NYC parents pay $2K in tutors to make up for math classes leaving kids 'bored'
Students in New York City's largest school district are so bored by the DOE's dumbed-down math curriculum they read novels in class, parents say.
Families are forced to shell out thousands of dollars for tutors or flee in search of more challenging programs, parents say.
Parents in District 2, which covers most of Midtown, Lower Manhattan and the Upper East Side, are demanding accelerated math classes in elementary school and geometry starting in middle school to keep kids on par with their peers elsewhere in the city and country.
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'Kids are reading novels in math class because they are bored,' Danyela Egorov, a member of District 2's Community Education Council, told Superintendent Kelly McGuire during a recent board meeting.
4 Children in District 2 elementary and middle schools are bored and unchallenged in math class.
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Egorov said parents have told her they are considering moving to Brooklyn's District 20 because it will offer geometry in some middle schools next year, setting kids up to take Algebra II in ninth grade. Other districts in Brooklyn and Queens already offer the accelerated option.
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'It's the only chance they have of getting geometry in middle school since they cannot pay for private school,' Egorov said.
Kids in middle schools that offer accelerated math end up a full year ahead of those in District 2, which is one of highest-performing in the city, argued Manpreet Boparai, another CEC 2 member.
For kids graduating the Lower Lab School, which offers a gifted and talented program and sixth-grade-level math in fifth grade, it's even worse, Boparai noted.
'D2 middle schools hold them back and make them repeat sixth-grade math, taking them off track to finish geometry in eighth grade,' she told The Post. 'They don't need more puzzles. They need to be accommodated to stay on the track they're already on.'
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4 Community Education Council member Maud Maron says the situation is 'urgent.'
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CEC 2 members Allyson Bowen and Maud Maron told McGuire in a letter last week there is an 'urgent need' for math reforms in District 2 and demanded a meeting to discuss establishing a 'math path' pilot program, and a task force to monitor its success.
'Parents are leaving the system due to a lack of rigorous academic offerings,' they wrote, citing the city Department of Education's annual school survey.
Meanwhile, other parents are turning to pricey math tutors and after-school programs like the Russian School of Mathematics, or RSM.
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4 Allyson Bowen and Maron told McGuire in a letter last week there is an 'urgent need' for math reforms in the district.
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A West Village mom and her husband with three children in District 2 schools pay a total $6,400 to send all three to supplemental math programs at RSM, which starts teaching algebra concepts in first grade, she told The Post.
'We want to make sure that our kids are well set for a successful future, having math ahead of what the public schools are currently offering. Because that's not enough to be competitive.'
After the regular school day, her kids spend two to two-and-a-half hours weekly in RSM, and take on additional homework.
'So it's a commitment, and not a fun one. Other kids are playing ball, and my kids have to do some brain work.'
In affluent neighborhoods, such programs are apparently growing in popularity.
4 Danyela Egorov says children are reading novels in math class because they're bored.
William C Lopez/New York Post
'I live on the same block as Russian School of Mathematics and I see parents lined up,' Leonard Silverman, the board's vice president, told McGuire during last month's meeting.
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Even Superintendent McGuire admitted that his son is taking math classes this summer to catch him up for pre-calculus, because his middle school did not provide accelerated options.
Despite continued requests and repeated meetings, McGuire said there are currently no plans to bring geometry to middle schools in the district next year. He is waiting to hear interest from principals, he said, and maintained that the pilot proposals would require a 'heavy lift' of resources.
Egorov argued that principals don't promote accelerated learning out of fear of protests from critics who say its inequitable.
