Residents Speak Out on Reveal Math and the School Budget at Board Meeting

There were more people than usual in attendance than usual at the 2/9 meeting of the Scarsdale Board of Education, and during the public comments portion it became clear that some in the group had a specific agenda.

Comments on Reveal Math
Nine speakers, including a first grader came to the mic and more called in to express their concerns about the current math curriculum, Reveal Math. They highlighted issues such as excessive reading and writing assignments, fragmented concept introductions, and overly complicated calculations. Many of the parents noted that their children find the curriculum confusing and inefficient, leading to a need for outside tutoring. A petition urged a reevaluation of the curriculum. Parents stressed the importance of a clear, foundational math program to support future STEM education. They requested a formal review and consideration of a more proven alternative like Singapore Math.

Here are excerpts from their comments:

“My second grader, for example, consistently complains about Reveal math, not because the math is advanced, but because the curriculum places excessive emphasis on reading and writing assignments often requiring lengthy reading explanations and the story based response, instead of focusing on fundamental math skills, logical reasoning and step by step problem solving…. there are straightforward calculations that are often over complicated with unclear and sometimes very random and arbitrary steps.”

“We are already hearing that outside tutoring is becoming necessary just to keep up, and my husband is trying to teach my daughter at home to supplement the school curriculum. A district curriculum should not require private supplementation to be effective. We are not opposed to change, and we support strong conceptual instruction, but we urge the board to critically evaluate whether this curriculum best serves elementary students, to closely monitor outcomes and confidence and to remain open to revisiting or supplementing this decision if gaps in fluency emerge.”

“I would like to share my experience with my son's example. I talked to him today regarding a simple question, three plus eight. He said he learned three different methods to calculate three plus eight. And one of the methods he has been asked to use is called adjustment .. adjusting eight to 10, then also adjusting the three. So he got really confused a lot of times. Now he's telling me eight plus three, I have to adjust eight to ten, and also add two to the three. So eight plus two plus three plus two, equal to 15. But he said it doesn't make sense, because eight plus three, I know is 11, but with the new methodology introduced, he has been very confused.”

“It has been just heartbreaking to hear all the frustration from my kids, especially for my fourth grader, my daughter, who is a very strong reader. She loves reading books. But with Reveal Math, there are two problems. One is the questions are too long and confusing and she mentioned that no one in her class understand what the question means, so the teacher literally has to explain to them in simple languages, what is the problem we are solving for.”

The group later forwarded a petition to Scarsdale10583. Here is the introduction:

To the Scarsdale School Board and Curriculum Committee,

We, the undersigned parents and community members of Scarsdale, are writing to formally and urgently request that the district immediately reevaluate the use of the Reveal Math curriculum in our elementary schools and initiate a prompt process to identify and transition to a more effective, research-validated alternative. Our group includes 34 parents representing a broader petition signed by 240 Scarsdale residents to date, spanning all elementary schools and grade levels Of these 34 parents, 56% have STEM educational backgrounds, including several with PhDs in mathematics and related disciplines. This collective expertise underscores the seriousness and technical grounding of our concerns, some highlighted comments below: Contact them here: [email protected]

Superintendent Drew Patrick and Assistant Superintendent Edgar McIntosh took the opportunity to respond to the comments and emphasized that while concerns are being heard, decisions will continue to follow a deliberate, research-based process.

The administrators thanked parents and students who spoke at the meeting and submitted letters, acknowledging shared goals around student achievement and long-term success. Patrick conveyed that he understands the concerns, including comments from families who feel their children’s enthusiasm for math has declined, and stressed that fostering both strong skills and a love of learning remains a priority.

At the same time, he said that curriculum decisions are not made by petition or volume of feedback alone. He described the process as collaborative and structured, involving teachers, building leaders and administrators, with the board acting on recommendations rather than independently determining curriculum. He also noted that the district has a contractual obligation to work with educators on instructional decisions and that any changes are rooted in student learning data, research and classroom experience.

