The Calcasieu Parish School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to approve an instructional resource review process for Common Core-aligned math and English language arts textbooks and materials for next school year.

The board’s approval will allow parents and teachers to be a part of committees that review and recommend textbooks and materials — an option that wasn’t offered last year when the Eureka Math and English Core Knowledge curriculums were adopted.

School Superintendent Karl Bruchhaus said this school year has been contentious and that many parents and teachers have voiced concerns and issues over classroom materials.

“This has not been fun for anybody, and we want this process to correct it,” Bruchhaus said. “As we go through this, we need to be very diligent with what we choose so that it can withstand time and allow us some stability in what we teach over the next few years.”

Bruchhaus said the review process will begin at next month’s curriculum committee meeting, at 4:45 p.m. Dec. 1, where board members will vote on proposed procedures and a list of stakeholders who will serve on the textbook adoption committees. Board members said they wanted well-rounded committees with parents and educators who were both for and against Common Core.

The recommended timeline for the review process has staff and committee members researching and reviewing materials in January, teachers and administrators being surveyed for feedback in late February, public reviews of the committees’ recommendations in March, and the School Board selecting curriculums in April.

In other business, the board approved a resolution to provide a one-time salary supplement to eligible employees. The supplement — $900 for employees based on the teachers’ salary schedule and $550 for all others — will be combined with regular paychecks on Nov. 21. Total cost for the supplement is $4,888,257.(Special to the American Press)