Dear Mathnasium Parent,
Thank you for being a part of the Mathnasium story. Your confidence, and the confidence of parents like you, helped Mathnasium to grow from one center in 2003 to more than one thousand family-owned centers today.
Because we care deeply about the greater Mathnasium community, the COVID-19 crisis brings us great concern. We are resolved to support the physical and academic health of Mathnasium students, the welfare of their families, and the welfare of our franchisees and their employees.
Fortunately, we are in a position to do this well. Thanks to the successful 4-year development of Mathnasium@home, our local centers can provide families a way to experience the same exceptional curriculum they are used to, from the safety and comfort of home. And, in turn, our local Mathnasium center operators can achieve continuity in their businesses by serving you.
Mathnasium@home is a live, two-way video experience that combines real-time instructor interaction with shared visibility to learning materials – all on a computer over the internet. It was born out of powerful demand from parents who wanted to enroll their children in our program but were not able to bring their children to a center.
In responding to this need, our team was determined to make our online experience unlike any other. We not only wanted to bring our students face-to-face with our instructors at home. Our goal was to simulate every aspect of the learning center experience in a way that would meet – and exceed -- the high standards of our brand. If we could offer the same learning center experience, and also save parents the hassle of a commute, we would actually enhance our brand. We built it, refined it via thousands of children enrolled in our testing phases, and began the global deployment process in 2019.
Now that process has been greatly accelerated. Mathnasium is preparing to teach every one of our students at home. This need may be temporary, but we expect that after the crisis many parents will elect to continue with @home instead of their children going to a center. They will have learned that the @home experience is truly a duplication of the in-center experience.
Of course, the volume of students we are now transitioning to @home is thousands each week – far greater than we had anticipated. As a result, there have been occasional slow-downs in our delivery system, like those other internet-based services are experiencing right now. We are building capacity every day and seeing fewer interruptions with each student we teach.
If we have learned anything from this crisis it is that all we have is our health, and the only reliable gift we can give our children are the skills to succeed. We can give our children that gift if we maintain our commitment to build their skills with consistency and perseverance.
Thank you for standing by the folks at your neighborhood Mathnasium center. Mathnasium is led in every community by individuals who have dedicated their lives to changing lives through math. Nothing excites them more than the prospect of helping your child to make huge strides in math. As we transition to @home instruction, your supportiveness and loyalty to these neighborhood business owners is so appreciated – especially over the next two months.
It is my prayer that we all merit to get through this crisis in a spirit of faith and of mutual supportiveness. We know there will be an end to this crisis. We know too that our children will face crises in the future. Because Mathnasium teaches math to develop thinking and problem-solving skills, it is reasonable for me to hope that a future crisis might be solved by one of our students. That child might be your child.
With gratitude for being part of our community and for giving us the continued privilege of teaching your child, I wish you and your loved ones continued good health.
Peter Markovitz
CEO and Co-Founder