N. Merrick schools debut ‘Parents U.’

Parents went back to school on Nov. 20 at Old Mill Road Elementary School, where North Merrick School District educators led an evening of discussion about the Common Core State Standards’ mathematics curricula titled “Parents University.” It was the first of three or four such informational seminars that the district plans to hold this school year, according to Deputy Superintendent Beth Friedman.

Teachers Maria Castle and Kim Goltermann organized the event, which included smaller discussion sessions with individual teachers and administrators. Parents heard about the Common Core’s changes to education and strategies for supporting their children’s success in math.

“A lot of it is different from when parents were in school,” Friedman said. “… Parents were shown how the understanding of math processes are just as important as the memorization of multiplication tables.”

Funding for the evening’s activities and future Parents University events came from “Reward School Dissemination Grants” that the state Education Department gave this year to the district’s three schools: Camp Avenue, Fayette and Old Mill Road. The schools received the grants, worth up to $75,000 each, because of their students’ high performance on state tests in 2011 and 2012, before implementation of Common Core-based tests.

Only districts that meet the criteria of Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides aid for economically disadvantaged students, could be considered “Reward Schools.” The funds are split into two parts — $50,000 to “support required activities and enhance the school and district’s best practices,” and $25,000 to “disseminate best practices and mentor low performing schools,” according to the state Education Department.

Friedman said staff teams from the Syracuse City School District will make site visits in 2014-15 to Camp Avenue and Old Mill Road to observe the schools’ practices. She said the Education Department has not yet informed North Merrick who will visit Fayette.

North Merrick’s next Parents University will focus on English Language Arts and take place Jan. 26.