Math Changes A Plus, Say Parents They Feel Proposed Curriculum Goes A Long Way Toward ‘Rigorous’ Study

Parents who feared the Coeur d’Alene School District was watering down its mathematics requirements are happy now.

The proposed math curriculum being considered by the district’s board of trustees still is not as demanding as they would like it to be. But it’s a big improvement over a version that they protested in March, according to Doug Burr.

“It is much more rigorous than it was before,” Burr said Friday. “It was a big victory because we didn’t lose ground.”

Burr is a parent member of the committee charged with updating the curriculum. That group makes recommendations to the curriculum advisory council.

Both groups are dominated by educators, most of whom believe a different approach to teaching math is needed.

“They could have slam-dunked us, but they didn’t,” said Burr, noting the small number of parents involved in the discussions.

“We took the critiques and the input to heart,” said administrator Hazel Bauman, co-chair of the advisory council.

Parents Simone Kincaid and Barb McFarland, who serve on the advisory council, also were pleased with the response of district officials to their concerns.

“It was a relief,” Kincaid said. “They’ve basically gone back to the stronger curriculum of a few years ago.”

When the math committee debate became public in March, member Betty Cheeley adamantly defended the new approach represented by the earlier version.

Cheeley, who trains math teachers, said the changes would help students learn to sort, classify and think problems through instead of simply learning to compute. She contends the arbitrary achievement goals that the parents sought are unwise.

Cheeley declined to comment on the latest version, which was approved by the advisory council on April 30.

The school board is expected to approve the curriculum Monday night.

“Barring any concern or consternation on the part of the public, it should be adopted by the end of May,” said Bauman.

That means textbooks and related materials will be purchased this summer, and the new curriculum will guide math instruction starting in the fall.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT’S NEXT? The school board is expected to approve the curriculum Monday night.