A decision to jettison the seventh-grade math textbook, outside
of the textbook adoption schedule, has created some controversy for
local education officials.
Morgan Hill – A decision to jettison the seventh-grade math textbook, outside of the textbook adoption schedule, has created some controversy for local education officials.
The root of the dispute is a decision by Morgan Hill Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Michael Johnson to nix the mathematics textbook in favor of “California Middle School Mathematics Concepts and Skills Course 2,” by Larson, Boswell, Kanold, Staff, McDougal Littell 2001.
According to Johnson, the decision was made after meetings with math department chair persons and teachers. He said the initial meetings took place in November and December, with all math department chair persons and school principals, but then he and the two middle school chair persons broke off to specifically discuss the textbook in question.
Johnson said he decided to sell the old textbooks June 12, after a vote by mail by secondary math teachers. The revenue derived from the sale of the books, he said, would cover approximately half of the new books, which cost $57 per book. Total cost for the new textbooks is approximately $40,000 to $50,000 including all costs, he said.
“I also knew in my heart that the board, when I did my curricular presentation recently, gave me an indication that that is the recommended direction we would be going,” Johnson added. “Certainly, it was a chance I was taking … If the board indeed said, ‘Michael, we shouldn’t do it, it still gave me time to get the books back.”
Superintendent Alan Nishino defended Johnson’s actions.
“If we continue to wait to do what we know we should be doing, generations of kids will be lost,” he said. “There is a philosophical difference between where Mr. Johnson is trying to move and where we’ve been in past. The stakes are extremely high now … We need to understand that we are being driven by outside forces to do some things that we don’t all believe in.”
In another out-of-sequence adoption, the adoption of a new calculus book was also before the board. Johnson said if the calculus adoption was not a problem, the seventh grade math textbook adoption should also not be a problem.
Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers President Donna Foster said Johnson’s justification that if the calculus textbook adoption was needed, then the same logic applied to the algebra textbook, was not correct.
“With the calculus textbook, they needed to get books immediately for Sobrato (next year’s seniors will be the first senior class for the school),” she said.
Foster said the reason behind the calculus text purchase was because books were needed for Sobrato’s new seniors, so it made sense to go ahead and adopt a new book because the current book was not adequate.
She described the situation as “unique,” but said the situation with the seventh grade book was not the same.
“We had an effective textbook, we need to follow the adoption schedule with that,” she said.
Johnson said the two textbooks were “inadequate.” That judgment, he said, was not made by him but by the teachers. He made the decision to sell the old seventh grade textbooks, he said, because discussions with teachers indicated they were not happy with the textbook.
“I guess I’m not good at math, I look to the professionals to tell me what is best in teaching students,” Trustee Shelle Thomas said. “I endorse the position of the union. I don’t think we’ve allowed that conversation to take place as best as it can take place and that’s my concern. As far as the sale of books, it is the role of the school board to follow policies; we still have a policy in place that says … we would be aware of the sale of books before they are picked up and sold. I think the board should have been notified we were selling books.”
When asked about selling the textbooks without notifying the board, Nishino said, “That was handled in the educational services department. I don’t know where we stand with that.”
Trustee Peter Mandel said he has no problem with the textbook adoption.
“We strongly endorsed eighth-grade algebra as a goal … We need to adopt a better textbook to make that happen,” he said. “I strongly endorse that transition … I think we would be remiss if we don’t do this because of money, because people say we don’t put our money where are goals are … I’m not willing to lose two years of kids.”
Nishino said he would never recommend leaving any students behind in any way, which he said he believed would happen if a new seventh grade math book was not adopted.
“Our students cannot wait to get what I consider high-caliber instruction,” he said.
Foster said there was no indication that the old textbook was inferior, that middle school Academic Performance Index scores in math had risen. She said there was a concern, however, about the way the decision was made, that there was a lack of input from teachers.
She said there was no recommendation to the secondary steering committee – principals, vice principals and department chairs from the secondary schools – by the math task force, which would have been the normal procedure. The math task force is made up of district math teachers and department chairs.
“My issue is following sections of the contract that provide for that input,” she said. “I think we needed to hear a recommendation from the math task force … The teachers have always been the most involved professionals on selection of materials. This time, the process was not followed in depth, not the face-to-face discussions and educational discourses. Only 11 persons had been contacted out of approximately 30 people (on the math task force); that’s not a clear recommendation or conversation.”
Foster said she was also concerned about the selling of the textbooks before board action and public hearing, something she said she did not remember ever happening in the district before. She said the involvement of the teachers’ union in curricular discussions does not have to be burdensome.
“The federation’s role is to negotiate working conditions and professional issues,” Foster said. “We’re problem solvers. We’re here to work together to solve problems, to minimize controversy. We are not obstructionists. We are the people who dedicate our time and our professional lives to educating children.”
