A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE: PROPOSAL GREW FROM VISION PLAN (SECOND IN A SERIES)

In September 1995, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education asked the community what it wanted of its school system, what programs, what facilities and what voters might be willing to pay.

On Tuesday, the school board will learn if their planning paid off. Voters will decide two issues that would fund the first phase of the school district's new master plan.

Voters are being asked to approve a net tax levy increase of 34 cents per $100 assessed value. The money would fund construction of an elementary school, a vocational school, an addition to Jefferson and renovations to the district's other buildings. May Greene and Washington would be closed.

The second phase includes construction of a high school and a change in grade groupings. A third phase calls for another elementary building, if the community grows.

The planning process that led to this plan started when the Visions Planning committee held 18 meetings to collect ideas, suggestions and concerns. At each meeting participants generated ideas and then ranked their top five issues on cards. The 18 meetings were designed to look at educational directions, facilities and finances. In addition, surveys collected ideas about top issues.

With a booklet of data and survey responses in hand, the Visions committee decided to expand and take a more careful look at each of three target areas: programs, facilities and finances. Committees for each area met and talked about the community information and how best to meet those needs.

Each group reported back to the school board. The end product was a published and measurable master plan for the school district, a goal of preceding schools board for nearly a decade.

Superintendent Dan Tallent said each part of the plan is an attempt to address what people said they wanted.

For example, the funding portion of the project responds to what the school board heard people say: make the financing reasonable and responsible, don't do everything at once, share the cost of improvements by present and future users and keep the tax rate as low as possible.

"That's what we have tried to do," Tallent said.

Construction in the first phase would be paid for by selling $14 million in bonds and by increasing taxes by waiving the Proposition C rollback. The second phase construction would be paid with a second bond issue, but the tax levy would stay the same.

"We have to pass the second phase to have the education we want," Tallent said.

At the end of the first phase, buildings will still be crowded. The new construction at the elementary level replaces classrooms closed at Washington and May Greene. Relief for overcrowding comes in the second phase when elementary buildings house kindergarten through fourth grade.

"We didn't want to over-engineer," Tallent said. The plan allows space for some growth at elementary buildings after the transition to K-4.

A change in the way grades are grouped was another suggestion that came from the planning process. At the end of the second phase of the plan, elementary schools would house grades kindergarten through four. Fifth and sixth grades would be at a renovated junior high. Seventh and eighth grades would be at a renovated high school, and grades 9 through 12 would be at a new high school building.

"From what I've read and what administrators tell us, this is the perfect grade configuration," said Fox.

Making ninth-graders part of the high school plan helps them realize the importance of their freshman year in their high school career. "Ninth-graders at the junior high don't feel part of the high school," Fox said.

"Fifth- and sixth-graders are just worlds apart from kindergarteners and first graders," he said. At the fifth- and sixth-grade level, the plan calls for lots of classes to introduce students to possible careers. "We can do that at one school at lot more efficiently than replicating those programs at five elementary schools," Fox said.

Seventh- and eighth-graders have different educational needs and are going through social changes that younger children haven't yet experienced.

Fox said he has heard complaints that the existing high school is too large for just two grades. But Fox said many renovations would be needed to turn the building into a seventh- and eighth-grade center.

For example, the cafeteria would need to be enlarged. High school students may leave campus at lunch. Seventh- and eighth-graders would be allowed to leave. In addition, the gym facilities offer lots of possibilities for seventh- and eighth-grade physical education and intramurals that don't exist now. The extra space also allows room for future growth.

A copy of the entire master plan is available at the superintendent's office.

Is it a perfect plan? David Hahs, chairman of the Vision Planning Committee, says no. But he said the plan represents a compromise of ideas and Hahs said the overall plan is a good one. He added that a win on Tuesday would result in positive economic impact for the community as a whole. And, he said, Cape Girardeau schools need a win in the worst way.

Part III Sunday: The impact passage of Tuesday's ballot proposals would have on the school system and the community.

EDUCATED VOTE

The plan

Phase I (1997-2000)

-- Construction of an elementary school

-- Construction of an area vocational-technical school

-- Renovations of Alma Schrader, Clippard and Franklin Schools

-- Renovation and expansion of Jefferson School

-- Close May Greene and Washington Schools

-- Renovation of current vocational facility to house district offices, centralized maintenance, and district-wide programs.

Phase II (2001-2005)

-- Construction of a high school

-- Renovation of the current high school and junior high buildings

-- Close L.J. Schultz Building.

-- Changing grade-level grouping

* Kindergarten to fourth grade at elementary schools

* Fifth and sixth grade at renovated junior high school

* Seventh and eighth grade at renovated high school

* Ninth through 12th grade at new high school

Phase III (2005- ??)

-- Construction of a new elementary school