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Camp Connection Summer 2017
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GENERAL EXCELLENCE
California Newspaper Publishers Association
FEBRUARY 24, 2017 VOLUME 25, NO. 5
www.MountainViewOnline.com
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Math program’s flaws hidden from board, public MV WHISMAN DISTRICT OFFICIALS HID COMPLAINTS, PROBLEMS PLAGUING TEACH TO ONE that adjust daily lessons based on each student’s needs. The or Mountain View Whis- pilot launched at the start of the man School District’s elect- school year for the roughly 500 ed board members, the sixth-grade students attending cascade of problems that flowed Crittenden and Graham middle from the ill-fated new Teach schools, and it didn’t take long for to One math program wasn’t troubling signs to appear. Using a Public Records Act even on the radar. Every passing week that teachers grappled with request, the Voice obtained emails technological crises and numer- between district staff and employous parents demanded fixes was ees of New Classrooms, the comanother week the district office pany behind Teach to One; the stayed mum about the problems. emails revealed one major snag But for anyone in the know, in the system after another — a teacher getthe writing ting assigned 49 was on the wall as early ‘I cannot add more students in her class, identias November that Teach parent concerns about cal lessons from to One was TTO than we already one day to the next, week-long going to fall apart. Dis- have or we are going tech hangups, math problems trict officials to run the risk of for sixth-graders feared “something ugly” full-scale parent and that inexplicably extended into was bound teacher revolt.’ t r igonomet r y, to happen — and students with whether it be ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT disabilities being a total revolt CATHY BAUR illegally denied by parents extra time to finand teachers or bad press — that would kill the ish exams. The emails show that a deluge program. Publicly, however, Superinten- of parent concerns would fredent Ayinde Rudolph announced quently pour into the district that “mixed test results” were to office after teachers and district blame when the district abruptly staff sent out messages attemptpulled the plug on Teach to One in ing to demystify Teach to One. After an email blast on Sept. 16 January. Last year, district officials about how Teach to One works, decided to run a “pilot project” one parent raised concerns that using Teach to One, a digital the curriculum was impossible math curriculum that prom- to follow, and made it impossible ises individualized learning plans for students through algorithms See MATH PROGRAM, page 8 By Kevin Forestieri
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MICHELLE LE
Emmett Carson is CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. The Mountain View-based charity controls $8.2 billion in assets that are directed to philanthropic efforts both at home and abroad.
Silicon Valley’s rainmaker charity turns 10 FOUNDATION’S GROWTH SPURS IT TO LOOK BEYOND BAY AREA By Mark Noack
W
hat do a rural arts center in Kyrgyzstan, a climate-change think tank in metropolitan Chicago and a science banquet held each year at Moffett Field
all have in common? Money — specifically money that flows to each of these initiatives from the Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF), the Mountain View-based organization that has become a philanthropic
rainmaker like none other. Considered the largest organization of its kind, SVCF has become a lifeline for hundreds of nonprofits, NGOs and independent do-gooders, See SVCF, page 10
Wanted: more applicants for rent-control board QUALIFICATIONS: MUST BE A MOUNTAIN VIEW LANDLORD By Mark Noack
I
t didn’t quite rise to the level of naming a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court — but at times the Mountain View City Council’s Feb. 21 meeting sure did resemble that kind of ordeal.
INSIDE
Council members were scheduled to pick their top candidates for Mountain View’s new Rental Housing Committee, the powerful new panel in charge of implementing Measure V, the rent control regulations. Rent control will affect thousands of
apartments in the city but its implementation has been delayed by a lawsuit filed by a landlord group. After putting candidates through two rounds of See RENT CONTROL, page 7
Fantastic Fijian food WEEKEND | 17
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