Cape and Jackson candidates to appear at Tuesday forum

Candidates for the Cape Girardeau School Board have a favorable view of the district's $40 million bond proposal.

If the bond issue is approved, elected board members would help oversee the districtwide construction and renovation project.

"There are some facility improvements that need to be taken care of immediately," said Philip "Phil" Moore, who is one of four candidates for the board. Two board members will be elected to three-year terms in the April 6 election. Don Call, Hamner Hill and incumbent Paul Nenninger also filed.

Candidates in contested races for the municipal elections will square off today at a 7 p.m. forum at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center.

Mayoral candidates Harry Rediger and Matt Hopkins will answer questions. Cape Girardeau City Council candidates Teresa Robinson, John Voss and Stafford Moore will also be at the event, said Sue Brockett, president of the League of Women Voters of Southeast Missouri. Voss, an incumbent, and Robinson are running for Ward 1. Stafford Moore is a candidate for Ward 2, which is open because of term limits. He will face Meg Davis-Proffer in the election.

Jackson Board of Aldermen candidate Tim Welker will also be at the event. He and Dustin Cauble are vying for a two-year term on the board of aldermen in Ward 1.

The four candidates for the Cape Girardeau School Board will also be at the forum, Brockett said. Nenninger voted for the bond proposal, which won unanimous approval from the board during a January vote. Nenninger, who is finishing his first term on the board, also asked questions about the proposal's effect on operating costs before it was approved.

Call, a Cape Girardeau native and former superintendent in southwest Missouri, has been a regular at board meetings since filing. He retired from education in 2004 and works part time as the director of the Rural Consortium for Educational Technology, which helps provide technology training for teachers.

Boost graduation rate

The bond issue, which will also be decided on April 6, would fund a new elementary school to replace Franklin Elementary School, along with security and building upgrades districtwide and an event stadium and auditorium at the high school.

"I think a lot of people don't realize the high school was undersized when it was opened," Hill said. He is the chair of the political science, philosophy and religion department at Southeast Missouri State University. He said the position gives him perspective on district graduates, but he also wants to focus efforts on increasing the graduation rate.

"I've got an idea of the strengths of the students coming into our university and also some of their deficiencies," he said.

He said his two sons attended the district and his youngest is a junior at the high school. Both were active in orchestra, which also highlighted the shortcomings of the school facilities, he said.

"You've got an outstanding program like that. and the kids have to play in the gym and the cafeteria," Hill said.

Moore said an event stadium, another high school project, would save the district money. It will eliminate the cost of renting Houck Stadium and transporting students for football games. The security upgrades are also needed, said Moore, a 1988 graduate of Central High School.

"Unfortunately, the time we live in right now, those things have to be addressed," said Moore, a commercial loan officer for the Bank of Missouri. He said he has two sons who attend kindergarten and second grade at Clippard Elementary.

Moore said he has become acquainted with the district's facilities plan, the backbone of the bond proposal. He said he is also interested in using his financial knowledge to help the district in an oversight role.

"I look at a school as basically a business having a budget and income and expenditures," he said.

Another forum for mayoral candidates is scheduled later in the week with the Cape County Pachyderms. Candidates will appear at 7 p.m. Thursday at Dexter Bar-B-Q.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

1080 S. Silver Springs Road Cape Girardeau, MO