The school board Friday approved spending $62,500 for new math textbooks for grades six through eight.
The move comes after complaints about out-of-date books.
The series under consideration, Mathematics Connections, published by Heath Educational Books, is available for both the elementary and middle school levels.
For now, the board has agreed to purchase the textbooks for grades six, seven and eight.
“Schools who use the books have made gains in their Mastery Test scores, and they attribute that to the program,” school board member Ted Oczkowski said.
Math was one area identified as needing the new books, he said. They also are looking into new social studies texts at Center School, he said.
“The superintendent has recommended we use books that are aligned to the CMTs,” said school board chairman Rose McKinnon. The school board has solicited opinions from the teachers who will be using them.
“Our goal is to replace outdated books,” McKinnon said. “We have done an inventory and have received a great deal of information from teachers.”
McKinnon said she asked Superintendent Judith Palmer to get teams of teachers together to discuss book replacement and report back to the board. That was done before the end of the last school year, she said.
The new math books will be delivered in time for the new school year, Oczkowski said.
The goal is to get the books for the lower grades by next year. There is about $17,000 left in the textbook account, he said, and they will be considering how best to use those funds.
“We will be holding it until Heath sees what the elementary school books will cost,” he said. “We don’t want to spend the $17,000 just because the money is there but see ways it can be used creatively.”
