Prince William School Board takes up math topic

Elementary school math was again the topic of discussion at a Prince William County School Board meeting this week.

The board held a work session Tuesday night to discuss allowing parents who are dissatisfied with the Math Investigations textbook to move their children to a classroom that uses a traditional math textbook.

During the work session School Board Chairman Milton Johns presented his proposal of how that option could work.

Under the proposal, which Johns said he wrote with input from other board members, parents of rising first- through fifth-graders would have to request by April 30 that their children be taught with a traditional math textbook.

In any grade level where there are enough interested students to make up an “economically feasible” traditional math class, one would be formed.

If there aren’t enough students in that grade level at that school for a traditional math class, parents would have the option to transfer their kids to another school, if they provide their own transportation.

Johns said that what is “economically feasible” would vary from school to school, and it would be up to principals and the superintendent’s staff to decide what that means at each school.

The traditional math proposal also specifies that once a student is in the “traditional math track,” they will have to stay there throughout elementary school, unless “good cause” is shown.

The board is slated to vote on the traditional math option at its next meeting on Feb. 18, but some board members said they might not be ready to vote then.

Some board members said they worried that allowing parents to transfer their students to different schools could prove difficult logistically.

“When we talk about a transfer, my first thought was a transfer to where,” said Woodbridge District representative Denita Ramirez, adding that many schools in the eastern end of the county are already overcrowded, making transfers difficult.

Gainesville District representative Donald Richardson said he was also concerned about transfers and other logistics, such as cost and the additional burden the change would place on staff, both in the central office and at schools.

“I think this is not nearly as easy as some would think,” said Richardson.

School board members began discussing allowing a traditional math option last month.

Parents opposed to the Math Investigations textbook have spoken regularly at School Board meetings since the book was adopted for all county elementary schools in 2006.

As of Monday, 1,544 people had signed a petition on www.pwcteachmathright.com asking for the book to be removed from county schools.

Some board members said they think offering the traditional math option would be a good way to satisfy both those parents and those who are happy with Math Investigations.

“It’s not saying that anyone who wants Math Investigations can’t have Math Investigations. It’s just saying that people who want more traditional math can have traditional math,” said Dumfries district representative Betty Covington. “There are people who don’t like Math Investigations and they shouldn’t be required to have their kids in it.”

Other board members said they’d rather have a blended approach to math, taking elements from both Math Investigations and traditional math, taught in county elementary school classrooms.
The blended approach is what’s currently being taught in county elementary schools, school officials said.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.