CAPE, JACKSON PUBLIC SCHOOLS LOOK TO 21S CENTURY

Schools are looking toward Internet access, fiber optics, satellite classes and computers and other high-tech devices as the necessary tools for learning in the 21st century.

Cape Girardeau and Jackson public schools are taking steps now to prepare for the changes students will encounter in the next millennium.

Technology will likely be key to education in the future. Jackson is building a new math and science center as one step to teaching new technology. Cape Girardeau included better technology and new buildings as part of a new 10-year master plan.

"We've always had kids do research papers," said Dr. Howard Jones, Jackson superintendent. "In the past, kids looked at the World Book and the Encyclopedia Brittania. Now, with access to the Internet, they can look at the Library of Congress and research labs in Palo Alto, Calif. The challenge isn't if you can get the information, it's how do you manage that information."

Many students live in homes equipped with much more technology than exists in their classrooms. Homes have televisions, telephones, computers and satellite connections. "They come to school and have a chalkboard, or if we're being high tech, an overhead projector," Jones said.

But Jones said all that will soon change. Fiber optic connections already link public schools in Southeast Missouri with each other and with four-year universities. Classes via satellite and Internet can take place today, if schools have the necessary equipment.

"It's not Buck Rogers. It's here."

Technology not only changes the way children access information, it also changes the way teachers communicate with each other and with parents. "A year ago, we didn't have e-mail between buildings," Jones said. Today, teachers are clambering for more Internet connections.

Tallent and Jones say the advances in technology won't mean the end of traditional classroom teachers.

"We still need human interaction at the local level," Jones said. "We can access a Harvard expert on the human geno with a class taught via satellite. But when we turn off the screen, the discussion needs to be led by a local person."

Consider the impact of a teacher using a CD-ROM in the classroom to show pieces from the National Gallery of Art or computer software that allows students to conduct virtual chemistry experiments without the danger of creating a smoking disaster in the classroom.

"Technology will give us an opportunity to individualize more for students who need extra help or those who are ready to accelerate," he said. "The teacher will still have an important role in facilitating the learning. the teacher is going to be equipped with a lot more tools."

Jones remembers a discussion several years ago about the possible dangers of networking computers. But he was enthusiastic about the possible advantages he saw. "It's not about hardware," Jones said. "We are talking about networking people and their ideas, and that's very powerful."

Tallent and Jones agreed the days of school administrators always knowing what's best for schools has past.

"Education is a community endeavor," Tallent said. "The pace of change is such that no individual could keep up. That drives us more and more toward working together."

Jones said, "We live in a changing community. But we have talked about how to keep the small-town flavor and safe feeling in a school that gets more and more crowded."

One way is to keep lines of communication open with the community, he said. "We want to adopt decision-making processes that are as inclusive and broad-based as possible."

Opening lines of communication helped Cape Girardeau schools develop a 10-year master plan, said Tallent.

In the short-term, the district is looking for community support at the ballot on April 1. Voters are being asked to approve a 69-cent tax increase to fund the first phase of the master plan. The plan calls for construction of an elementary school and a vocational school in addition to renovations at other buildings. Money would also be used to implement changes in curriculum, especially by adding technology.

"We want to begin technology training at kindergarten level. As children get to junior high and senior high, they will already be technology users, just learning technology," he said.

When students graduate from high school, they would be ready to transfer into high-tech jobs or to higher education.

"We are working with business and industry to identify future jobs," Tallent said.

Jackson hasn't done comprehensive long-range planning. Over the past five years, the district has experienced rapid enrollment growth. The result has been a building plan developed by necessity.

In an effort to get a sense of direction for the school district, the Jackson school board set out some priorities at its summer retreat. Board members talked about improving education, professional personnel, school environment and operations.

Jones said the school is looking at ways to better serve individual students and ways to tell how students are doing.

"Our long-range planning is to work with the whole child," Jones said. "We want to keep our focus on individual children."

"Our broader philosophy is that students need to grow into responsible adults, not just academically, but in areas of character and their ability to go out and make a living and to be physically fit."

To attract and keep good teachers, the Jackson district has a plan for incentives including better salaries and opportunities for advanced training.

In addition, Jones said, many teachers and staff need additional training in areas like performance assessment, a new method of testing children and educational technology.

Jones said the Jackson district will be looking toward future growth and perhaps consider purchasing property now in anticipation of new schools. In addition, the high school campus will need improvements.