10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
Local
Parents
protest
new math
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Merrill said, “Morgan is
very active in our school.
He is involved in FFA,
choir, 4-H, National Honor
Society, soccer, golf and
mock trial just to name a
few. I don’t know how he
has any time. He’s a very
well-rounded individual,
and has excellent lead-
ership skills. Any time
anything is going on at our
school, Morgan and his
parents are always there.”
After accepting his
award Morgan said, “Upon
graduation from high
school, I plan on going to
college to pursue a degree
in Animal Science and
Production Agriculture.”
Lynda Thomas was then
recognized as she prepared
for retirement. It was noted
her career as a Para-Profes-
sional with Baker School
District had spanned 31
years, 26 at Brooklyn.
As the Board recognized
her, she hugged each one,
whether she knew them or
not, even Superintendent
Mark Witty.
“I just wish I’d written
a journal of all the differ-
ent happenings. There has
been lots of laughter,” said
Thomas.
Next was to approve
and modify, if necessary,
the agenda. All members
approved after adding
a discussion regarding
meeting dates. Cassidy
moved down the agenda
next, asking for approval
of Board minutes from
the last regular meeting of
September 15, and retreat
notes from September 18.
Those were unanimously
approved. They then heard
information regarding new
hires, evaluation of the Su-
perintendent’s timeline and
administration reports.
Bryson Smith gave an
update on BHS with sta-
tistics of the sports teams,
and updated the board on
Pep Week, Pep Night and
Homecoming. He noted
the FFA BBQ held Friday,
October 16 before the
Homecoming game and
was a huge success with a
lot of positive feedback.
He said walk-through
evaluations were being
done at BHS and gave
information about PSATs
and SATs. He then spoke
about the Color Run being
held this Saturday with
proceeds benefiting a local
family in need. He also
noted that on Halloween
the senior class would be
hosting a haunted house
at the High School with
those proceeds going to the
senior class party.
Cassidy then moved
on with discussions on
the OSBA fall regional
meeting. Board member
Andrew Bryan attended the
meeting and advised dis-
cussion included a cradle-
to-career movement, the
promise of program and
legislative issues.
Doug Dalton gave a
financial/maintenance/
transportation report that
was all positive telling the
Board everything looked
good financially for the
district, and the boiler at
the High School is in need
of replacement.
Superintendent Mark
Witty addressed the Board
concerning Innovate
Oregon, putting together
a committee regarding
facilities, communications
about the 2015-16 budget,
and the implementation
of a summer academy for
students with community
partners such as the library,
museum and YMCA.
“We have the buildings,
let’s use them,” Witty said.
Assistant Superinten-
dent Betty Palmer spoke
of tours she had taken
recently in the Bend area
observing schools and cur-
riculum built on a concept
called expeditionary learn-
ing.
She indicated she was
able to visit an elementary
school, a middle school
and a high school. The ex-
peditionary learning model
is project-based, schematic
units, incorporating read-
ing writing social studies
and science into one thing.
Palmer said, “It is a pro-
gram that has been around
for over twenty and years
now, and it is very well es-
tablished. This is a model
that we have researched
and really like—it’s a bal-
anced program.”
She also spoke of a
high school math class she
visited and was impressed
by how it was presented as
a team approach. She noted
that time was taken to talk
about weaknesses seen
across the board there and
asked for examples, uni-
versities where they were
seeing issues with students
sent to them and ways they
could fix those issues.
Palmer said, “The State
of Oregon has not yet put
out a list of adopted and
approved materials in
the areas of reading and
mathematics.” That opened
up the door to the Public
Comment portion of the
meeting that had the room
so full of energy.
Cassidy said, “I am go-
ing to ask first if there is
somebody that has public
comment other than Par-
ents for a Math Curriculum
Change to speak. If there
is, I’d like to let them
speak first.”
Amanda Miles, third
grade teacher said before
anyone spoke, “On behalf
of the teachers and the
school district I would
like to say thank you for
coming out and supporting
staff and your children. For
parents to come together
on a night like this and sit
for an hour and a half is a
pretty amazing thing.”
Speaking to members of
Parents For a Math Cur-
riculum Change, Cassidy
said, “I appreciate that
you contacted the board
ahead of time, and what
I’ve asked the group to do
is provide a small group of
representatives to speak for
about 10 minutes each.”
A letter was given to the
Board prior to the meeting,
which Cassidy stated had
been given to Witty and he
advised he would respond
back to that letter.
Members of the group
said they had three sepa-
rate parents and a student
who would be speaking.
The first to speak was
Marcy Osborn. She said,
“I, like a couple others I
know, was told I was the
only one complaining
about the math curriculum
that my child was having
to struggle through every
night.
“I graduated from Baker
High School and many
of the math teachers that
were at the High School
then are still there. They
instilled a love of math in
me. I chose to go to school
and I earned a Bachelor’s
degree in Mathematics and
I have a Master’s degree in
education, so I do have a
background.
“We are a group of
parents, grandparents,
community members and
taxpayers that want the
best education for the stu-
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015
dents of our district.”
