Reader questions candidate’s statement on education; candidate responds
In your June 28th edition, you included a comment that Dana McLean made at a civic club meeting. When talking about public schools in Columbus, she mentioned that her child went to Heritage Academy and then said, “At Heritage what they were doing in 10th grade, she was doing in eighth grade in Tampa.”
I can’t believe that is an accurate statement. She doesn’t mention whether she is referring to a particular class or subject but just slams the school in general. While I have no connection to Heritage, I did substitute teach there for a few years and was always amazed at the quality of the students and the education system. This year’s graduating class of 29 students received over $3 million in scholarship offers. Practically every graduating student was accepted to their first choice of universities. They continue to rank high in ACT scores and standardized tests.
I think it is irresponsible of her to make such a claim.
Bob Raymond
Columbus
Dana McLean responds: To the contrary, I would never “slam” any school, especially one I thoroughly researched and chose for my daughter to attend when we moved to Columbus in 2014. Heritage Academy has an excellent reputation, not only for its outstanding teachers, administrators, academics, and athletics, but for its boosters and parent community that are supportive and involved. Ultimately, my daughter attended and graduated from The Mississippi School for Math & Science, a public residential school that is constantly struggling to make ends meet.
I am an advocate for quality education. Period. Public, private, county, city, homeschool, on-line and everything in between.
The writer has obviously taken this statement completely out of context, as I was speaking generally about education in Mississippi. Obviously he/she was not at this meeting, as I spoke to my opinion that education is the best way for Mississippi to get off the bottom of every list. The curriculum of schools vary from state to state, from private to public and runs the gamut. This strain of thought and general discussion were from which my statement derived.
I truly believe that the most responsible action we all can take, as parents, individuals and citizens of this community, is to stand up and take a stand for our youngest citizens, our students. Let’s stop wasting time name-calling and finger-pointing and get to work for our community and our state.
Dana Underwood McLean
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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