A group of parents brought their concerns about the curriculum and communication at Mountain View Middle School to the Goffstown School Board on Monday, June 15.

Six parents spoke about what they saw as a curriculum that was not rigorous enough, disappearing volunteer opportunities for parents and the difficulty of getting into the school’s algebra program, even for students who were getting what some parents believed were inflated A grades.

“My kids are coming home saying they can’t wait for school to be over because they can’t stand that school anymore,” Angela Martinez said, citing a focus on the negative rather than the positive at the school.

Helen Laprise told the board she used to volunteer at the school daily, but now the school only needs her more like once a week or once a month.

“They’ve taken away everything, everything for parents to be there,” she said.

Laprise said she had several children attend the school in the past.

“My last one is graduating, and I’m happy. I am so happy to be out of this school. I apologize, but the problem is that there’s a lack of communication,” she said.

She said her daughter’s algebra teacher was replaced more than halfway through the year, without sufficient explanation to parents.

“I’m petrified. I have a daughter who’s going into geometry, but I’m not even sure she’s OK with Algebra II, because halfway through the year they switched it, and it’s supposed to be an accelerated program,” she said.

Much of the discussion focused on the school’s algebra program, which students must pass a test to join. Donna Fifield said she was concerned that her daughter was getting straight A’s in math, but still did not qualify for algebra.

“I feel like they’re giving the A’s out to make them look good. I feel like they’re not working as hard for their A’s,” Fifield said.

Another parent, Angie Battey, said she had pushed the administration to let her daughter into the class for a 30-day trial period. Fifield said she was trying to do the same thing, despite warnings from the school that her daughter could face potential embarrassment if she did not make it through the trial.

“My daughter said, ‘I don’t care, I’m bored.’ My daughter is bored. I’m trying to tell you, she’s not getting challenged,” Fifield said.

Pat Rousselle, who teaches sixth-grade math, said not all students are ready for algebra, but that she agreed with the parents that there was a need for a gifted and talented program at the school. Students are mainstreamed into classes because the previous grouping system, separating children by their abilities, was disliked by many because of how it affected students’ self-esteem, she said.

“We’re trying to be more rigorous. However, you have to understand that if you’re the teacher with 26 or 28 kids in the room and you have either one aide or no aide, and you have all these ability levels, the teacher has to teach and try and reach all of them in a variety of ways,” she said.

But Battey said that parents understand both the limitations of their children and what their children could handle.

“They want us to be concerned parents, and involved parents. Then, when we do become concerned and involved parents they don’t want that,” she said.

Philip Pancoast, vice chairman of the board, was the only member to address the parents’ concerns during the meeting.

“The concerns that you’re voicing today are concerns that this board has had in the past and has been working diligently to correct. They aren’t things that happen overnight, but I would say that we have made progress, and significant progress, which doesn’t mean there isn’t still progress to be made,” he said.