- Before
- Runs a 41-member committee through seven bids and walks every criterion of every bid, including the ones nobody disagrees on.
- Now
- Opens the session on the cells that split, with what each side read one click away, and records the committee's score with a reason.
One K–5 math bid, through instructional materials adoption to the board packet
Marlow Bay Unified School District is adopting K–5 mathematics under RFP MB-2026-114: seven bids, a 41-member committee and about 21,000 students. Here is what happens to Bid D, Bright Numbers K–5, screen by screen, in the working solution.
- 01Bids closed
Every bid and every sample page, from the procurement system
Intake agentThe RFP closed Friday, September 4, at 2:00 p.m.; one response arrived at 2:14 p.m. and was returned unopened. The Intake agent pulled seven responsive bids and read 38,042 pages, with the RFP's required items present in 83 of 84. When Bid E's publisher sample portal stopped answering, the screen said so and kept what was already read.
- 02September 8–14
Every lesson mapped to the standard it teaches, page cited
Alignment agentThe agent mapped 9,860 lessons to the state's 148 K–5 standards across all seven bids. In grade 4, Bid D teaches 25 of 28 standards in its core books, and two of the fractions standards, 4.NF.B.3 and 4.NF.B.4, are marked as taught only in a supplement outside the price.
- 03Finding D-031
A publisher claim tested against the books and the price
Claim Check agentBid D's correlation, page 12, says 4.NF.B.3 is "fully addressed in Lessons 6.4–6.7". Those lessons teach equivalent fractions; adding and subtracting appears only in Fraction Studio, which price sheet line 18 lists as an optional add-on at $9.75 per student per year, not in the total. For 10,600 students in grades 3–5 over six years, that is $620,100.
Bid price $3,184,900 + $620,100 = $3,805,000, confirmed by Purchasing Director Raymond Ostrowski on October 19.
- 04One click
The page the agent read, with the line that matters
Howard Penhallow-Ruiz · Adoption committee chairClicking the citation opens Bid D's price sheet with line 18 highlighted: "Fraction Studio, grades 3–5, online · optional add-on · $9.75 per student per year · not included in the total." Every view of a source is logged.
- 05Wednesday morning
Seven bids, six criteria, every member's own score
Howard Penhallow-RuizThe score spread shows each cell's 14 independent scores as dots on a 1–4 line, with the median marked and the page-cited evidence counted. Four cells are marked discuss for the 3:30 p.m. consensus session, Bid D's cost cell is out for re-scoring after the price changed, and 36 cells already agree.
- 06Before Thursday noon
A member re-scores cost on her own
Keisha Montrose · Grade 4 teacher, committee memberBecause the price changed after scoring, the 14 members who read Bid D re-score its cost alone. Keisha sees the revised six-year cost of $3,805,000, or $30.20 per student a year instead of $25.28, cited to line 18, and her own earlier sheet, never anyone else's score. She submits a 2, partially meets.
"With the supplement it costs more than Bid A; partially meets on cost."
- 073:30 p.m.
What divides the committee, and what each side read
Spread agentBid D's standards alignment drew six 4s, three 3s, three 2s and two 1s. The members who scored 3 or 4 relied on the correlation, page 12; those who scored 1 or 2, including all four grade 4 teachers on the panel, cite teacher edition page 221, the Fraction Studio modules and price sheet line 18.
Spread agent v2.4 — it never suggests a score.
- 08Recorded
The chair records the committee's score, with the reason
Howard Penhallow-RuizAfter the discussion Howard records 2, partially meets, with the reason "Evidence in the pages outweighs the publisher's claim" and a consensus note drafted from the discussion. The note goes into section 3 of the board packet, and the curriculum director verifies the score at the lock.
- 09One step
36 agreeing cells accepted, and a new standing
Howard Penhallow-RuizWith the split cells settled, the 36 agreeing cells are accepted in one step and all 42 committee scores are recorded. Bid A leads at 3.45; Bid D, second on its listed price and the members' medians, now ranks seventh of seven at 2.55.
- 10October 26
One person at each step, from the lock to the award
Dr. Lena Farraday · Chief academic officerThe chair locked the committee scores, Dr. Simone Achterberg verified them, and the chief academic officer recommends a bid from a memo drafted from the locked record. The board hearing is November 19 and the vote December 10; Purchasing issues the notice of intent on December 11.