Complaint Review: Gabriel Ortiz & Oasis Middle School

Gabriel Ortiz and Oasis Middle School are no what they pretend to be.  Ortiz has more of a background in drama/theatre and happened into education later in life.  Ortiz acts like he is changing the lives of at-risk students through theatre, but his "plays" and "performances" are done more to promote himself than the kids.  Gabriel Ortiz is a diva/narcissist and has to be the "star" true to his chosen profession (acting).

The school states they they help and advocate for at-risk kids, but they sit the kids on old broken laptops and tablets and expect them to teach themselves on a program called Study Island.  The kids make jokes among themselves about the fact that they teach themselves.

Gabriel Ortiz and Rochelle Stokes are the two main people running Oasis Middle School, but only Stokes has a background in education/educational leadership.  Rochelle Stokes is an awesome teacher who relates well to the at-risk population, but she is not very approachable/personable.  Ortiz is well pompous and self-important.

The theatre project Ortiz works with that is advertised as "changing lives" consisted in the past of a very small, select group of usually all groups.  The theatre "group" is usually around 8 to 10 kids out of a student body of around 125.  Hardly changing the lives of students.

Oasis Middle School cannot keep teachers and there is literally a revolving door of teachers that come and go.  The unusually high turnover rate at Oasis Middle School in Bradenton says a lot about the school.  The school list 4 teachers in the 208-2019 school year and theee of those were gone by Christmas break.  Names like Bacon, Killany, Patterson, and Winterbottom.  These people usually leave on their own and are not fired by the school.

At the beginning of the 2019-2020 year the long time math teacher (Holley) left.  Oasis Middle School was advertising for teachers in English, Math, and Science---3 of the 4 major academic content areas at the same time.  That is sad.

At the end of the 2017-2018 school year the longtime science teacher (McClern) left.  The school went without a science teacher dollar the start of the 2018-2019 year and didn't hire a new teacher until after Christmas.  The new teacher (Collette Killany) didn't stay long and left.  The school started 2019-2020 without a regular certified science teacher.  The school was still advertising for a science teacher, so the school has gone for nearly two years without a regular, certified science teacher.

The school moved to a new location this year, but the old location rented their space with a local church group.  The kids had breakfast, lunch, and even some classes in a bug infested gym.  It was gross.  I don't know how the school managed to hide this from the local school district and local health officials.

There is so much wrong with this school that I don't know where to begin. And I have NO IDEA how this school has stayed open and been allowed to work with kids as long as it has.