School board hears how math improves student confidence

Math is cool again.

That’s the message La Conner School Board members heard during their one-hour public meeting Monday night.

Math teachers Dan Hansen and Julia Johnson shared with the board via Zoom how the district’s new curriculum has contributed to greater content mastery and perhaps more important, increased student confidence and development of critical thinking skills.

Hansen noted how his students now appreciate the role geometry plays in everyday life.

“They realize how geometry fits into the world,” said Hansen. “It’s so prevalent in engineering and construction.”

Hansen said La Conner students are embracing the opportunity to learn logic and deductive reasoning.

“Now we’re getting to the point where calculus is on our long-term radar,” Hansen said.

Johnson, who teaches algebra and business math, said her students have begun communicating in “math talk” during class.

“They’re working together as a team,” Johnson said of her students. “They’ll be in class asking one another, ‘Are we working this problem right?’”

“Their confidence in math has been increasing this year,” Johnson said.

In business math, students are connecting textbook consumer finance lessons to real-life situations. She said students are talking about the math involved in leasing vehicles, understanding compound interest, and how to determine if employers are accurately deducting payroll taxes.

“The kids are having so much success in math,” Johnson said, “that they’re loving it.”

Board member John Agen, who along with his colleagues has toured La Conner math classrooms this year, confirmed Johnson’s assessment.

“I noticed how interested and engaged the students were when we visited your class,” he said.

“They’re learning these (math) skills to go out into the real world and use them,” Johnson added. “They’re really excited about it. They ask questions about it. They’re all participating.”

In a related item, the board on Monday accepted a $700 donation from La Conner Soroptimists for the district’s May 1 Family Math Engagement Night.

Math had also come into play earlier in the board meeting when members adopted 180-day instructional calendars for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. Math was likewise a factor in the board reluctantly cutting one full-time staff position for next year based on a projected enrollment decline of 30 K-12 students.

“It’s with a sad heart today that we have to RIF (reduction in force) another teacher in our school district,” said board president Susie Deyo.

She held out hope that whoever is let go will have an opportunity to return to La Conner schools.

“I implore our administration to continue working on a plan to bring them back,” Deyo said.

The board, following a presentation by Beth Clothier, the district’s director of teaching and learning, unanimously approved renewal of the district’s Highly Capable Program, which serves over 30 students and has drawn praise from parents, said Deyo.

Following the public portion of the meeting, board members convened in closed executive session to discuss administrative transition plans as Superintendent Will Nelson departs this summer for a teaching post at Western Washington University. No formal action was taken.

Nelson, meanwhile, soldiered on during the April 22 meeting while wearing a sling after having undergone recent rotator cuff surgery.