BY MATTHEW E. MILLIKEN

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM — About 50 parents and educators met at Watts Baptist Church on Monday to discuss the controversial Reading Street curriculum.

The evening ended with parents agreeing to find ways to convince Durham officials to abandon or alter the curriculum in favor of a more flexible, more effective program.

Maggie Chotas, a Club Boulevard Elementary parent, facilitated the meeting.

“The key things that are coming out of it are that there is enormous dissatisfaction of parents from a wide range of Durham Public Schools elementary schools about the new curriculum, Reading Street,” Chotas said. “The dissatisfaction is coming from the teachers who have been willing to step up and share that with us.”

Although some of the parents at the meeting came to learn about the elementary level literacy curriculum, many came in already disturbed by complaints about a program that supposedly eliminates teachers’ flexibility and creativity and is allegedly crowding out math, social studies and recess.

No one spoke up in favor of Reading Street at the meeting, which featured several parents from Club Boulevard Elementary. There were also a handful of parents from Easley, E.K. Powe, Forest View and W.G. Pearson elementary schools.

None of them could have felt better after hearing bitter complaints about Reading Street from four or so instructors who were present.

People expressed concern over whether Durham administrators are telling parents and teachers the same things when they share concerns about Reading Street.

The Durham public school system has had the program in place at some schools since 2006. The district decided this year to implement the curriculum in all schools in a process that involved some principles and teachers and that was guided by the results of a district review by reading experts.

But some teachers have complained that they weren’t informed about the curriculum until a few days before classes began.

J.C. Swansey, the mother of a W.G. Pearson fifth-grader, said that her child’s class rebelled two years ago when their teacher tried to implement Reading Street.

Kristy Moore, president of the Durham Association of Educators, and Tyrone Melton, an official with the N.C. Association of Educators, came to the meeting to listen to concerns of parents and teachers. Their groups haven’t taken an official position on Reading Street, but they are preparing to distribute an online survey that is likely to guide their response to the issue.