LEBANON - About two dozen parents remained at a meeting Wednesday at Lebanon High School, pledging their support to help improve math scores and brainstorming some ways to start.

But dozens of others left early with shouts of frustration and disgust after administrators rejected pleas to hold the meeting as an open forum.

Additional meetings will be scheduled, but dates have not yet been set.

More than 100 people, including members of the Lebanon School Board and several principals, teachers and other school district employees, gathered Wednesday in the high school auditorium to discuss the school's poor math scores and numbers of failing students.

Moderator Dick Behn, backed by LHS Principal Mark Finch, said administrators first would talk about what's being done to improve matters, then separate the audience into small groups for more discussion.

Parents vehemently disagreed with the plan, saying they had intended the meeting for administrators to hear and respond to concerns as a group.

"This lady worked hard to get all these people in here," said Lance Honeywell of Lebanon, referring to parent Laura Baker, who wrote a complaint to the school district that helped prompt the meeting. "Show the people in this room respect and allow them to have their meeting."

"I'm here because I don't have any answers, but you don't even want to hear the questions," another man called.

Behn said the meeting was set at the discretion of the school, not the parents, and insisted the small-group organization would prevail.

"I can't think of a better way to engage people than personal conversation," he said. "That is where the story is."

Parents who remained for the small-group discussions said they want ongoing communication about the progress of their students and immediate intervention if they start sliding past a C grade. They want better discipline and more consistency between teachers, and they want the school to study successful districts for tips on how to improve.

Baker called the meeting "a circus" but said she stayed "because I want to be able to say I've done everything I can before we make a judgment."

Baker's daughter, a junior, was one of 47 percent of students who failed third-trimester Algebra I last year.

Baker met with Finch last spring to ask for a plan to help struggling students. When no plan was in place this fall, she said, she decided to file a formal complaint.

That complaint, combined with state sanctions resulting partly from another poor showing on the state's 10th-grade math assessment, prompted Superintendent Jim Robinson to declare an "academic emergency" at the high school. Finch agreed to meet with Baker and other parents about her concerns, which led to Wednesday's gathering.

Early in the evening, Finch outlined several steps the high school is taking in hopes of improving math results. Math teachers are meeting to standardize test and grading criteria. Parents will be able to go online in a few weeks to check their child's assignments and grades. An after-school program is in the planning stages to help students struggling with math concepts.

But Baker and others said they wanted more data on how many students failed past math classes, a plan for better parent communication and more information about how the school will help its current students. And, they said, they wanted their answers given to the group at large.

"What you're presenting as an agenda is not what the parents asked for," said Will Tucker, a real-estate agent and county commissioner candidate who said parents asked him to act as facilitator instead of Behn.

"You can't tell the people, 'No, we're going to do things my way,' and expect them not to have the negative response you're getting right now," said a man identifying himself as John Hopper, a former school board member in the Bend-LaPine district. "Don't put the people off. All you're going to do is turn them away mad tonight. That's where you are now."

Behn said neither he nor Finch was prepared to answer the questions and stressed the need for small, personal discussions for maximum input and the opportunity to look for solutions.

District instructional coach Jody Seward exhorted the audience to meet with administrators as requested.

"This was not to put you off. This was not to put you off. This was to embrace you," she exclaimed. "No one came here to shove you aside tonight."