Dear Editor,

It is with great hesitation, but a strong conviction, that I write to you today. I am a parent of four children. I feel passionately about the education of our children. I am proud of our teachers and students. Unfortunately, there have been several unsettling situations arising over the past two years. While it’s uncomfortable to speak up, we have not only a right, but an obligation to do so when we feel that our kids aren’t receiving adequate services or their education is threatened.

Last year, the superintendent and NG school board brought the CPM math program into the high school without the knowledge/involvement of the parents and without thorough research. CPM wasn’t only a change from what had been a successful curriculum, but also a change in our teaching philosophy. Teachers don’t teach; students teach. Students are assigned to groups and must figure things out themselves. Common sense tells you this doesn’t work. No pilot program was performed. General data, presented by the superintendent in support of this program, was proven to be false – my husband and I researched extensively and provided correct data. Many parents and majority of students objected. Parent/student petitions were presented to the board on January 25, 2016. In addition to presenting solid data, we had a guest speaker, Professor Richard Askey from the Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is well known nationally/internationally in the area of math and science. He, along with math professors, mathematicians and scientists across the U.S., agree that this type of curriculum does NOT prepare the students for college nor does it prepare them for a career in STEM. College academia and those professionals in the area of math and science AGREE that CPM methodology is NOT effective.

In response to parent/student concerns, nothing was done. The curriculum committee, at the advice of the superintendent, decided to give CPM two years before reevaluating. Without a pilot, our kids became guinea pigs. CPM is now being thrust upon the middle school – again without the involvement of the parents and without objective data…grave mistake.

Additionally, the overall performance of our high school is falling. We used to be great! In August 2012, we ranked in the top 1,000 public high schools per Newsweek. We ranked 903, 18th of 21 Wisconsin schools making the list. In 2013, our rank fell to 943, but we moved up to 14th among the Wisconsin schools. In 2014, we climbed to 324! Awesome! Beginning in 2014, Newsweek lists only the top 500. In 2015, we fell off the list. Then on May 19, 2016, the newspaper quoted the superintendent, saying that we are proud to rank 1,553 of public high schools, 33rd of the Wisconsin schools. The superintendent said it’s the first time we have been ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top high schools. While this technically MAY be true (unsure because U.S. News’ previous years’ data is inaccessible), it is far from painting an accurate picture.

Other misleading information reported by the superintendent involves the 2017 Spring Capital Math Conference. The March 16, 2017 newspaper reported, “Mathletes Take First Place.” The article continues, “…our New Glarus Knights took first place for the south division for both JV and Varsity!” This was confusing, as my daughter (JV team member) told me that they took third. To clarify, I spoke with the host of the tournament at Lake Mills High School. She explained that in the fall, the conference is divided into north and south, but in the spring it is not. She further explained that NG did not win the south division because there was no south division - there is ONE champion and it was not NG. The host confirmed that NG took third for both Varsity and JV. She said that, had there been a south division, NG would have taken first, but that was not the case. The article was quite misleading.

Please know I’m proud of our math teams – my daughter is a member. While some of these kids are regarded by the superintendent as being “lazy” for disliking CPM, it’s a fact that many of these kids take their own time to supplement their math with effective curricula at home, even to the point of electing not to use the CPM curriculum and taking calculus totally outside the school. The school benefits from their hard work.

Another huge concern is our recent downward trend for AP and ACT scores. Per the NG/DPI website, composite ACT scores for graduating classes are as follows: 2012/13 – 23.0, 2013/14 – 23.1, 2014/15 – 21.7 and 2015/2016 – 21.0. Participation rate doesn’t seem to be a factor since back in 2012/13 our participation rate was 84.6% versus 73.6% in 2014/15. AP scores of 3 or above have also plummeted from 78.2% in 2013/14 to 69.3% in 2015/16. Our college readiness is rated at only 34.1 of 100. Alarming!

Lastly, school board elections were April 4th. Three seats were up for election, with three candidates on the ballot, yet we voted for two. One board member didn’t know his three-year term was expiring and failed to submit paperwork. Apparently, the superintendent’s office is responsible to hand board members their paperwork, which wasn’t done. Whether someone is handed papers or not, a board member should be responsible enough to request his own paperwork, and at a minimum, know when his term expires. On April 17, 2017, the board interviewed candidates to fill this open seat. They voted to keep the board member for another year, rather than appointing the third candidate who responsibly filed her paperwork.

The school belongs to the people of NG. We vote for board members to represent us. We cannot continue this downward spiral and it shouldn’t take parent’s research to uncover and correct school-released misinformation/omitted information. Changes MUST be made. We mustn’t let the mistakes of the high school spill into the middle school. Let’s give our teachers/students the tools required to succeed.

Sincerely,

Linda Sheridan,

New Glarus