Cape school board puts $20 million bond issue on ballot

A $20 million bond issue recently approved by the Cape Girardeau School Board will pay for much-needed renovations and expansion, school officials say.

The board voted unanimously to place Proposition 1 on the April ballot.

While the measure would help pay for a number of basic repair needs across the district, such as heating and cooling, it also will go toward more specific projects at Central Junior High School and the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center.

Assistant superintendent for administrative services Neil Glass said the proposal would "give a face-lift" to the junior high building at 205 Caruthers Ave. The facility was built in 1951, and some renovations have been done, Glass said, but nothing as extensive as the plans outlined in the recent proposal.

Improvements to the facility would include plumbing, improved safety and security and changing grade levels in ramps and adding rails to increase accessibility for those with disabilities. The proposal also looks at the location of administrative offices.

"The way that we propose to do this is we are going to eliminate the old gymnasium that currently sits in the middle of that facility and we are going to replace that footprint with a new facility that would house administration offices, other student services, some science labs in the basement part of that building and also a new practice gymnasium that would accommodate up to about 350 people," Glass said.

Preliminary estimations, which Glass said are based primarily on square footage, put the renovation price tag at about $9.8 million.

The Career and Technology Center expansion is priced a little lower at $5.9 million. Glass said the center already offers a variety of classes -- from backyard farming to industrial welding -- but education officials want to continue to expand available services.

"The Career and Technology Center is a big piece of this community and serves a lot of industry as far as [providing people with] the skills and trades that some of their entry level positions require," he said.

The expansion would allow health-care services and more to be provided at the center at 1080 S. Silver Springs Road. It also would offer more class space for the Cape College Center, a partnership of Mineral Area College, Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers College, which is at the facility.

While the work would be minor in comparison, other facilities are also in line for some improvements. Roof replacements, asphalt repairs, cafeteria tables and addressing parking issues at Jefferson and Clippard elementary schools are on the list of "odds and ends" to be addressed, Glass said.

"All of those things don't seem to add up to much, but they're something that really does affect the way we deliver programs to students," he said. "They are little things that, if they are not addressed, become big things."

All of these projects are Phase II of the April 2010 facility plan, Glass said. The first phase, which included projects such as replacing Franklin Elementary School, was addressed with a $40 million bond issue passed that year.

Glass also said the $20 million bond proposal that will appear on the ballot this April does not include a change in the tax rate. The district's overall rate is $4.1567 per $100 of assessed value and of that, 68 cents is for debt service.

srinehart@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

205 Caruthers Ave., Cape Girardeau, Mo.

1080 S. Silver Springs Road, Cape Girardeau, Mo.