CHESHIRE, Mass. — The Hoosac Valley School Committee approved a new math curriculum on Monday at the urging of teachers. 

 

After a yearlong pilot, the Grades kindergarten through 8 will switch to McGraw Hill's Reveal Math. The schools had been using Great Minds' Eureka and its Math 2 program was part of the pilot.

 

"The current Eureka program is not meeting the needs of the students and trying to teach math every day ... it's like trying to herd a corral of cats that roll around in oil and feathers," said third-grade teacher Kim Trimarchi to laughter. "I was a Eureka fan ... now I couldn't wait for it to be done. 

 

"We want to be able to teach math. There's a giant focus on really building thinking classrooms and moving away from teacher-directed and Eureka does not do it ... it is in no way child friendly."

 

Fewer than half the students are meeting math expectations on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and none are exceeding, based on the most recent data. 

 

Kristen Palatt, director of curriculum, said there's no reason that Hoosac students should not be meeting expectations. 

 

"It would be not crazy to expect 75 to 85 percent of our students to meet expectations on the MCAS," she told the School Committee. "We want to see alignment between the number of students getting As in their classes in school and meeting expectations on the MCAS. So I think 75 to 85 percent would be reasonable and attainable."

 

In one year, asked the committee? Palatt laughed no, but she was confident they could within a few years.

 

Palatt and the math council that researched and piloted the program said the teachers were 100 percent behind Reveal — even the ones who had used Eureka. A few in the upper grades had tried both. The recommendation had also taken input from parents and students. 

 

"I've been in district since 2001 and I've never been involved in such a thorough process when it comes to curriculum, and I'm super excited about that," said Regina Diesz, assistant principal of teaching and learning at the high school. "Just to let you know that there was a lot of work, and it'll come out through our presentation tonight. I'm super proud."

 

Diesz was joined by Elementary School Assistant Principal Alissa Rosier and Middle School Assistant Principal Bridget O'Neil-Hopkins in making the presentation. 

 

Teachers found Eureka too language heavy without enough hands-on work and real-life application, and it didn't really match the grade level standards. Reveal was found to be more flexible, supportive, plenty of practice and real-life applications, good pacing, and continued affirmation of math concepts rather than assuming they had been memorized. 

 

"The [math] council did feel strongly that, as we were moving through this process, that we wanted feedback from our students as well as our teachers so we did put out a survey to students," said Palatt. 

 

What they found was that students really wanted to be challenged and engaged. 

 

"Obviously, they're there for the fun and games, they were also really for the technology. Wanted more opportunities to practice," she said. "They felt it was important for them to have more challenging, difficult problems. They wanted to be pushed. They wanted that real-life application, and again, the use of technology or tools to make their learning easier."

 

When asked about extending the program to the high school, Palatt said a pilot next year for those grades was the next step. It might be Reveal, but she cautioned that one size doesn't necessarily fit all. 

 

The cost of the program is $108,000 for five years, including materials for both students and teachers. Palatt said most of the teachers' materials had been gifted as part fo the pilot. 

 

Chair Erin Milne said she was impressed by the "thoughtful nature of your discussions."

 

"It was really very inclusive of everyone who was there [at math council], myself included even just showing up for the first time," she said. "Really a lot of thought towards getting as many voices represented as possible, not just from teachers, but from students, parents, community members. And I'm just very impressed with the process and how in depth and intentional it all was."

 

The School Committee also heard from David Irwin Jr. and Joseph Collins from Adelson & Co., who presented the audit for fiscal 2024. This was the first year Adelson has been used.

 

Irwin said cash on hand at the end of June 30, 2024, was $3.7 million with short-term investment just over $1 million. Total revenue was $29.3 million and expenditures $28.8 million with a surplus of $560,000.

 

"All the bank accounts are reconciled timely. We confirmed all the accounts directly with financial institutions. We looked at a lot of the revenues for all the deposits that go in. We look at a lot of the expenses, tracing the invoices and everything, for all the money that goes out. And everything that we looked at was fine," he said. "You guys stayed within the confines of your budget. So everything was done, right. [Business Administrator Erika Snyder] and her team did a very good job."

 

However, the audit could not provide a completely clean opinion because the retirement system is not audited. This is the same reasoning given to the town of Adams in its audit.

 

"You've got good clean financial standards, good clean accounting, to have it hung up over this is a shame," said Irwin, who added he has not seen any impact on the district's ability to borrow.

 

The regional school district makes up 40 percent of the retirement system and Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission has calculated an obligation of $7.8 million. In net pension liabilities and other post-employment benefits total $52.5 million.

 

Like most governmental organizations, the school district uses a pay-as-you-go system for these liabilities.

 

In other business, the committee reorganized, voting Erin Milne in as chair and Robert Tetlow as vice chair. The committee is still down one member, a representative for Cheshire.

 

The committee approved a letter of recommendation drafted by committee member Fred Lora for assistant girls soccer coach Lacey Dixon. 

 

Dixon is a sergeant in the Air Force, currently assigned as a recruiter. Lora is recommending her for the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, which he said is rarely given, for her efforts in supporting head coach Lindsey McGinnis and JV coach Trish Carlo and her work with the Jake Galliher Foundation.

 

"I kept getting this feedback where it was literally, if we didn't have Lacey, we weren't going to have a varsity and JV teams for the fall," he said. 

 

Lora, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, has been in contact with Dixon's commander and will be sending other letters of endorsement. The committee will confer with the administration on an appropriate event for presentation.