BIRD, REDIGER, SPROAT DEBATE SCHOOL ISSUES AT FORUM

A Cape Girardeau Board of Education candidate called for school uniforms or a standardized dress code, while the board member she is challenging said he has unfinished business on the board.

The board member, Harry Rediger; his challenger, Jacqueline Sproat; and board hopeful, the Rev. William Bird, participated in a forum sponsored by the Cape Girardeau League of Women Voters at Washington School Thursday night.

About a dozen people attended.

Bird is running unopposed for a three-year seat on the board and Rediger and Sproat are vying for a one-year unexpired term.

Sproat, a mother of one and manager at McDonald's, wants to see uniforms or a standardized dress code for students in the Cape Girardeau public schools. She said uniforms or other type of dress restrictions would insure students wouldn't be judged by the money they spend on their wardrobe.

"I also think the board should be a cross-section of people," she said. "I don't make a lot of money, and I think I could be part of that cross-section."

Bird, a longtime minister in Cape Girardeau, said he filed to shape discipline and policy dealing with gangs and drug activity in the school system. He also would like to see the board be more responsive to community concerns, he said.

Bird and his wife, Rose Mary, are the parents of five children. He is pastor of two churches in Cape Girardeau and the superintendent of seven Churches of Christ in Southeast Missouri.

Rediger, who was appointed to the board last year, said his work wasn't finished. He said he realized when he filed that the strategic planning the board set out to resolve still needs work.

Rediger is the manager of JCPenney in Cape Girardeau and has a wife and four children.

All of the candidates were literally under the lights while answering questions. The lights were provided by the department of mass communication at Southeast Missouri State University since they were video taping the forum. It will air on public access Sunday at 5:30 p.m., Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and March 31 at 5:30 p.m.