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4 days ago
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Meet one of the last elevator operators in NYC
Nearly every New Yorker has to push a button and often wait some time for their automated elevator to arrive. Tony Sciallia, meanwhile, spends his days in a crisp gray uniform, pulling shut an accordion gate and manually transporting riders up and down on one of Manhattan's last remaining hand-operated elevators. He levels the cab with the precision of a surgeon, nods to the first tenant of the day and begins a shift that feels more like a ritual than a routine. Advertisement At the 863 Park Ave. co-op near East 77th Street, where Sciallia, 44, has worked for a quarter century, progress moves slower — and that's exactly how the residents like it. 10 Tony Sciallia is one of New York's last manual elevator operators, and the human heartbeat of 863 Park Ave., a historic prewar co-op on the Upper East Side. Tamara Beckwith 'It feels good to know I have a rare job,' he told The Post. 'There's that saying: anybody could do my job. But there's only one of them. And that's how you have to look at it.' Advertisement Manual elevator operators were once the lifeblood of vertical living in New York City. In the mid-20th century, the census counted more than 90,000 elevator operators nationwide. But after the 1945 citywide elevator strike — when 15,000 operators brought New York to a halt — technological innovation and changing attitudes accelerated their decline. Today, the role is all but extinct. The city Department of Buildings estimates only about 50 hand-operated elevators remain across Manhattan, including a few in Brooklyn, mostly in older co-ops and historic hotels. In an age of automation, a human behind the wheel is a charming anachronism. Advertisement 'We don't have computer systems. Just us,' he said. 10 Manual elevators were once quite common in the city, such as at the Woolworth Building downtown, which at one point was the tallest in the world. Getty Images 10 The crowds of tenants stranded outside of 1385 Broadway as the building's elevator operators went on strike as part of the general Building Service Employees Union labor dispute, New York, New York, February 18, 1935. Getty Images Sciallia's workplace overall is a charming remnant of the old New York. The 1908 building, designed by Pollard & Steinam in a restrained Beaux-Arts style, boasts limestone detailing and 23 units. It also has one home currently for sale — a three-bedroom with beamed ceilings and a renovated kitchen asking $2.5 million, represented by Compass — not to mention historically little turnover. Advertisement 'It's a very cool feel. That old-world feel,' said Sciallia. 'It's a different era for them. They come from that era. They're very prim and proper,' he said of the homeowners who call the building their home, many of whom have done so for more than a half century. Sciallia, from The Bronx, was a student at SUNY Westchester Community College when he landed the job for the summer. 'A friend of mine recommended me … so I could make some extra money on the side. And it was perfect. I fit right in.' 10 For 25 years, Sciallia has worked the antique, hand-operated elevator in his 1908 Beaux-Arts building, greeting residents, leveling floors with expert precision, and becoming an integral part of tenants' daily routines and lives. Tamara Beckwith 10 Archival and current views of 863 Park Ave. Decades later, he still takes the 5 a.m. train from Cortlandt Manor in Westchester, stops at Dunkin' Donuts for his usual — hot coffee, light cream and sugar — and transforms from commuter to concierge. He's only the fourth person to operate this elevator in more than a century. 'The guy I took his place [from] was there for 35 years. And the guy before that was there for 35 or 36 years, so he started in the 1950s,' Sciallia said. 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When Sciallia recently began training newcomers (believe it: the building is in the process of hiring a new elevator operator) he gives them three tries to land it smoothly. 'You don't want the elevator to keep going up and down. Three shots — you're good,' he added. 10 Sciallia, the fourth person to operate this elevator since its installation, starts his day before sunrise and often ends it with a story — like the time a couple in their seventies surprised him dressed as the Flintstones. Tamara Beckwith Advertisement Over the years, Sciallia has seen more than what many see in a lifetime: blackouts, the onset of technology making online-order parcels arrive in mass amounts, as well as celebrity sightings. Brooke Shields once visited regularly to see a friend, always with ice cream in hand. But it's the relationships, not the surprises, that make the job meaningful. 'That is 2 or 3 minutes you have to build a relationship,' he said of passengers riding with him. 'You're not just an elevator operator. You play the psychiatrist role. You hear their issues, problems … you can read it on their faces.' Sciallia has watched children grow up, from stroller rides to driver's licenses. He's been the first person residents see in the morning, wishes them safe travels before they jet to the Hamptons and sometimes the last when they leave for good. Advertisement 10 'You have to care,' he said, contrasting his role with the cold convenience of automation. Tamara Beckwith 'There was an older lady, in her 80s, they wanted to put her in a home,' he said. 'And she goes, 'Tony, I don't want to go.' She just started crying and said 'I can't believe this will be my last time in the elevator.'' Sciallia added. 'She passed away like a year later.' Inside the cab, trust is currency. 'There are [residents] that have been there for over 50 years,' Sciallia added. 'You have to care about the people, their problems, their successes. A robot … won't care. We care.' It's a sentiment echoed by the building's residents, who have supported Sciallia through personal losses with letters and big bouquet of flowers when his parents passed away over the last few years. 'That was the biggest act of kindness,' he said. 10 He's witnessed generations grow up, helped residents through difficult chapters and believes the job is about far more than just moving between floors. Tamara Beckwith And as modernization goes, Sciallia knows the day will come that the lever is replaced by a button. 'I don't know how much longer I have,' he said. 'But when the time comes … I will miss the people the most. Nothing lasts forever.'
