Parents urge Sycamore board to pause advanced-math pathway; administration cites House Bill 96 and access data

Dozens of parents and students urged the Sycamore Public Schools Board of Education to delay implementation of a new advanced-math pathway and preserve existing gifted math classes, saying the district—lagship program risks being "dismantled" if instruction shifts into general education.

"This gifted math program is incredible," said Gavin Gunnerson, a 10th-grader who described how accelerated and double-accelerated tracks provided challenge and community. Parents including Maggie Gunnerson and Elizabeth Sylvestri described families leaving the district or seeking alternatives after perceived reductions in gifted services.

Several speakers asked the board to pause the change for one school year to allow for community input, teacher training and a clear bridge plan for students currently in pull-out gifted services. "I'm not asking you for a change. I'm asking you for a pause to get input as proposed," said Ama Sunvi, a parent who supported broader access but warned the scale of the change (she said it would expand to roughly 70% of students at some sites) threatens the program's ability to meet high-ability students' needs.

Parent speakers also gave specific data points and concerns. One parent said gifted-intervention minutes for some students would fall from roughly 85 minutes per day to about 25, a change parents described as a "dramatic cut." Another parent worried general education teachers will be unable to provide consistent accelerated instruction without dedicated classes and specialized teachers.

The administration defended the proposal and framed it as the product of several years of work and new state law. "House Bill 96 puts requirements on districts," Rebecca Tompkins, executive director of curriculum and learning, told the board. She said the bill requires districts that offer advanced learning opportunities in math to provide those opportunities to any student who scored "advanced" on the applicable assessment in the prior year. Tompkins presented district data showing current "double-gated" criteria (both superior-cognitive identification and a math MAP threshold) leave many students without access to accelerated classes: for example, she said about 84 third-graders have been invited to third-grade accelerated math while 132 students meet gifted-in-math criteria; similar gaps appeared in fourth grade.

Tompkins said the advanced-math pathway aims to compact curriculum and identify students showing readiness so more learners can reach algebra I or geometry by eighth grade without missing essential standards. She described "cluster grouping" and professional development expectations for general-education teachers who deliver gifted services, and said some districts provide gifted services within gen-ed classrooms while Sycamore has historically added pull-out enrichment.

Board members asked detailed questions about whether gifted intervention specialists hold general-education licenses, the degree to which curriculum differs versus pacing, and how other districts deliver services. Tompkins said GIS staff hold general-education licenses and that the curricular foundation remains grade-level standards; advanced classes would move more quickly and include adjacent grade-level standards. She also noted the district has posted a web page with FAQs and data about the pathway.

The meeting did not produce a board vote on the pathway. Several board members said they wanted to discuss the advisory committee recommendation about joining a statewide voucher lawsuit at a future work session with the superintendent present. Public commenters asked the board to formally consider pausing implementation and to schedule listening sessions before the changes take effect.