A group of Watson Chapel High School students discussed issues Monday within education with State Rep. Mike Holcomb, R-Pine Bluff.
The event coincides with House Joint Resolution 108, designating the month of September as Take Your Legislator to School Month, Watson Chapel payroll bookkeeper Karleigh Oaks said.
Holcomb said he worked in the Watson Chapel School District for 28 years. He was a teacher, director of security and an administrator.
Watson Chapel sophomore Madalyn Blevins asked Holcomb if he thinks students are being tested too much. Holcomb said students are tested every day whether by a test or by other means.
On a question about whether each high school student should go to college, Holcomb said he thinks not everyone should go to college. Holcomb said he wishes there were technical and vocational courses for students who are not heading to college. Holcomb said that a high school graduate can take a course to drive a commercial truck and earn $80,000 annually.
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Watson Chapel senior Samuel Beavers said he was home-schooled from first grade to 11th grade. Beavers asked Holcomb about home-schooling. Holcomb replied that he does not oppose home-schooling as long as students are learning. Holcomb said he knew of a home-schooled 15-year-old who performed at a third-grade level, which is a problem.
Holcomb said Watson Chapel Superintendent Connie Hathorn will foster high academic standards, resulting in students improving on test scores.
“Watson Chapel cares about students,” Hathorn said. “We care about you. The 10th-grade class this year and next year will get us out of academic distress.
“These 10th-graders made a commitment; we retested them and their scores went up,” Hathorn said.
On the subject of problems in schools, Hathorn said he will remove a disruptive student from the classroom and an ineffective teacher from the classroom.
Holcomb told students to report problems to teachers.
“I am really proud of Watson Chapel,” Holcomb said. “Both my sons and daughter graduated from Watson Chapel. We have other good schools in Jefferson County. I have often said Watson Chapel was the best school my kids could go to in this community.”
Holcomb said his father was a pastor who moved the family. He attended 13 schools before arriving at Watson Chapel as a seventh-grader in 1963. In the racially segregated 1960s, Holcomb said his father ministered to all people. As a boy, Holcomb said he embraced all people.
“I think the reason I have been successful in my relationship with every race is simply because what my dad taught me when I was a young man,” Holcomb said. “We are all the same. We may look a little different. But if you have a good heart, you are welcome in my home.”
State Rep. Kenneth Ferguson, D-Pine Bluff, and state Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, were invited but did not attend.
Holcomb had been a Jefferson County justice of the peace, county judge and a state legislator as a Democrat. He announced his switch to the Republican Party in August.