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>VP of BOE and Superintendent Comments on Reform Math
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>A lot of hot air and none of it explains why 6 schools use 3 different curriculums.
If it’s good enough for Orchard and Travell, give it to Willard, Ridge, Hawes and Somerville.
>They seem to admit that the reform programs are controversial generating criticism from experts and lauded by some in education.
So the question remains, why choose a controversial program in the first place? Shouldn’t they chose a program that all can agree will deliver basic mathemathics in the strongest manner? Their job is not to experiment with our children, but to direct a solid course of study for the student body.
By their own admission, reform math is not considered solid by any means. Hence the controversy.
Are they just stupid?
>They seem to think they can solve this problem of theirs by filling the air with words, like a bunch of U.S. Senators running for president. How wrong they are.
There is a lot of posing going on. Yet somehow every one of them still ends up looking like an ostrich with its head in the sand.
The acting superintendent seems to be playing the role of “enabler”, presenting unscientific and worthless data presented in technicolor for the trustees to use in justifying their dissembling statements and distinct lack of urgency. Like Al Gore on the issue of anthropogenic global warming, they came to their conclusions long ago, and see no need to defend their positions despite a rising tide of adverse data (and in this case, parent/taxpayer rage).
Pathetic.
>there has been a lot of name calling on this blog but no one has every called someone “like a bunch of U.S. Senators” now thats an insult !
>yes i too would resent being called a “senator” its just over the top
>Isn’t there a values clarification program, like open circle, that can help these 5 people?
Can we as their bosses mandate that they go?
>Our VP at the BOE, Mr. Vallerini, made a very telling statement revealing just how parochial they all are.
He stated that he, “can’t worry about what they are learning in Japan.”
Mr. Vallerini, we live in a global economy. We had better “worry about” what they are studying in Japan and India and Singapore and Russia and the rest of Europe if we are to maintain our standard of living and ability to compete in the global marketplace.
What a big dope. Do these people ever listen to what they are saying.
I couldn’t agree more, they all sound like the Senators running for President.
>You got to love Brogan’s comment about California’s decision to throw TERC out.
She claimed it was “political.” Duh! Of course it was political. The people hated it and wanted it gone. So, the politicians (elected officials) made it so.
She is a politician, elected to an office. What does she think, her votes on the BOE are not political?
These folks need a lesson in Civics 101.
>Mr. Vallerini made it quite clear that he’d like to hide behind the manufactured local aspect of this issue. Whereas he’s quite right that his work here has little bearing on international education standards, he’s wrong in thinking that Ridgewood is a special case.
Not every issue is so infused with local flair and unique quirks that one needs to factor those into the debate. Sorry, Mr. Vallerini, but there’s nothing unique about Ridgewood’s district in relation to math education. Don’t pretend for a second that it’s appropriate to have a local, relativist take on an issue as seminal as math education. It’s disingenuous.
Ms. Brogan’s comments were doubly ignorant, as the last commenter pointed out.
It appears that this Board relies on a stale, putrid mix of posturing and ignorance. I’m embarrassed for the district.
>So interesting Ms. Brogan would raise this issue, since as anybody who has delved into this issue to any depth has learned, reform math is itself nothing more than a political agenda wrapped in the skin of an academic curriculum.
So those who fight against reform math are doing nothing more than trying to root agenda-driven politics out of the school system, and return it to its original mission.
Shame on Ms. Brogan for implying that the reverse is the case. She has made a serious mistake. Why should we not conclude that her support for reform math as the centerpiece of Ridgewood’s math curriculum stems from her unspoken, personal political agenda, and discount her comments accordingly?
>Maybe Mrs. Brogan will discover the true meaning of “political” if she is defeated in her re-election bid this April.
>Brennan has survived the feminist political takeover of our schools because he represents only those that sign his paycheck. He looked good, credential wise, when they brought him in but now the bloom is off the rose and the wilt is in. Warning: the school system is in the death grip of very antieducational educrats. They’ll choose a new Super they can control. This struggle is going to be a very very long one. So, if you’re up for it, dig in!
