Dennis Penton, the new North Pike superintendent, said Wednesday that criticism of the Common Core curriculum appears to be more politically motivated than anything else.
Speaking to the McComb Rotary Club, Penton said Common Core is at least the fifth different curriculum Mississippi public schools have used in the past 25 years. He sees it as part of a continuing evolution of school programs rather than a finishing point.
“It’s not the evil it’s made out to be,” Penton added. “It’s a set of standards.”
He disagrees with critics who say Common Core will give the federal government more control of local education, noting that it sets learning standards but does not dictate what programs schools use in classrooms.
Brad Fortinberry, a North Pike parent at the meeting, said he recently tried to help his child with math homework, but the way she is learning to solve a problem is far different from the way he had been taught.
Penton acknowledged there are changes like that in Common Core. In math, he said the tendency has been to teach students shortcuts without making sure they understand the principles of what they’re learning. Common Core is trying to reverse that trend.
“I’m afraid the argument is not necessarily about what’s best for the state of Mississippi and it’s children,” he added. The argument in Jackson is about what’s best politically. Those are two separate arguments.”
Penton, a former Pearl River County superintendent and Biloxi Junior High School principal, started work at North Pike in July. He said the job appealed to him because the school district is doing a lot of things right, “and the things that are wrong are wrong in nine out of 10 school districts in the country.”
Among the positives: Enrollment continues to grow by about 50 children per year, 42 high school students are in a dual enrollment program that allows them to take classes at Southwest Mississippi Community College, and North Pike opened its own vo-tech building this year.
Penton said he has spent his first few months assessing North Pike’s needs. The district’s strategic plan includes improving academic achievement, increasing leadership in the district, communicating better with parents and improving the learning environment.
Asked why those need to be improved when the district’s budget is almost $19 million a year, Penton said North Pike is a rural district that, aside from the Sanderson Farms processing plant, lacks a large industrial tax base. This makes it more difficult financially, especially since the Legislature has not fully funded the Mississippi Adequate Education Program and, in his opinion, does not provide enough money for school construction.
“That budget leads us to run a very lean program at North Pike,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of superfluous people floating around.
“What we do have is a very strong community that’s education-minded, plus good kids and administrators that make it work. Just because these are our priorities to improve doesn’t mean they’re not being done.”