While Patrick said an immediate reversal of curriculum changes is not feasible, he emphasized that the district continuously monitors student outcomes and makes adjustments as needed. He went on to underscore that the board conducts its deliberations publicly and that day-to-day curriculum work is led by instructional staff.
To increase transparency, the district will host a “Curriculum Coffee” on February 26th focused on how teachers build automaticity and flexibility in math instruction across grade levels. The session will include classroom demonstrations and examples of how core materials are supplemented. In addition, administrators plan to schedule a separate virtual forum to walk families through how curricular decisions are made, the research behind recent updates, and the assessments used to ensure students maintain foundational skills.

The administrators made clear that they remain committed to ongoing engagement and to ensuring instructional practices both strengthen achievement and sustain students’ interest in learning.

Comments on the Budget

At the meeting on 2/9, Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez made the following comments:

I am Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez, and along with Rachana Sing, we are the PTC Budget Study Chairs. We would like to remind the Board of Ed and the Scarsdale community that it is customary in Scarsdale for PTC Budget Chairs to send in questions to the District and BOE during the budget process. We are also soliciting questions from the seven Budget Liaisons at our schools.

We will be emailing questions this evening which are about budget growth, pressures on health reserves and fund balance, the projected operating deficit, if the District plans to keep with the tax cap, and the important interconnections of the proposed series of debt issuance, the proposed budget and the long range plan.

For example, here are a few of the questions we have:
-Since the staffing requests presentation notes that each 1% budget increase equals roughly $1.92 million, would you please share the current projected percentage increase and what guardrails you are using to keep spending sustainable?

-Staffing requests add approximately 4.3 FTE overall — would you please share the multi-year financial impact, including salary, benefits, and pension costs?

-What data demonstrates that expanding elementary social work services is the most effective approach to student support?

-The staffing presentation noted an estimated $286K decrease in state aid; can that loss be absorbed without increasing the tax burden?

-Given the volatility of the self-funded health plan, what contingency plans are in place if healthcare costs exceed projections?

-Pension costs are projected to change; how do those shifts affect long-term financial planning beyond this single budget cycle?

-What are the biggest financial risks you see over the next three to five years, and how is this budget preparing for them?

-Would it be possible for the District to create a tax calculator to help residents understand the impact of the proposed budget on their household? Of course, thanks to Mr. Lennon and his team for creating the tax calculator to assess the impact of the $101.7mm series of debt issuances, often referred to as ‘the bond.’

The list of questions about the budget sent to the District may be found here.

Speaking at the 2/2/26 Board of Education meeting, Rochana Sing said:

"I want to clarify a point made by the District’s Assistant Superintendent of Business , Mr. Lennon, during the discussion of this bond on February 2nd.

Mr. Lennon stated and I quote “the presumption all throughout our process is that this bond will be a tax impact to our community”and that “the funding source will be property taxes.” He also explained that while the bond’s debt service is exempt from the tax cap, the district would increase the tax levy to cover those costs.

I want to be very clear for the community about what that means.
Tax-cap exemption does not mean taxes will not rise. It means the district has the authority to raise the tax levy above the cap in order to pay the bond’s principal and interest.

Mr. Lennon also said and I quote “this bond would not impact the deficits or the long-range fund balance projections.” That conclusion depends entirely on the assumption that property taxes are increased sufficiently every year to cover the local share of the bond after netting for State Building Aid.

In other words, after Building Aid is applied, the remaining local share becomes a recurring expenditure, and as Mr. Lennon acknowledged, that cost is funded through higher property taxes. The bond may not create a paper deficit if taxes are raised accordingly, but it does result in a higher tax burden for residents year after year and this will be in addition to the tax impact estimator

For this reason, statements about tax-cap exemption should not be interpreted to mean there is no tax impact. As Mr. Lennon himself stated, this bond does have a tax impact, and that impact should be fully reflected in long-term financial planning before the scope of the bond is approved.

Cap - exempt does not mean consequence exempt

The question is has the BOE done due diligence to find out the compounding effect of this capital bond on our annual taxes.The Board should ask for the compounding impact on the annual tax bill over the life of the bond.”