Oradell Board of Education

Story From the Bergen Record

ORADELL — Some Oradell Board of Education members are rethinking the district’s participation in a tri-district curriculum program after a dust-up over new math programs.

Board members have asked for detailed information about the department’s spending and how initiatives have benefited Oradell Public School before deciding whether to participate next year.

“We paid money in support of a program, and we want to make sure the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” said board President Michael Gardner.

Tri-district Coordinator Suzanne Lynch said she did not want to comment on the ongoing discussion.

Board members said the department’s recommendation to introduce the Connected Mathematics 2 program in sixth and seventh grade next year sparked concerns.

Parents packed meetings with worries about Connected Mathematics. Some parents, especially of fifth-graders, said their children were having trouble grasping Everyday Mathematics, a similar program introduced in the lower grades in the last two years.

“The last two programs brought to Oradell have caused a lot of problems with the parents,” said Oradell board member John Walsh. “The Everyday Math program had the fifth-grade parents at an uprising.”

Some Oradell board members said they were not satisfied with data that they were provided to explain the math committee’s program choice.

“I wanted evidence of why they were making the suggestion and never got any,” said board member Christine Robertson.

The Oradell board voted down the proposal. The River Edge board approved it. River Dell Regional voted to review the math curriculum and delay it until 2010.

Oradell Superintendent Jeffrey Mohre said that Lynch and a committee of teachers reviewed several different programs that stressed reasoning skills and problem-solving before choosing Connected Mathematics 2. He said the program would have supplemented existing methods.

Administrators have said the committee wanted to improve students’ math scores on state tests and to increase the number of students who take high-level math in high school.

Not all Oradell board members think the process was flawed.

“We know we’ve had a problem with math scores,” said Katherine Norian. “This is what the teachers thought would be an appropriate method for dealing with it.”

Eugene Westlake, interim superintendent in Tenafly and an Oradell board member, helped create the tri-district program while superintendent at River Dell Regional.

“Every child in River Edge and Oradell, no matter where that child goes to school, should have the same opportunity to succeed when they graduate from River Dell,” Westlake said. “One of the ways to ensure that is to make sure the curriculum is a common curriculum and the expectations are the same.”

But the department’s costs have raised eyebrows among Oradell members. The three districts each pay one-third of the approximately $288,000 cost for the program.

Board member John Samuel said at a recent board meeting that he supported the idea of a tri-district coordinator, but questioned $35,000 spent on consultants last year.

Samuel said he wanted to know what portion of the consultants’ fees supported elementary school programs to determine if splitting costs evenly is fair.

The discussion occurs as the county superintendent works on a plan to regionalize non-K-12 districts. Board members say they still have to question the program as it enters its third year.

“It doesn’t alleviate our responsibility to make sure our money is being spent wisely,” said former Oradell board member Robert Schwartz.

E-mail: kindergan@northjersey.com

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ORADELL — Some Oradell Board of Education members are rethinking the district’s participation in a tri-district curriculum program after a dust-up over new math programs.

Board members have asked for detailed information about the department’s spending and how initiatives have benefited Oradell Public School before deciding whether to participate next year.

“We paid money in support of a program, and we want to make sure the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” said board President Michael Gardner.

Tri-district Coordinator Suzanne Lynch said she did not want to comment on the ongoing discussion.

Board members said the department’s recommendation to introduce the Connected Mathematics 2 program in sixth and seventh grade next year sparked concerns.

Parents packed meetings with worries about Connected Mathematics. Some parents, especially of fifth-graders, said their children were having trouble grasping Everyday Mathematics, a similar program introduced in the lower grades in the last two years.

“The last two programs brought to Oradell have caused a lot of problems with the parents,” said Oradell board member John Walsh. “The Everyday Math program had the fifth-grade parents at an uprising.”

Some Oradell board members said they were not satisfied with data that they were provided to explain the math committee’s program choice.

“I wanted evidence of why they were making the suggestion and never got any,” said board member Christine Robertson.

The Oradell board voted down the proposal. The River Edge board approved it. River Dell Regional voted to review the math curriculum and delay it until 2010.

Oradell Superintendent Jeffrey Mohre said that Lynch and a committee of teachers reviewed several different programs that stressed reasoning skills and problem-solving before choosing Connected Mathematics 2. He said the program would have supplemented existing methods.

Administrators have said the committee wanted to improve students’ math scores on state tests and to increase the number of students who take high-level math in high school.

Not all Oradell board members think the process was flawed.

“We know we’ve had a problem with math scores,” said Katherine Norian. “This is what the teachers thought would be an appropriate method for dealing with it.”

Eugene Westlake, interim superintendent in Tenafly and an Oradell board member, helped create the tri-district program while superintendent at River Dell Regional.

“Every child in River Edge and Oradell, no matter where that child goes to school, should have the same opportunity to succeed when they graduate from River Dell,” Westlake said. “One of the ways to ensure that is to make sure the curriculum is a common curriculum and the expectations are the same.”

But the department’s costs have raised eyebrows among Oradell members. The three districts each pay one-third of the approximately $288,000 cost for the program.

Board member John Samuel said at a recent board meeting that he supported the idea of a tri-district coordinator, but questioned $35,000 spent on consultants last year.

Samuel said he wanted to know what portion of the consultants’ fees supported elementary school programs to determine if splitting costs evenly is fair.

The discussion occurs as the county superintendent works on a plan to regionalize non-K-12 districts. Board members say they still have to question the program as it enters its third year.