>Not too different from you wanting to get a superintendent you can control…
I don’t think anyone is controlling Brennan, have you thought about the fact that the guy has a short contract and maybe he has nothing to lose by speaking the truth, even if the truth is what you do not want to hear?
I remember many accolades for him in this blog until he started giving a different opinion than what all of you wanted to hear so now he is just a hired gun.
Does this give any credibility to the criticism here? Maybe not.
>Nice try 9:06.
>Oh, come now, he is an old friend of Fred’s. Did anyone really think that he would be anything but a typical educrat.
Not me. Not ever. I wasn’t fooled a bit by his, “listening campaign.” Were you?
>Speaking the truth would be nice but his massive research effort about red, green , and white states merely begged the question concerning TERC/CMP effectiveness and was a complete waste of time, his and ours. Maybe he cannot see the issues clearly. And, if he cannot, then I must question his ability to not only see the truth but to speak it.
>Listening to these Senators talk is priceless:
Vallerini – “not worried about what they are doing in Japan” gets my vote for most ignorant comment of the year.
Brogan – “there’s argument about what is the best way to teach children math.” Duh! then why choose the one way everyone is arguing about?
Brennan – I was waiting for someone to give [Plato] a slap in the mouth. Oh really? First you quote Antigone, then Casey Stengel, now you advertise that you’ve read all of Plato’s dialogues, like you’re auditioning for smartest person in the room. Keeping the company of dead people will not save you from using up all your credibility as you try to save these idiots. In fact, you have very little left.
Brennan you would be wise to realize that brogan, bombace, et al did not use “test scores” to justify changing to reform math. So it’s disingenuous now for them to use “test scores” to justify not returning to traditional math. THERE’S THE ORIGIN OF THE LIE.
Hey Sheila, your job is political, that’s why you’re elected. And soon, you will be unelected.
Can’t wait.
Oh, and 9:06, we are all mature enough to have given Brennan the benefit of the doubt…that is, until he showed his true colors.
>6:26pm- so now in addition to being controlled by the BOE he is also a liar?
Boy oh boy- will we stop at anything? Just when I thought it couldn’t get any lower… the name calling starts again.
>10:18 AM
“6:26pm- so now in addition to being controlled by the BOE he is also a liar?
Boy oh boy- will we stop at anything? Just when I thought it couldn’t get any lower… the name calling starts again.”
10:18, people like you are worthless contributors to this blog. 6:26 did not call Brennan a liar.
Learn to read and comprehend a sentence. Your response is typical of a liberal – twist the facts to support a failed ideology. If you can’t win on the merits, resort to vilifying and lying about your opponents.
Take a look in the mirror.
Now, I am going to call you a name, you’re an arse kisser.
>12:40pm
You fell in the trap!
CHECK MATE!!!
>12:40pm- you need to read better-
“And, if he cannot, then I must question his ability to not only see the truth but to speak it.”
His ABILITY TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IS BEING QUESTIONED- I say that means the poster is calling Brennan a liar.
So stop pontificating. I have my take on this, you have yours. According to you my contributions are worthless, according to me your comments don’t matter
>This Board did not answer the question of why Willard and Hawes have the non-controversial program? Why not just give it to everyone else?
If I was on that Board and tired of hearing complaints, I’d move to get every elementary school to use traditional math. It’s already a standard in the district since two schools already use it for goodness sake.
Not one parent has complained from Hawes or Willard.
I like the comment about Brennen being the smartest person in the room – he was a bit pompous. Don’t take it personal Tim, but the “slapping Plato” was silly.
>9:06, who said anything about finding a superintendent who can be controlled?
We’d be happy to see any sign of life or independent rational thought coming from the Ridgewood district and the BOE. We thought we saw something like it coming from Mr. Brennan, but hopes are fading that it was anything other than a faint glimmer, random reflection, or a trick of light, like an oasis.
Since you have such an interest in the subject, and may be speaking from some experience, perhaps you could edify us on the plusses and minuses of retaining a controllable superintendent, and how we might go about finding a suitable crash-test dummy or marionette to fill the position.
Get a life.
>New posters or readers here should keep in mind that there is a small but dedicated cadre of reform math supporters from places far from Ridgewood who take pleasure in masquerading as ‘stakeholders’ in local debates.
