Saratoga News

News

Discussions at the board meeting add up to an emphasis on math

By Michele Tjin

Discussions about math at Redwood Middle School ruled in the Saratoga elementary district boardroom recently, with topics ranging from teaching philosophies to the role of textbooks.

At the April 24 Saratoga Union School District board meeting, the board received a report of what the math advisory committee has accomplished. The committee, made up of parents, teachers and administrators, first began meeting in March and was formed out of a desire to create a strong math program at Redwood. Superintendent Lane Weiss said the committee has discussed parents' concerns of varying teaching philosophies in the classroom--teaching in a traditional method or emphasizing problem-solving to find answers.

"Some kids learn beautifully with textbooks and others with problem-solving," he said. "How do we match learning style and teaching style?"

Board president Michael Gipe said it may be difficult to come up with a solution that pleased all parties and he cautioned parents not to attack teachers they perceived to be of one school of thought or another.

"We have to be careful not to discourage these people and beat them down," Gipe said. "We need to be candid but work together in cooperation, not in an adversarial way."

The board will continue receiving reports from the math committee in May about its additional discussions.

The board also approved a grant request to the Noyce Foundation, a group dedicated to helping schools teach math. The grant would allow the district to continue to administer a math exam, called the MARS test, in grades 3-8 that allows teachers to determine what skills students lack. The grant will also provide professional development for math teachers and a math coach to support them. The grant request is for $67,000, and the district will contribute another $86,000 to cover all the services. Teachers said the foundation doesn't tell them which teaching method to use.

While test scores remain high, parent Mimi Mather pointed out recent MARS data showed a general decline in grades 6-8 and lower scores in certain areas for fourth grade and above. This is data that parents care about, she said.

"This should be on the agenda every month. What's happening to our test scores?" Mather said.

In other news, the district has come up with a temporary compromise with nonprofit groups that objected to the increase in fees for renting classrooms or fields. The district will raise its fees on July 1 as planned but agreed to a 50 percent discount for one year for nonprofit groups that are service-, youth- or recreation-minded. For these groups, the fees would go from $1.25 an hour to $12 an hour.

Katherine Tseng, a representative of Wisdom Culture and Education Organization, was pleased to hear of the concession. Her group provides Chinese language and culture lessons.

"I really want to thank you for working out a method to help us out," she said. She added that even with the discount, her organization still faces a hardship, but it is better equipped to deal with the fee increase now.

"If we know, we can build it in our budget, and we can work with that," Tseng said.

The board is still getting feedback from similar groups that would receive the temporary discount, said board member Jack Chang.

In personnel news, Weiss announced that Redwood principal Beth Polito will assume the position of assistant superintendent, replacing Louise Levy, who is retiring at the end of the school year.