Spirited math discussion at last night's meeting

Quite a few interested parents and students attended the 5/22 School Committee meeting to learn what the next steps were for the middle school math curriculum. The discussion during citizen's input lasted over one hour! Many parents -- and two students who have gone through the program -- all raised compelling questions. Other supportive parents were in the audience as well. Dr. Bach, Donna Pappalardo from the high school, and all three middle school principals were there to answer questions.

(One of the more controversial statements of the evening was Dr. Bach's claim that the parents and students who are unhappy were a "small group". If you are reading this post, you are probably part of that group, so let your voice be heard -- by leaving comments and suggestions for posts here, by contacting your teachers and principals and the school committee, and by telling other unhappy customers of this curriculum to make their voices heard as well.)

The Shapes of Algebra module and the pacing of CMP were discussed at length. Art Barber ended the debate with a proposal for Donna Pappalardo to take over the task of collecting data from our comparable communities and to convene a special meeting with Marj Andresen and other concerned parents and students.

It's hard to capture in a blog post, so people are encouraged to watch/record the rebroadcasts (Thursday at 8:00pm; Sunday at 7:00am on Comcast Channel 10.)