A model school's selling points: everything but the math

(Cross-posted at Out In Left Field)

A year of activities: Spelling Bee | Talent Shoe | Musical | Science Fair | Fall Festival | 100 Days | Opera Company | Reading Buddies | Spring Concert | Valentine's Dance

So goes the text along the margin of the glossy school newsletter that came home yesterday on the last day of school--along with color photographs of smiling students and staff, and articles about the school and the community.

You'd never know that one of the school's activities was the Continental Math League club, run by yours truly and another parent volunteer, and attended 1 1/2 hours a week from October to March by 20 eager 2nd and 3rd graders.

Especially since, despite the principal's earlier assurances, the information sheet about next year's Continental Math League club (and ways to practice for it over the summer) somehow didn't accompany the above newsletter into students' backpacks.

Concerned that this might happen, I had sent said principal an email reminder the day before the last day. Then, when I bumped into her on the morning of the last day, I'd asked her about the email.

"I deleted it," she said, a big grin on her face.

I guess she's happy it's summer vacation.

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For those who are interested in ways to polish up their math skills for Continental Math League, or for any other reason, here's what I spent several hours compiling for students at our school. Perhaps other schools and other principals will find this more worthwhile than ours did:

MATHPRACTICELINKS

Extracurricular gifted programs threatened as well!

I've just learned that the principal has faulted our Continental Math League for "widening the achievement gap."

It's been suggested that, instead of running a math club for gifted students, I instead run one for struggling students.

Maybe I'm being unreasonable, but I tend to think that it's the school's job, not mine, to educate struggling students.

A first step for the school would be to follow in the footsteps of the following school districts and drop the Investigations math curriculum: Framingham (Massachusetts), Inner Grove, Little Falls, Staples-Motley, Stillwater, & Waconia (Minnesota), Columbia (Missouri), Fairport, Greece, Penfield, Pittsford, & Syracuse (New York), Lebanon, Painesville, Three Rivers, & Wickliffe (Ohio), Gervais, Sutherline, & Chariot (Oregon), Arlington, Bellevue, Clover Park, Eastmont, Lake Stevens, Oak Harbor, & Richland (Washington), Black River Falls, La Crosse, River Falls, & Superior (Wisconsin).

If the Powers that Be have the guts to do this, I will be so grateful that I may, indeed, be willing to sacrifice additional time in the name of math education.

The more likely resolution, I'm afraid, will be that--for all our enthusiastic support among math-starved math buffs and their parents--said Powers will not grant us permission to resume our Continental Math League next year.