North Pike School District Superintendent Dennis Penton spoke at the McComb Lions Club meeting last week, giving updates on the high school vo-tech building project and residency concerns.
Penton, who took over as superintendent on July 1, said his initial assessment of the school district has so far proven positive.
“The overall structure that is in place is very good in terms of management structure,” he said. “The class student-teacher ratios are very good.
He said, however, if he had to pick an area that needs the most improvement, he would pick the district’s facilities.
Construction of the high school’s new vo-tech center, which has experienced a few delays, should be completed within the next two or three months. The center consists of two buildings, an 11,000-square-foot classroom and administrative building and a 5,100-square-foot welding shop.
Penton said the center should be ready anytime before early to mid September, jokingly pointing out that the contractor gave an earlier completion date.
Courses that will be available at the new vo-tech center include welding, teaching, agricultural science, marketing, family dynamics and allied health, which are courses related to the health industry but are distinct from nursing, pharmacy and medicine.
In the past, students at North Pike who desire to take such vocational courses, utilize the South Pike School District’s vo-tech center. This cooperative agreement will end once North Pike’s center is ready, severing one of the final remaining ties between the two districts.
Penton believes the school district’s need for new and additional facilities is not necessarily a bad problem to have.
“That’s a product from growth, and growth comes from success,” he said. “All across the U.S., when school districts are growing like North Pike, it’s because people want to be there.”
However, the desire to live within the North Pike School District has also created problems with residency falsifications.
At the July North Pike school board meeting, trustee Kevin Matthew raised a concern with the district’s inability to properly verify students’ residency.
Some parents who want their child to attend a North Pike school but live outside the district will fraudulently use the address of a relative or friend.
“Most school districts that I’ve ever been affiliated with have residency issues,” Penton said. “We’re going to have to put in a system.”
Verification of residency requires a school district official to visit that residence and visually confirm the student is living there.
Penton said he believes a school resource officer could contain the residency verification problems.
SROs are sworn law enforcement officers, typically employed by a local sheriff’s or police department, who work closely with school administrators in crime prevention and similar issues.