She continued, “We are
going to address concerns
many parents have with the
open educational resource
program, Engage NY
Math. First of all, the Com-
mon Core State standard
is not a curriculum but a
clear set of shared goals
and expectations for what
knowledge and skills will
our help students succeed.
Common Core demands
automaticity, which is
memorization based famil-
iarity with basic math facts
mastery of standard algo-
rithms and understanding
of critical arithmetic. These
essential math skills are
not only required but given
high priority particularly in
the early grades. The math
standards focus is in depth
on fewer topics and ones
that is coherently build on
one another over time.
“The Middle School and
High school standards call
on students to practice ap-
plying mathematical ways
of thinking to real old is-
sues and challenges. They
prepare students to think
and reason mathematically.
The Baker School District
has stated their plan is
to move toward concep-
tual mathematics. There
is nothing wrong with
conceptual math in fact we
believe it is a strong com-
ponent to ensure our chil-
dren become college and
career ready. Conceptual
student math is the ability
to understand which ideas
are key and be able to use
those ideas strategically
to solve problems. In con-
ceptual fluency we need to
also focus on procedural
fluency. Procedural fluency
built on a foundation of
conceptual understanding,
strategic reasoning and
problem solving.
“All students need to
have a deep and flexible
knowledge of a variety of
procedures combined with
conceptual knowledge,
students need to solve
problems many different
ways. A quality curriculum
should have both conceptu-
al and procedural fluencies.
Engage NY fails in both
of these categories. It does
not allow students to gain
a strong foundation before
moving to conceptual strat-
egies. There isn’t enough
exploration for students
to become conception ally
or procedurally fluent.
Engage NY uses a math-
ematics language unique to
itself and the program uses
terminology that is intro-
duced at prior grade levels
and in some cases vo-
cabulary is not consistent.
Instead of allowing student
to solve problems in many
different ways the program
requires the student only
get the answer using the
Engage NY method. At
some grade levels Engage
NY introduces a number of
strategies. But students do
not have enough prac-
tice to determine which
strategy fits their problem
solving need.
“Bottom line, Engage
NY is poorly written,
poorly sequenced and does
not engage our children the
way it should. This is frus-
trating for teachers, parents
and students so we have
to ask ourselves. Is this
program instilling a love
for math for our students
or is it creating frustrated,
students?”
Speaking next was Julie
Gentry, who is the mother
of two students currently
enrolled in 5J Schools.
She stated, “I have been
here a couple of times and
people likely know I am a
firm believer that silence
is consent and if I have
to use this meeting to get
the publicity I believe is
needed, I will.”
She began by asking
for a round of applause
for teachers and students
because she found upon re-
view of last year’s Smarter
Balanced math test results,
43% of 11th graders either
met or exceeded state math
standards.
Gentry went on to say
that this was accomplished
without Engage NY or an-
other debated curriculum,
Eureka Math. She claims
that these results were
yielded from textbooks
“that were abruptly shred-
ded this past spring.”
She asked, “Doesn’t the
elimination of those text
books reek of other histori-
cal events we all find to be
unsavory?”
She also expressed
concern over the results of
intermediate grade level
test scores. She stated,
“The results show a range
of 9-16% below the state
average. Those results are
from students instructed
exclusively by the Engage
NY math curriculum.”
She questioned why stu-
dents exposed to that cur-
riculum didn’t yield more
positive results. She also
noted that South Baker’s
state report card was very
low and said she felt the
only conclusion to draw
was that this particular cur-
riculum was not effective
for the students, and called
for the immediate removal
of use for the sake of the
children.
She cited some other
statics that Cassidy ques-
tioned, and he asked her
to if she would be willing
to supply her information
to the Board so that they
could research it.
She agreed.
Coby Mastrude also
spoke. She stated she had
students in 5th grade,
and 9th grade. She said,
“We’ve been told we are
limited on the number of
speakers we can have and
put on a time limit so given
the situation we gathered
some of the concerns and
comments to share with
you this evening.
“A parent of a fresh-
man says, ‘We have had
frustration and tears which
we have never experienced
over school work. Our
daughter is very discour-
aged. She has a love for
math and has gone from
loving it to hating it with in
two and a half weeks. We
transferred her to a differ-
ent level of math that is not
doing Engage NY instead
of changing her whole
schedule or transferring to
a charter school.’
“A parent of two elemen-
tary students says, ‘last
year I stated my 1st graders
level of math wasn’t as
much of a concern as my
4th grader. However, this
year my son is a second
grader and cannot tell
me what 4+4 is and does
not know any strategies
to solve it. This is deeply
concerning.’
“A parent of two elemen-
tary and one middle school
student tells me, ‘The
tears and arguments in our
household over this math is
horrible.’”
Mastrude continued,
“Parents are being taken
out of the equation as far
as being able to help our
kids and that is beyond
frustrating. Another parent
of a Middle School student
said, ‘I’ve talked to other
school districts that are
claiming to be teaching
Common Core, none of
them are having the diffi-
culties like our kids are ex-
periencing.’ We shouldn’t
have these tears or have to
resort to YouTube videos.
