Thanks, Joe!

While the Greece Central School District in New York may not have too much in common with Prince William County, our public school system employs the superintendent they used to have. June 2008 marked his third year in the system, but that hasn't prevented his name from cropping up in discussions up north:

Joe Moscato said...
Just a quick update on the Steve Walts agenda item. I don't know why Julia keeps putting this on the agenda as they are no closer to making a decision than they were last May... I learned that an investigative agency has launched an official investigation into Walts' and two others as a result of the forensic audit.
1/26/2009 6:52 PM

It's like they say in Hollywood: "Man, you don't want that kind of attention."

I wouldn't either. Let's see how this goes.

Or maybe not...

Response to previous post:

Julie Lucas said:
Chairman Johns removed this item for now because we are going to discuss this issue during our budget work session. Please help spread the word that this issue will be discussed. Thanks for keeping people informed.
January 27, 2009 1:00 AM

So noted and posted, Ms. Lucas :) Again, thank you for the info.

OOPS! Did we just misplace an action item?

I was checking the agenda for the Prince William County School Board Meeting on February 4th. The 26th item originally read (notice missing info):

That the Prince William County School Board direct the Superintendent that the textbook series "Investigations in Number, Data and Space" shall not be used as the primary textbook for 5th Grade instruction, but materials in the series may be used to supplement the currently approved 5th Grade textbook.

And may it live long and prosperous on the Internets that this is what the 26th item used to read.

Now it says:

That the Prince William County School Board discuss combining the virtual high school with the night high school program.

HMMMMMM, considering that the previous version of the action item dealt with a pretty hot topic in the school system, one must wonder why this action item has suddenly donned an invisibility cloak. If it must be moved to another date for some reason, at least put a note on the agenda! I find it strange that the Traditional Math proponents were the ones to sound the alarm. Where are the investigations folks? It appears as if they are trying to keep quiet about its disappearance. That fishy smell has become quite strong. What the heck is going on?

More news to follow...

Show Time!

A critical milestone has been reached in favour of the Traditional Math proponents. At tonight's school board meeting, a small yet significant item on this evening's agenda will be deliberated and voted on. This item proposes having an opt-in option for traditional math. Months of e-mails, faxes, citizen comments, letters to the editor, and a solid math forum have come to this. Join the ranks of citizens at the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center. Those at home can still catch the action on channel 18 (Comcast), channel 36 (Verizon), or watch the meeting live on the Web.

Go Team! :)

::UPDATE::
I watched some of the meeting online last night. The beginning portion was heavily in favour of investigations. I don't recall hearing all too much out of the MI crew before, but here they were with plenty of comments to spare. Hmmm. I wonder where they came from.
From reading the responses on the Yahoo! Math Forum, it appears as if there was no vote taken. The discussion afterwards, however, is something else. Numerous reports erupted that a couple school board members spewed vitriol during the board's comment time. A poster at the Forum wrote:

Apparently PWCS staff are spreading misinformation. I'd like to clarify that I was at the meeting and there were no chairs thrown and there was no swearing as parents left the board room during Lattin's comments. The only word that was said was, "Rude."

Man! Now I wish I'd attended the meeting in-person. Relive all 5 hours and 37 minutes, if you so desire. Fast forward to the last 20 minutes for the best parts.

::UPDATE::
Interesting Action item on the February 4th agenda. It states:

That the Prince William County School Board direct the Superintendent that the textbook series "Investigations in Number, Data and Space" shall not be used as the primary textbook for 5th Grade instruction, but materials in the series may be used to supplement the currently approved 5th Grade textbook.

Hopefully, this item will go forward at the next meeting. Traditional math has been waiting a long time for this.