Cape school board discusses building plans

The Cape Girardeau school board Wednesday embarked on a comprehensive facilities planning process that will identify where and when to alter buildings or construct new schools.

The board also voted to seek buyers for the Schultz campus at 101 S. Pacific St., and named an architect for a 12,000 square-foot expansion of the Career and Technology Center.

During a 45-minute discussion of the district's buildings and grounds, Pat Morgan, director of administrative services, said the district is looking ahead to when current bond payments and increased property values will provide an opportunity for a building program.

"There is always a need for new structures," he said. "Folks are going to want things for their kids."

As part of the process, he said, the district has sent letters to each principal to identify anything at their school that should be removed. As examples, he noted rusting backstops on the junior high school campus and metal buildings that are rusting as well. Morgan called both eyesores.

The idea, he siad, is to remove "anything that creates a drain on the district."

Brenda Mueller, board president, said the facilities plan must work hand-in-hand as the district revises its educational programs. "We are looking for a game plan for now and forever," she said. "We have always been so reactive. And we may be making changes in the education plan that will dictate how facilities will be used."

Board members discussed whether the district will continue to operate neighborhood schools or switch to using attendance centers that concentrate all the students of a certain age in a single building.

Mueller said the education plan "must drive the facilities plan rather than the facilities plan driving the education plan."

Board members were told that by 2009, the district will be able to ask voters to approve a bond issue of up to $12 million without increasing taxes to pay the debt.

Part of the planning process, superintendent Dr. David Scala said, is examining expected growth in Cape Girardeau. The kind of housing in new developments often is a good indicator of the number of students that can be expected from the area, he said.

In the other business, the board chose Phillip B. Smith Architec LLC to design the addition at the vocational school. Smith submitted a bid of $50,000 to design the expansion, which is expected to cost up to $1.3 million.

The decision to sell the Schultz campus came during closed session, Scala said. By putting the building on the market, he said, the district can gauge what it would gain by selling compared to the costs of renovating the facility, which currently houses the district's alternative school.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126