BRINGING IN THE EXPERTS; PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE LET EXPERTS AND PARENTS DISCUSS A CHILD'S EDUCATIONAL ISSUES

Diane Hess, left, discussed her son's schoolwork with Cape Girardeau Alternative School teachers from left, Joyce Barylski, Randy Barnhouse and Christina Green.

Many parents believe they know a lot about their children, but the smart ones acknowledge that the kids probably act differently when Mom and Dad aren't around.

That's why some parents said they value the annual parent-teacher conferences scheduled in area schools. They said the conferences bring all of the "experts" together to discuss any and all educational issues concerning their child.

In a good conference, they said, teachers are frank and completely honest about a child's strengths and weaknesses, and they offer solutions for improvement. Parents need to see proof of the child's performance, they said, and if conduct is a problem, they need to know what is being done to change negative patterns.

"I don't like to beat around the bush; just tell me what it is and what I have to do," said Diane Hess, who has two high school-aged children attending in the Cape Girardeau school system. "These conferences help get rid of a lot of the mystery about my kid."

Hess said her conference experiences differ depending upon which child is being discussed. With her daughter, who is a senior at Central High School, she wants to make sure things haven't changed, she said. The daughter makes good grades and seems to enjoy school, so when attending conferences Hess said she just makes sure grades and conduct aren't taking a nosedive.

However, she said her experiences are much different with her son, who is attending the Alternative Education Center. With this child, she said she wants to know if grades, conduct and attendance are improving. He's very visual and artistic, she said, but he has several personal issues that have affected his education.

"They're as different as night and day, so I have to have different types of conferences," she said.

The content of conferences will differ for parents whose children are in elementary school. Parents at this level said they are concerned about conduct and academics, but teacher personality and education environment and activities are equally important.

Patrick and Rebecca Garrett said neither their son, a kindergartner, nor their daughter, a sixth-grader has any major problems in school. However, they said, it's still important to participate in parent-teacher conferences to check on the child's progress.

"We basically want to know how the programs work and check on the progression of our kids in the school," said Patrick Garrett. "We want to know what we can do as parents to help, and especially to see the overall environment of where they're being taught and how they're being taught."

Hess and the Garretts said they wouldn't get a total picture of their children's education simply by questioning the children. They're only going to give you what they see and know, which isn't the total viewpoint or even the adult viewpoint of their progression, the parents said. That's why it's so important that parents attend the conferences.

South Cape Residents' Cleanup Concerns

Concerns ranked by residents of the May Greene area for cleaning up their neighborhood, in the order of their priorities:

1. Enforcement of existing codes and ordinances equally for everyone, assign someone from city staff to regularly enforce city ordinances, put some "real teeth" in enforcement, put time limit on enforcement.

2. Tenants should be more responsible for care of property and payment of rent.

3. Condemn "run down" buildings or require owners to bring them up to code.

4. Control noise on streets.

5. More drug enforcement.

6. Responsible ownership of property, lack of maintenance on HUD houses.

7. Use of contractor without license if required building codes are met.

8. Involvement of civic groups with the restoration of the area. Need additional Neighborhood Watch efforts and community involvement.

9. Maintenance of black-top (asphalt) streets and paving of gravel streets. More liberal trash pickup policy by the city. (Tied)

10. Restoration and maintenance of Fort D.

11. Contact individuals who were originally surveyed and provide assistance in cleanup, fix-up.

12. Strengthening of minimum property maintenance code.

13. Additional street lights. Initiate a tree-planting and tree maintenance program. Control weeds and grass on all property. (Tied)

14. Upgrade alleys (maintenance) and pave them. Unified voice from groups representing South Cape. (Tied)

Four suggestions were voiced by residents, but got no votes when the concerns were ranked. They were: Promotion of small business by means of incubator; put fencing around "junk yard" businesses or enforce city ordinance; more rapid cleanup of demolition sites; illegal dumping of trash.