NYC kids are so unchallenged by dumbed-down curriculum they read novels in math class
Families are forced to shell out thousands of dollars for tutors or flee in search of more challenging programs, parents say.
Parents in District 2, which covers most of Midtown, Lower Manhattan and the Upper East Side, are demanding accelerated math classes in elementary school and geometry starting in middle school to keep kids on par with their peers elsewhere in the city and country.
'Kids are reading novels in math class because they are bored,' Danyela Egorov, a member of District 2's Community Education Council, told Superintendent Kelly McGuire during a recent board meeting.
Egorov said parents have told her they are considering moving to Brooklyn's District 20 because it will offer geometry in some middle schools next year, setting kids up to take Algebra II in ninth grade.
Other districts in Brooklyn and Queens already offer the accelerated option.
'It's the only chance they have of getting geometry in middle school since they cannot pay for private school,' Egorov said.
Kids in middle schools that offer accelerated math end up a full year ahead of those in District 2, which is one of highest-performing in the city, argued Manpreet Boparai, another CEC 2 member.
For kids graduating the Lower Lab School, which offers a gifted and talented program and sixth-grade-level math in fifth grade, it's even worse, Boparai noted.
'D2 middle schools hold them back and make them repeat sixth-grade math, taking them off track to finish geometry in eighth grade,' she told The Post. 'They don't need more puzzles. They need to be accommodated to stay on the track they're already on.'
CEC 2 members Allyson Bowen and Maud Maron told McGuire in a letter last week there is an 'urgent need' for math reforms in District 2 and demanded a meeting to discuss establishing a 'math path' pilot program, and a task force to monitor its success.
'Parents are leaving the system due to a lack of rigorous academic offerings,' they wrote, citing the city Department of Education's annual school survey.
Meanwhile, other parents are turning to pricey math tutors and after-school programs like the Russian School of Mathematics, or RSM.
A West Village mom and her husband with three children in District 2 schools pay a total $6,400 to send all three to supplemental math programs at RSM, which starts teaching algebra concepts in first grade, she told The Post.
'We want to make sure that our kids are well set for a successful future, having math ahead of what the public schools are currently offering. Because that's not enough to be competitive.'
After the regular school day, her kids spend two to two-and-a-half hours weekly in RSM, and take on additional homework.
'So it's a commitment, and not a fun one. Other kids are playing ball, and my kids have to do some brain work.'
In affluent neighborhoods, such programs are apparently growing in popularity.
'I live on the same block as Russian School of Mathematics and I see parents lined up,' Leonard Silverman, the board's vice president, told McGuire during last month's meeting.
Even Superintendent McGuire admitted that his son is taking math classes this summer to catch him up for pre-calculus, because his middle school did not provide accelerated options.
Despite continued requests and repeated meetings, McGuire said there are currently no plans to bring geometry to middle schools in the district next year. He is waiting to hear interest from principals, he said, and maintained that the pilot proposals would require a 'heavy lift' of resources.
Egorov argued that principals don't promote accelerated learning out of fear of protests from critics who say its inequitable.
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