Mathcounts Foundation review: Mathcounts competition

I am a parent. I had an unbelievably unpleasant experience with Mathcounts.

1 The Mathcounts NC state coordinator’s rude attitude

2 The Mathcounts NC state coordinator ignored the parent’s request.

3 The Mathcounts NC state coordinator did not allow me to file a formal appeal and complaint at the state level.

4 The Mathcounts NC executive director handled the parents’ inquiry poorly.

5 The Mathcounts NC executive threatened me that if I continue speaking up, she has the intention to hurt the innocent children by not allowing them to attend the Mathcounts competition. This violates my human right of freedom of speech

The details are as follows:

The issue happened on 3/18/2022 during the NC Mathcounts competition.

On 3/18/2022, there was the NC state Competition. I appreciate the organizers' time, however, there were problems. The state coordinator’s attitude was very rude. I understand he may have been tired, but it is not a good excuse for having a bad attitude toward the parents. Also, after I asked whether there is a way to check the accuracy of the student score when the score was questioned, he told us no. After I asked how to file an official petition and complaint, I was informed that there was no official petition and complaint.

What happened?

My husband and I were surprised that our child’s score was lower than our child’s actual performance. Therefore, we went to talk with the state coordinator and addressed our concerns, and we ask whether it was okay to check their child's score again after we have a concern about the accuracy of his score since all the scores were hand graded and typed in by hand, there may have errors.

After the parents mentioned their concerns, the state coordinator was very rude, he said NO double-check which seems suspicious, unfair, and a lack of good customer service. I then asked to file a formal petition, he said no to that as well. I asked to file a petition and that he and the foundation respond in writing, and he refused to write it down. He refused to allow me to file a petition at the state level and said “unfortunately, I am the chair”. Even though he is the chair, I think he should have referred me to someone with more authority, so it does not appear that he is violating fairness and transparency.

I still remember that he yelled in response my concern about “no formal petition or complaint procedure.” He responded, “Even though you complained, it would go back to me and unfortunately I am the chair of the state coordinator.” When asked how to officially file a complaint, his response was “go online.”

Additionally, the state coordinator was asked, “Is it okay for you to write down that I wanted to file a complaint.” He yelled to the parents “NO.” and “I will not do anything,” which was upsetting since it was the first time an extremely terrible experience in a math competition.

Thereafter, the complaint was filed online.

An email was received from the executive director in response to the complaint. The problem was not solved, and it is disappointing with the way she managed the complaint and inquiry. I mentioned that transparency and fairness are important for the math competition and I mentioned the purpose of the competition is to help students, not hurt students. Her response was a threat, “if You do not stick to the rules, we consider that we will not allow your son and your son’s school to compete next year.”

Being falsely accused of wanting to change the rules of Mathcounts was inaccurate and offensive. No changes in rules were requested. The verification was to verify the accuracy of the student score and was told the original answer sheet was not kept. This implied that there was no way and no evidence to show the student’s score is accurate. The parent asked that the state coordinator alone typed the scores into the system. Since it was done manually, it may have errors. What was requested is to check if the score typing in the system and the score on the answer sheet matched or not. The response was “no.”.

Therefore, the executive director twisted the request and interpreted it in a way that was deceiving and unethical by suggesting that a parent was trying to change the rules, instead of a request for verification of scores in the system with the answer sheet. Furthermore, her interpretation to inquire to see the match of the scores between the score on the answer sheet and the score in the system was misrepresented. This was used as an excuse to threaten not to let a student and their school attend next year's competition and to silence a parent with a threat. This is in violation of the human right of freedom of speech. What she said is an intentional effort to hurt innocent students and will affect Mathcounts’ reputation.

What the state coordinator and the executive director did is against the mission of Mathcounts. The state coordinator’s bad attitude and ignoring the parents’ inquiry about filing a complaint looks like bullying parents, until today the state coordinator did not write anything in response. The executive director threatened to hurt the innocent students by not allowing them to attend next year's competition. The executive director refused to communicate with a parent.

Therefore, a letter had to be written to MC sponsors to let them know what happened. This issue had to be reported. Transparency is especially important and professional handling of parents is especially important too. The student attended many competitions, this is the first time the parent had an unbelievably unpleasant experience.

Should a parent be treated like this? Should MC have an official form to allow parents to fill out when they want to file a complaint? Should there be a way to verify the students’ scores when the accuracy of their questions needs to be verified? Should the parent be allowed to speak up when questioning the score’s accuracy? No competition is perfect, we all are human beings, sometimes typing errors may happen, especially the NC coordinator and other volunteers were tired. Why questioning and verification are not allowed is incomprehensible, and not being allowed to inquire to verify whether the score is accurate or not is ludicrous.

Mathcounts is supported, but the state coordinator and the executive coordinator’s unprofessional attitude and way to manage the issue will affect Mathcounts' reputation. To make it clear, there is no desire to threaten MC but clearly communicate the facts and my experience. It is not my intention to affect Mathcount's reputation, it is the state coordinator and executive director's handling of parents’ inquiries that were not professional and potentially possibly hurt innocent students, which may affect Mathcounts’ reputation.

What I asked: 1 Find a solution to solve the problem. 2 the state coordinator apologizes to me.

3 The executive director stops to violate my speech freedom, and stop hurting innocent students by threatening not to allow students and the student’s team to participate in the next year's Mathcounts competition.

Thank you.

Dr. Ding

[protected]

[protected]@yahoo.com