A community can’t be successful without a viable public education system, and that’s one of the answers to a rhetorical question being asked by the McComb Public School District.
“Why Education?” is the theme of a community-wide effort to raise public awareness for the need of good public schools, Superintendent Therese Palmertree told the McComb Rotary Club on Wednesday.
She reviewed statistics on high dropout rates, nationally and locally, pointing out that dropouts earn $276,000 less than high school graduates over a typical 30-year career and are 10 times more likely to go to jail.
One challenge in McComb, she said, is to create a culture that values learning. Those who don’t have an education have a hard time instilling in their children the need for one, she said.
“Why Education?” is a community engagement campaign led by the McComb School District Advisory Board, designed to get the community involved. It focuses on the value of learning and keeping children in school.
Palmertree, in her first year as superintendent here, acknowledged that there was a great deal of divisiveness in the McComb School District a year ago.
“Last year the community did not trust us,” she said, referring to a proposal by former Superintendent Dr. Pat Cooper to study a community school concept. She said some viewed that as an attempt to re-segregate the schools.
“We’re trying to bring about healing and trust,” she said, concluding with what she admitted was a borrowed phrase:
“We’re going to pursue perfection, knowing full well we can’t achieve it because nothing is perfect, but in the pursuit of it, we may achieve excellence.”
