Demopolis City Schools to host Common Core forum

Demopolis City Schools will host an open forum to discuss Common Core Thursday, Feb. 27 at Demopolis High School at 6 p.m.

Julie Hanna of the Alabama State Department of Education will be the speaker for the occasion, which is designed to help ease the tensions and answer questions regarding the controversial federal Common Core education standards.

“I, along with a lot of superintendents right now being that this is the second year, want to look at the results long term. I can tell you that the state’s average graduation rate has gone from 72 to 80 percent. Our graduation rate has held firm, but our graduation rate is eight to 10 percent above the state average,” Demopolis City Schools Superintendent Dr. Al Griffin said, pointing to the short-term impacts of Common Core. “I would encourage all the participants who come to jot down your concerns. I want to hear the public’s concerns. I understand their concerns. You’re hearing negative publicity on one side and positive on another. I think people owe it to themselves, if you have concerns, to clear your calendar to be there.”

Griffin said he has heard some Common Core concerns, ranging from potential federal intervention to required use of controversial source materials.

“I’ve heard questions like whether we’d be forced to use certain text books with sensitive criteria,” Griffin said. “The answer is, our state department produces a textbook list, but then we have our own committee. We adopt our own textbooks locally from that state-approved list. If there are sensitive issues in a text, our policy addresses ways in which we address that.”

Griffin indicated such questions will be addressed more fully during the forum.