There has to be a better
way. A sixth grade student
said, ‘Even the smartest
kids are having difficulties
with math. I can get the
right answer but if I don’t
use the correct strategy
then I have to restart my
math. This makes me
depressed and angry and I
feel like a failure at math.’
“A parent of a middle
schooler says, ‘We have
been strong believers in the
public school system and
supporters of Baker School
District. However, the Dis-
tricts decision regarding
Engage NY and the poor
choices made by the Ad-
ministration have made us
seriously consider moving
to another District. This
is in no way a reflection
on our amazing teachers
or staff but directly due to
policies and choices being
made by administration in
what appears to be a com-
plete lack of respect from
administration in relation-
ship to their teachers or
parents’
“As you can see, Engage
NY is not creating a love
of mathematics. In fact, it
is doing the opposite and
it is beyond frustrating.
We know our kids deserve
the best education and this
means access to the best
curriculum.”
She went on to tell the
Board she felt a curricu-
lum was needed that truly
engaged and built confi-
dence in kids—not one that
creates fear and dread.
She indicated this
needed to be done now—
there was not time for trial
and error.
She asked that effec-
tive immediately, teachers
be allowed to use other
resources to “fill in the
gaps” that Engage NY
leaves without being repri-
manded.
She said, “We demand
that the Baker School
District follow the Oregon
Department of Education
best practice recommenda-
tion. We know that Engage
NY and Eureka Math will
not be on the approved
list.”
She finally asked the
Board to give respect to
the teachers so they are
comfortable enough to
voice concerns over the
curriculum without fear
of reprimand and parents
be given the respect they
deserve for being engaged
active parents in their chil-
dren’s education.
Mastrude’s son, Dylan,
a freshman at Baker High
School, said, “I’m cur-
rently taking geometry
with Engage NY. I don’t
think Engage NY is a very
effective way to teach.”
He cited vocabulary
differences from what stu-
dents have been taught in
the past, amd no textbooks
to introduce what they are
learning or to refer to when
a question arises.
Dylan said, “We are
forced to use the internet to
help us figure it out.”
He stated that just the
previous day the problem
students were working on
had four separate errors—a
common occurrence.
He told the Board within
the first few days of school
his class size dropped con-
siderably due to the new
curriculum, saying many
he knew were looking at
Web Academy or some
other alternative.
“We are getting lower
grades but our teachers
are not allowed to teach us
what they know,” he said.
He asked the Board to
please remove the mandate
that the teachers are not
allowed to teach what they
know.
Speaking in support of
the Engage NY program
was only one parent: Loren
Joseph.
Joseph said, “The things
I heard tonight are re-
ally hard to ignore, but the
complete misrepresentation
of test scores and statis-
tics to support that side is
ridiculous.”
He had his own test
scores of local schools that
use Engage NY that show
the scores well above the
state average in both math
and English.
He said that the only
correlation he found was
if a class was doing poorly
in one subject, they were
likely doing poorly in oth-
ers as well.
Joseph said, “I think the
best talk tonight was from
our student Dylan Mas-
trude; he addressed some
very real concerns that
there are, but as a parent of
a second grader who has
been through Engage NY
for two years now, I can’t
find very much wrong with
it. I am really impressed
with the different strategies
he is learning. The con-
cepts that he has a grasp
on are well beyond where
I was at his age. And I’ve
heard nothing but positives
from the staff at Brooklyn
about Engage NY.”
He stated he did not feel
throwing this curriculum
away was the best choice,
although he admitted it
may not be the best cur-
riculum.
He indicated that he real-
ized a process may have to
be gone through to find the
best curriculum. Throwing
it away without a review of
what is out there was “not
a good idea,” he said.
Joseph also cited cost as
an issue. Engage NY is a
free program and he said
he was afraid many felt it
might be a bad program
just based on that fact.
Cassidy asked if there
was more public com-
ment before adjourning
for a break. The room was
instantly abuzz with activ-
ity but most of the crowd
dispersed at that point and
did not return when the
meeting reconvened.
After the break, the
Board approved a three-
year bus lease that will
include delivery of a new
bus to the district, District
goals, and the Superinten-
dent Evaluation format.
They amended the
Board/Superintendent
working agreement, and
approved the first read-
ing of policies concerning
truancy, discipline and
nondiscrimination.
They accepted extra duty
resignations from Tim
Greene, BHS assistant
Track and Field Coach
and Warren Wilson, BHS
Assistant Girls’ Basketball
Coach and approved extra
duty new hires Matt Sands,
BHS Girls basketball head
coach and Lisa Ensworth,
BHS Thespians/Drama
Coach.
They adopted resolu-
tion 16-05 regarding bus
routes, which really did
not change much just
designated pick up spots
differently.
Will Benson, Head of
Baker County Parole and
Probation was appointed
to the Budget Board and
a memo of understanding
from Innovate Oregon was
approved.
The Board also addressed
concerns over the meet-
ing day for the Board,
citing numerous conflicts
with the current members’
schedules. It was agreed
that the meeting day for
now would be changed to
the third Thursday of the
month in an effort to work
better.