Brief School Committee Meeting Focuses on Math Curriculum

By Adam Swift

The School Committee sped through a short agenda during its first meeting of the new year on Monday night.

Committee member Suzanne Swope updated the committee on a recent curriculum subcommittee meeting that focused on the math curriculum, and proposed a few suggestions for the committee to consider that were discussed during that meeting.

Swope said there was a lot of discussion about the Illustrative Math program that is being rolled out through the district. 

While she said there are positives to the system, Swope said it could take some time before students and staff see the full benefits.

“Teachers have to go through the curriculum for a year before they can really use or take the full benefit of the new system and new software program,” Swope said.

Since the program has been in use in grades six and seven for several years, Swope said the district should hope to see improvements in those grades sooner.

Wakefield has been using Illustrative Math for several years, and Winthrop teachers plan to meet with the Wakefield teachers soon as a professional development opportunity.

“While Covid was felt in all subjects, it was particularly felt in math,” said Swope. “Fluency in math and making sure we have equity across the curriculum is really tough, and it’s particularly tough when not everyone has a computer and not everyone has the internet. That’s problematic when you want to do homework or you want to assign more homework with a student who is having difficulty.

“So we have tried to make sure that at least everybody is on an equal plane in math, and that’s been a very big push this year.”

Some of the suggestions that came up in subcommittee to help students with math included having seniors performing community service start a math center and having parents take a math tutorial.

“We all want to see improvements in math,” said Swope. “We know we have been weak in math, even before Covid.”

In other business, the School Committee ran through several announcements and recognitions.

Winthrop High School girls hockey senior Emma Holmes scored her 100th career point in a Jan. 4 game against Medford. WHS football sophomore running back Nick Capuccio recently earned honorable mention honors on the New England Football Journal All-State Team.

The Winthrop Elks also recently announced the middle school students of the month for November, honoring Daniel Perez and Phoebe Curtis in sixth grade, Izzy Sedov and Nikolai Qose in seventh grade, and Tony Bordonaro and Josue Lopez DePaz in eighth grade.