the school took part in an experimental language instruction program offering instruction in French, Spanish and German.[5]

The Oyster School's English-Spanish bilingual program started in 1971 and became a showplace of the bilingual movement, attracting visitors from around the world.[6]

First Lady Rosalynn Carter persuaded national industry leaders to support the Oyster School.[7]

By 1993, the original building had become rundown at DCPS proposed closing the school. An Oyster parent founded the 21st Century School Fund[8] which enabled the replacement of Oyster with a new building, utilizing a novel public-private partnership. This approach involved a land exchange and a bond repaid by revenue from a new apartment complex, the Henry Adams House Apartments, with the project spearheaded by the 21st Century School Fund and developed by LCOR Inc.[9] LCOR and partner Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. will make $804,000 annual payments in lieu of property taxes to the city for 35 years. Those payments will cover the $11 million revenue bond used to plan, design, construct and furnish the new building.[10]

John Quincy Adams School

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The John Quincy Adams School opened in 1929 on 19th Street NW, between California Street NW and Vernon Street NW. The school was named after President of the United States John Quincy Adams.

When it opened, it only served white students and the previous neighborhood school, the Thomas P. Morgan School, became a school for African American students.[11] After the passage of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, parents and teachers from the two segregated elementary schools came together in 1955 to implement desegregation.[12] They formed the Adams-Morgan Better Neighborhood Conference and the Adams Morgan name stuck, giving the neighborhood the name it still has today.[13] The Morgan School, located at the intersection of California Street NW and 18th Street NW, was demolished in the 1970s[14] and replaced with the new Marie H. Reed Community Learning Center which was dedicated on May 7, 1978.[15]

The Adams School had a nuclear fallout shelter in its basement. In 2017 a Washington Post reporter and a Smithsonian curator discovered it had been untouched for 55 years and reported on what they found.[16]

Merger

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In 2007, the James F. Oyster School and the John Quincy Adams School merged to become Oyster-Adams Bilingual School, a PK-8 bilingual school. Both buildings remain in use with the Oyster Campus serving grades PK-3 and the Adams Campus serving grades 4-8.[17]

Modernization

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In 2022 a $1.5 million project replaced two playgrounds and renovated the turf field at the Oyster Campus. Mayor of the District of Columbia Muriel Bowser joined students, school staff, and families to cut the ribbon for the new playground on October 31, 2022.[18]

In October 2022 the District of Columbia Department of General Services issued a Request for Proposals interested in serving as the design-builder for the modernization of Adams Education Campus of the Oyster-Adams Bilingual School. The budget for the project is $55m.[19]

Notable Events

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Awards

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Affiliations

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Oyster-Adams is affiliated with the International Spanish Academy (ISA) Program, an educational outreach initiative of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Spain that provides support, consultancy and recognition from the Ministry.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for District of Columbia Public Schools". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  2. ^ "Search for Public Schools - Oyster-Adams Bilingual School (110003000160)". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  3. ^ "School Profile: Oyster-Adams Bilingual School". District of Columbia Public Schools. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  4. ^ "The James F. Oyster School". The Washington Star. September 10, 1926.
  5. ^ "3d Graders Found Apt In Foreign Languages". The Washington Post. February 14, 1958.
  6. ^ "Two Teachers In Every Class Works Well at Oyster School: Teaching Children in Two Languages Proves Successful". The Washington Post. November 23, 1980.
  7. ^ "Rosalynn Carter's Washington". The Washington Post. December 12, 1980.
  8. ^ Keenan Steiner (April 19, 2007). "Oyster School". The Georgetown Voice. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  9. ^ Jack Lyne (June 25, 2001). "Public-Private Creativity Funds New D.C. School without Tax Dollars". Site Selection. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  10. ^ Susan Straight (March 9, 2002). "High-Rise, Elementary Provide Lesson in Partnership". The Washington Post.
  11. ^ "Building a Better Neighborhood: Roads to Diversity: Adams Morgan Heritage Trail". Historical Marker Database. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Adams Morgan Day to mark 40th anniversary with a focus on history, art, community". theDCline. Sep 8, 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  13. ^ "D.C.'s Adams Morgan neighborhood is long on history and charm". Washington Post. 2023-07-06. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-10-03.
  14. ^ Klein, Ezra (July 18, 2006). "For DC Readers". The American Prospect. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Morgan to Reed: A Journey Forged by Community". Story of our Schools. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  16. ^ Monica Hesse (October 18, 2017). "This nuclear fallout shelter was untouched for 55 years. It might come in handy now.: What we found when we ventured into a time capsule from our last era of doomsday anxiety". The Washington Post.
  17. ^ "Las Raíces Bilingües (the Bilingual Roots) de Oyster-Adams". The Story of Our Schools. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Mayor Bowser to Cut Ribbon on New Playground at Oyster-Adams Bilingual School". Washington, DC Executive Office of the Mayor. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  19. ^ "DCAM-22-CS-RFP-0015-DESIGN-BUILD SERVICES FOR ADAMS EDUCATION CAMPUS (OYSTER-ADAMS BILINGUAL) SCHOOL MODERNIZATION". Washington, DC Department of General Services. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Celebrities Attend Kalorama Meeting". The Washington Post. December 16, 1941.
  21. ^ "Lack of Volunteers Delays D.C. Registration for Sugar: 149,680 Get Sugar Ration Books". The Washington Post. May 5, 1942.
  22. ^ "Where the Meaning of America Is Learned: Aliens Study to Be Citizens At Americanization School". The Washington Post. Jan 31, 1965.
  23. ^ "Mrs. Carter, Education Chief Visit Bilingual Oyster School". The Washington Post. May 8, 1980.
  24. ^ Doug Struck (Nov 11, 1996). "DAR Takes D.C. Schoolchildren Back in Time: Trip to Plymouth Is Part of Organization's Effort to Make Its Mark on Community". The Washington Post.
  25. ^ "Colombian Singer Shakira Reads To Oyster-Adams Bilingual Elementary School Students". PoPville. January 19, 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  26. ^ "Michelle Obama and Margarita Zavala reading to schoolchildren". UPI. March 4, 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  27. ^ "U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education to Visit Bilingual School in Washington, D.C. for "Raise the Bar: Lead the World" Tour". U.S. Department of Education. March 4, 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  28. ^ "Oyster-Adams Bilingual School - Washington, DC". National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
  29. ^ "Programas en EE.UU. International Spanish Academy Program". Ministerio de Educación, Formación Profesional y Deportes - Gobierno de España. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
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