BOARD FINDS PRINCIPAL SOLUTION; SCHOOL LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR TAX HIKE

Cape Girardeau director of elementary education, Richard Bollwerk, also will be assigned as principal of Washington Elementary School for the coming school year.

The Board of Education made the decision at a special meeting Wednesday attended by about 35 people.

A spokesman for the Washington School PTA said the plan is "workable." PTA members had collected signatures and rallied support for a full-time principal at the school.

Elimination of one principal was among $1.2 million in district budget cuts.

Superintendent Neyland Clark said at the board meeting, "At no time during the deliberation did we ever have any school without adequate administration or leadership."

Clark said: "We recommend to the board the reassignment of Richard Bollwerk to serve as elementary principal for a temporary time. He would hold both titles: director of elementary education and principal."

Barbara Blanchard, a veteran teacher at Washington School, will serve as principal when Bollwerk is away from the school.

Bollwerk was principal at Washington prior to being named district director of elementary education.

Clark said Bollwerk will work from Washington School, not from the central office. Bollwerk will start the 1992-93 school year at Washington. "We will bring him back (to the central office) at some time," the superintendent said.

"Our PTA thinks this is a workable compromise," said Washington PTA vice president Brenda Dohogne.

She said PTA members would like copies of job descriptions for both Bollwerk and Blanchard and an assurance that Bollwerk will be in the building 60 percent of the time.

"We want to thank Richard for the sacrifices he is making, and welcome back to Washington," Dohogne said.

Board president Pat Ruopp said: "This action should not be viewed as a retraction of any item. We stated at the time the cuts were made that Washington School would be adequately administered."

Other groups in the district, in particular parents of band students, are looking to the board to reconsider some budget cuts. One of three band directors has been eliminated.

Mike Shivelbine, president of the Band Boosters organization, asked to meet with school administrators before Monday's regularly scheduled board meeting.

The district Community Teachers Association approved a resolution calling for a principal at each school.

Jo Peukert, president of that organization, said teachers were concerned about building leadership. Peukert also served on the committee that drafted the final budget cut proposal.

"I certainly hope the public realizes we have no intention to leave a school unsupervised. We were very much concerned about this issue."

Peukert said: "We can't look to the state for financial support, and these local tax levies are not being passed. We are at a crises time in education in our nation, our state and in Cape Girardeau."

School board members agreed.

John Campbell, school board member, said, "If the cuts this year seemed to hurt, just wait until next year."

Campbell said he watched with interest Tuesday's election returns concerning area school tax increase proposals. "In most cases tax efforts failed," he said.

"At some point we will put together a plan, something to bring to the voters; we're not sure what or when.

"This isn't the end," board member Lyle Davis said after the meeting. "If this community expects to have any additional funds, it will have to come from this community.

"When you affect enough people, when you eliminate a major program, when this community is convinced we really need more money, then we will go for a tax increase."

Board member Ed Thompson, who was not at the meeting, said afterwards, "People in the community still feel we just cut fat."

He said people look at $2 million the district has in reserves as proof of financial health. "That's one month's operating capital," Thompson said. "Our teacher payroll alone is $1 million for one month."

Thompson said: "We have no plan for a tax referendum. We are going to wait until Project Partnership comes back before we make any plans. A lot of people have the mistaken opinion that we already have a plan."

Board member Gwen Bennett said after the meeting: "We have not talked about any specific tax issue or bond. It's becoming increasingly clear that you get what you pay for. People in Cape Girardeau want quality education.

"We are waiting for the committee reports to find out what this community wants," said Bennett. "Then we will put together a plan and give the people an opportunity to support it.

"They will tell us, one way or another, what they want."