True ‘gadflies’, motivated by politics above all else, they are more than willing to interrupt conversations between local debate participants with stink-bomb posts designed to elicit an emotional reaction from you, for which you are then criticized as having somehow demonstrated hypocrisy (read: “check mate”).
I for one find this behavior pathetic. But to each his own. Looking on the bright side, if this is the sum total of all the support the Reform Math movement can muster on a Ridgewood-centric website, it’s probably a good thing. It tends to show that truly local supporters of that curriculum have exhausted their store of potentially persuasive arguments in support of their position, and are now running on fumes, hoping and praying that the tincture of time will relieve them of their current troubles.
>7:53….I am a Hawes parent and I have been complaining….it all depends at Hawes who you get as a teacher….teacher roulette….some are more into traditional math…the younger ones seem to be preaching reform math….we may have a traditional program as the official curiculum at Hawes….but there is plenty of reformed math creeping into the leason plans every day as a practical matter…and there are plenty of Hawes parents that are vocal about it….even on this blog…we also know what awaits us at BF…..
>As 10:08 has plainly shown, Hawes and Willard parents are beginning to fear that the virus of reform math will take hold in their respective schools. This is music to the ears of Travell/Orchard parents up to their necks in this mumbo jumbo.
>To the Hawes Mom…from TERC website in a section called “easing the Transition to Middle School”. TERC is the reason the whole town has CMP2.
“Adopt a standards-based math curriculum at the middle school level.
The suggestions above are meant to apply whether a district’s middle school math program is traditional, standards-based, or something in-between. But of course, the transition is made easier when the middle school math program aligns with the philosophy of Investigations. For information on the five NSF-funded middle school mathematics curricula, see the Show-Me Center’s site.
One of these five middle school curricula is Connected Math (CMP). Elaine Russell, a sixth grade teacher from Nantucket, Massachusetts, spent many hours looking at the content overlap between fifth grade Investigations units and sixth grade CMP units. “
https://investigations.terc.edu/library/implementing/qa-1ed/middle_school.cfm
>Just got back from the webpage you mentioned, 2:23 — what a load of hooey!
I presume it was your intention to frighten the Hawes mom still further. It sure gave me the shivers!
>I am not a Hawes mom…I am a Hawes dad…..very presumptuous….
>2:34 PM,
Please enlighten us ignorant parents as to the benefits of reformed math and provide endorsements from our leading college mathematicians for its use in k-8.
Thanks so much.
>Of course Brennan is a hired gun. One who needs a good recommendation from this BOE to get his next gig. This means he is likely to be ineffectual, a sort of placeholder for the next superintendent.
It was no mere coincidence that when the school district was in the hands of Botsford (co-superintendent) and Arilotta (superintendent), both true believers in fuzzy math, School Leadership gave a thumbs up to the guy who literally wrote the book on fuzzy math.
Arilotta is gone,but Botsford not only continues to drives the fuzzy math initiative, but is also likely to have the most impact on the choice of a new superintendent. I fear she, not Brennan the short-timer (who sometimes claims his power is limited), will be the “decider.”
>Parents in Glen Rock are receiving surveys from their school district to see what the parents are looking for in a math program. Who knows if this will lead to Glen Rock dabbling in fuzzy math again but it would have been nice if our district had asked the parents for their input before experimenting with fuzzy math. Our BOE couldn’t even wait for its focus groups to begin before ordering the next round of TERC manipulatives and worksheets.
>Why is Botsford still here? Who is she serving? Certainly not the students. She’s making life Hell for many parents who have to hire expensive (and yes, they are expensive!) tutors to make sure their children are not slipping further behind–and that includes their Japanese counterparts, Mr. Vallerini.
Mr. V. that was a pretty stupid and parochial comment you made. I wish you would take it back. It makes you look foolish to say such things and serve on a board of education.
>The Ridgewood School District reminds me of a decrepit old whore, overly made-up with pancake and rouge, doused with a bottle of cheap cologne, dressed in a threadbare rag of a dress, posing on the red carpet, flashing her embossed invitation and crepe-like cleavage, invited to the party only because of what she once was…DECADES ago.
>I’m ready for my close up Mr. DeMille.