Damakant Jayshi

The Wausau School Board will wait a week before voting on proposed integrated mathematics curriculum for high schools while seeking feedback from teachers, students and parents.

Meanwhile, the board approved a request from the Wausau Area Montessori Charter School Governance Council to allow them to continue to be housed at Horace Mann Middle School. 

A special board meeting next week will consider the math proposal and is likely to take up additional portions of its postponed agenda. Monday’s meeting was postponed because two board members had to leave, resulting in a lack of quorum. Three of nine board members were absent throughout.

Among the postponed items was a presentation from administrators seeking“further clarification” from the board after a Nov. 13 decision to halt restructuring secondary schools and updates on construction at several schools in the district.

The new mathematics curriculum, also termed integrated math sequencing or pathways, was jointly presented by Curriculum Director Deb Foster, District Math Coordinator Scott Strand, Wausau East Math Department Chair Doris Martin and Wausau West Math Department Chair Jason Myers.

Foster expressed excitement about the new approach, which combines algebra and geometry instead of teaching them a separate course. Foster said the new curriculum would provide options for students who might otherwise miss out on pursuing math, especially geometry. Myres said they hope more students will be interested in math, potentially reducing failure rates in the subject, a state and nationwide problem.

But most board members said they would prefer to wait a week in order to get additional feedback. The new curriculum has an aggressive timeline, potentially rolling out as early as 2024.

Board Vice President Lance Trollop, Clerk Karen Vandenberg and member Pat McKee asked the faculty to explain the rationale for the change and benefits for students along with the risks of abandoning the new curriculum if it did not produce the desired result.

Trollop wanted to know if the teachers, and not just the “department” were comfortable with the change. Vandenberg asked about the benefits of the change and what would be considered a success in five years after implementation. McKee asked if it could be introduced as a pilot program for a subset of students to gauge success instead of making wholesale changes to the current curriculum and then abandon it if it doesn’t fare well.

Strand said a pilot rollout would have to be done for two years – Integrated Math 1 in grade 9 and Integrated Math 2 in grade 10.

Responding to what success would look like, Myers said many students have to take foundational courses in math because they are behind and some of them might not be exposed to geometry in high school. With the new curriculum, he added, they are trying to minimize the number of students who take the foundation course in math. They also wanted to see more students who take Integrated Math 1 move on to take Integrated Math 2. The faculty aims to create pathways for students, support them to be successful and when they walk out the door, they still have options when it comes to math that currently are closed.

Montessori to continue at Horace Mann

Also on Monday the board approved a request from the Wausau Area Montessori Charter School Governance Council to allow them to continue to be housed at Horace Mann Middle School. 

Superintendent Keith Hilts said there was urgency to the request because of the short time they have –  to redesign the changes at Horace Mann Middle School given the board’s decision on restructuring on Nov. 13.

Wausau Area Montessori Charter School was previously promised its own space at Lincoln Elementary, a school planned for closure. 

However, with the board taking the secondary school consolidation out of any immediate restructuring plan and opting to focus on managing its elementary schools more efficiently, the location for charter schools became uncertain. The board, on Nov. 27, directed the administration to hold discussion with Wausau Montessori and update the body.

Board Treasurer Jon Creisher said it would be a bit unfair to displace Lincoln at this time and if the Montessori board wanted to stay at Horace Mann, “I don’t see why we should move in any other direction.”

The board voted unanimously to approve the request.