McComb School District superintendent Therese Palmer-tree knows parents in the McComb area have the right to send their children elsewhere if they don’t want them to attend city schools.
“I’m fine with that. It’s a personal choice,” she told members of the McComb Rotary Club on Wednesday. “But we cannot allow that decision to keep us from communicating with each other.”
Palmertree addressed perceptions that she said some community members have about the school district.
“There is the perception that McComb School District children are thugs,” she said.
That’s just not true, Palmertree said.
“It just means that our students have to give 110 percent or 120 percent all the time,” to prove those believers wrong.
Palmertree introduced three standout students at the high school — Jeremy Schilling, Donovan Craig and Denzell Rogas. All of them have college plans and career goals, and she said they’re among many McComb students who take their education very seriously.
Another issue Palmer-tree addressed were reports of what some called vulgarity on the part of band members at a Christmas parade. One of those band students was Craig, who is drum major.
Palmertree heard the complaints and asked Craig to demonstrate what physical moves he and other members made during the parade.
“(The students) were hurt over the situation; he had tears in his eyes,” Palmertree said.
The actions weren’t vulgar, in Palmertree’s opinion. But they did demonstrate cultural differences.
“I told him (parade goers) don’t want to be entertained. They want to hear Christmas music,” she said.
One of Palmertree’s biggest challenges, she said, is how to convince the community that “we have good children at McComb when the perception is that we do not.”
The critical key, Palmer-tree said, is making sure the community is invested in the schools — and not just by paying taxes to support the education system.
“I feel very strongly that we’ve got to move and move with a great sense of urgency,” Palmertree said.
Today’s students are part of an ever-shrinking global community that is advancing rapidly, and schools must keep that in mind when educating students.
“Students must be critical thinkers and problem solvers,” she said, noting that the old way of teaching that many adults remember and treasure won’t work in such a technologically advanced world.
Palmertree said the local community must join together and make sure the school district thrives.
“We must have an excellent community to have an excellent school district,” she said, adding that the two must go hand in hand. “I’ve never seen a successful town that doesn’t have a successful school district.”
Palmertree thanked newly elected McComb Mayor Whitney Rawlings for “putting dialogue out there for the public school district being tied to the community.”
In his introductory remarks to Rotarians, Rawlings said, “The schools need us. Don’t walk away.”
Palmertree also addressed some of the questions Rotarians had, including a surge of growth in the North Pike district and how that affects McComb.
“Essentially since 1960, McComb has had the same population,” she said.
But for many reasons, the county’s population has shifted, and North Pike has benefited from those changes.
Palmertree noted that while the choices of schools in Pike County is varied — McComb, North Pike, South Pike, Parklane Academy (one of the largest academies in the state) and St. Alphonsus Catholic School — that choice actually contributes to divisiveness in the area.
“We don’t have conversations (among each other) at all,” she said.
