Seattle School Board delays vote on math textbooks

The Seattle School Board on Wednesday postponed a vote on new high-school math textbooks until its next meeting on May 6.

The six board members at the meeting split over whether to approve the textbooks that a district committee recommended for core math courses. The seventh board member, Cheryl Chow, was out of town.

The 18-member committee recommended three books published by Key Curriculum Press: "Discovering Algebra," "Discovering Geometry" and "Discovering Advanced Algebra." Sixteen of the 18 committee members are Seattle high-school math teachers.

Three of the board members — Steve Sundquist, Sherry Carr and Peter Maier — said they supported the teachers and principals who thought the recommended textbooks would be a good tool that represented a balance between the two sides in what has been a heated debate over how best to teach math.

Harium Martin-Morris, Michael DeBell and Mary Bass had a number of concerns, including whether it would be easy for parents and others to use the book to help students outside of class.

Seattle high schools now use about a half-dozen different textbooks for core math classes.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com