San Mateo-Foster City school Superintendent Diego Ochoa

When the school board hired Ochoa, it stressed it was because he would emphasize equity. Trustee Shara Watkins said she appreciated Ochoa’s attentiveness to social equity issues and felt that his perspective on such matters aligned with the board’s approach.

But in our conversation, Ochoa didn’t mention equity once. Instead, he said he wanted to increase academic rigor for all students. He wants every child to be a reader by Third grade. I asked him what he thought about the district’s controversial decision to have all students take the same level of math in sixth grade. He told me that didn’t happen on his watch. His approach would be to make sure all students would be ready by giving them extra tutorial help the year before.

This was music to my ears and Ochoa is a good politician but I believe him. He pointed out that in the advanced science class at Borel Middle School there were 62 Asian students but not enough Latinos. He wants his students to be able to compete with Palo Alto.

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The superintendent was born in the Los Angeles area, the youngest of four brothers. He attended 11 schools because his family traveled from town to town while his father was incarcerated. Despite these circumstances, he had “wonderful family support from aunts, uncles and grandparents who all graduated from college after picking fruits and vegetables in the fields of central California.” His mom was a social worker and client advocate for victims of domestic violence. She also played a critical role in inspiring her son to advance his education. Ochoa graduated from CSU San Marcos with degrees in social science (BA) and education (MA) and completed his doctoral program coursework at UC Irvine. He and his wife have five children, ages 18, 16, 7, 5 and 2.

Ken Chin, president of the board, said: “Diego has brought a modern communication style to the district with his podcasts, YouTube live shows and community board workshops. His open, transparent and proactive COVID response has helped ease anxiety throughout the school community as we continue to deal with the pandemic. He has been a fantastic addition to the district.”

More than 700 scientists, mathematicians and technology executives have written a harsh letter criticizing the new California Mathematics Framework adopted by the San-Mateo Foster City School District board. Here are a few snippets and the site where you can read the entire letter: sites.google.com/view/k12mathmatters/home.

“Such frameworks aim to reduce achievement gaps by limiting the availability of advanced mathematical courses to middle schoolers and beginning high schoolers. While such reforms superficially seem “successful” at reducing disparities at the high school level, they are merely “kicking the can” to college. While it is possible to succeed in STEM at college without taking advanced courses in high school, it is more challenging. College students who need to spend their early years taking introductory math courses may require more time to graduate. They may need to give up other opportunities and are more likely to struggle academically. Such a reform would disadvantage K-12 public school students in the United States compared with their international and private-school peers. It may lead to a de facto privatization of advanced mathematics K-12 education and disproportionately harm students with fewer resources.

“Another deeply worrisome trend is devaluing essential mathematical tools such as calculus and algebra in favor of seemingly more modern “data science.” The ability to gather and analyze massive amounts of data is indeed transforming our society. But “data science” — computer science, statistics and artificial intelligence — is built on the foundations of algebra, calculus and logical thinking. While these mathematical fields are centuries old and sometimes more, they are arguably even more critical for today’s grand challenges than in the Sputnik era.”

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column runs every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.