News Summary

At South Vienna Elementary, it's the parents who are staying after school.

Northeastern Local School District held one of three "math nights" Wednesday, as part of an effort to get parents involved with helping their kids learn new skills.

About 140 parents and kids turned out to play some of the games the children are playing in the classrooms to learn everyday math.

"I'm a fan of it," said Karen McCorkle, who played a time-telling game with daughter Riley, 7.

Teacher Roberta Hoppes said they took 150 reservations for Wednesday night's event.

"This has been very well received," she said. "The parents loved it."

Les Bellows brought stepson Patrick Kracus, 11, to math night to show his support.

"I love math, he struggles with it," said Bellows. "I wanted to let him know it's fun."

Jacob Gravenkemp, 9, said math will help him when he grows up, because he's going to be an electrician.

"You have to know how many orders you get every day, and how many transformers you need."

Principal Todd Justice said the math nights are part of a larger effort to boost proficiency test scores.

"We had to do something," said Justice. "The math scores were lowest."

Misty Patterson said she appreciated the effect it had on her daughter, Cheyenne Rice, 10.

"She wanted to come, she was really excited about it," said Patterson.

Still, there were the hold-outs. Taylor Manning, 9, enjoyed the games, but when asked how she'd sum up her opinion of math, she said:

"Frustrating."