Weekly Math Updates

February 11, 2006

Hi All,

    I had to send you just a couple of things.  There are some major important things happening in the near future and we have to get ready for it right now.

Board Meeting Tuesday

    First, please come share your personal stories at the school board meeting this Tuesday, Feb 14th at 6:00 PM at the district office in American Fork.  You have to be there before 6 PM to sign up to speak so be a little early if you're coming.  I will be there making another statement.

Elections to the School Board

    This fall, four of seven school board seats are up for election in ASD.  Based on traditional math fractions, we can show that 4/7 is greater than 1/2 by finding the least common denominator of 14 and....oh never mind.  Sorry, I'm preaching to the choir....  If we win those four seats, we can control the curriculum used in ASD and bring real math reform to the district.  Attached to this email is a pdf map of the district (precinct map link)Seats up for election are listed here:

A1 (most of Lehi, Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs) is currently represented by Donna Barnes
A2 (Alpine, Highland, Cedar Hills, small part of Lehi) is currently represented by Chrissy Hanneman
A3 (American Fork) is currently represented by Keith Swain
A5 (West Orem) is currently represented by JoDee Sundberg 

    The time commitment to be on the school board is about 5 hours a week for 4 years.  The person elected by the board to be president will spend about 10+ hours a week because of some additional responsibilities.  That person still gets just one vote but interfaces with the superintendent more often and kind of acts like a liaison for the other board members.  Registration happens March 7th through the 17th.

    If you are interested in running for office to help bring a better education to our children, please email me ASAP so we can begin to put a group ticket together.  If more than two people in an area want to run for one seat, there will be a primary election and only the top 2 vote getters will advance to the election so we can knock out some or all of these board members in a primary election and just let the general election run its course.  Kind of like saying you don't care who wins as long as that person is on our side. :)

YIKES!!!

    If you didn't have enough reasons to make your head explode, this email ought to do it.  I know there are teachers that detest this program because quite a few have emailed me, but honestly, this teacher ought to be sent to remedial common sense classes.

Outrageous Parent Email of the Week:

"We just returned from a parent/teacher conference with our daughter's 5th grade teacher. Our daughter was marked down on a fractions worksheet because she did not draw a picture of our family on the page! Her understanding of the concept to be taught is accurate and all the "computations" on the paper were very detailed and correct, yet she was marked down for not doing the "art." We purchased the Saxon Math program for her, so we are numbered among the many families who are teaching their children at home so they do well on the standardized tests. I am frustrated that the options at Lone Peak for Pre-Calc Honors (my daughter will be a sophomore next year and is currently enrolled in Mrs. Larsen's 'traditional' Algebra 2 class)do not include any 'traditional' choices. When I brought up the fact that last year's Calculus AP scores at Lone Peak were the worst in years to one of the HS counselors, he said "we're working on the problem"--ha! Do you know if there is any way to 'opt-out' of the math program on the 5th grade level? I wouldn't mind if she participated in class, but would like her exempt from the grading. Thanks for all you do for the children and families in the Alpine District."

Keep spreading the word.  We're at 4.83% of the district on the petition.

Oak Norton

www.oaknorton.com/mathpetition.cfm

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