CAPE SCHOOLS OFFER PLENTY OF IMPRESSIVE FACTS AND FIGURES

Cape Girardeau School District superintendent DAN STESKA visited with our editorial board two weeks ago and shared some of the following information ... most of which was new to me. I think you'll be interested.

Cape Girardeau school facts you should know:

Academics

* ACT scores above state/national average

* 72 percent take the ACT (state average: 58 percent)

* 45 percent above ACT average (average: 33.2)

* 8 advance-placement courses and 9 college-credit courses

* 76 percent of students attend post-secondary school

* 8 National Merit recognition students

* Duke University 7th grade accelerated program

* Accelerated reader program

* A-plus school designation

* 42 percent of faculty: advanced degrees

* 1:10 student/computer ratio

* 184 units of high school course offerings

* Three foreign languages

* Junior high international language exploratory program

Facilities/community support

* $14 million bond issue passed 1977

* $18 Million bond issue passed 2000

* New career and technology center 2001

* New high school 2002

* All new or renovated elementary schools

* Computer labs in all schools

* Indoor/outdoor pool

* 3,800-seat athletic fieldhouse complex

* 950 seat auditorium

* All air-conditioned classrooms by 2002

* Student-community TV broadcast studio

* $407,000 of academic grants

* $600,000 of technical grants plus $233,000 corporate match

Enrollment

* 1:14 student-teacher ratio

* 4,085 total student enrollment

* Multinational student population

Support programs

* Gifted education programs for K-12

* 18 varsity-JV sports

* 4 athletic programs at the junior high

* 20 student Interest organizations-clubs

* Reading recovery

* Multiple special-needs programs

* Caring Communities

* Missouri preschool project

* Parents-as-Teachers

* Parent-Teacher Association

* All-School Booster Club

* Athletic Foundation

* Renaissance Academic Excellence Program

Recent honors

* Missouri Teacher of the Year 1999

* National Science Teacher of the Year 2000

* National Art Award-Washington, D.C.

* District championships 1999-2000: Baseball, boys tennis, girls track, girls soccer, girls tennis, boys soccer.

* State qualifiers: Swimming, track, cross-country

* Band No. 1 rating, district and state

* Orchestra No. 1 rating, district

* Choir No. 1 rating, district

* National adult education award for excellence

* Three chamber of commerce Teacher of the Year recipients - 2000

* Scholarships over $1.5 million - 2000

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Exercise Insights: It is well documented that for every mile that you jog, you add one minute to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional five months in a nursing home at $5,000 per month.

The only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.

I don't exercise at all. If God meant for us to touch our toes, he would have put them further up our body.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

I have flabby thighs, but fortunately my stomach covers them.

The advantage of exercising every day is that you die healthier.

If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.

I don't jog. It makes the ice jump right our of my glass.

Thought for the day: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they are sticking to their diet.

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Lawyers' selection should be explained: Back in 1997, Missouri decided to get on the tobacco-industry bandwagon and joined 40 states in a lawsuit against Big Tobacco to recover medical costs associated with smoking. So Attorney General Jay Nixon hired Springfield lawyer Thomas Strong, and Strong in turn hired other legal cronies to battle the tobacco industry. But, truth be told, it wasn't much of a battle.

The following year the tobacco industry offered a massive $6.7 billion settlement with the 40 states that would be paid over the next 25 years. That effectively ended the legal battle, and now it's time to pay the lawyers chosen by Attorney General Nixon. Under the payment plan agreed to by Nixon, the selected legal counsel could receive as much as $400 million. Nixon assures it will be much less.

But, either way, the payments will be hefty. Illinois lawyers will receive $121 million, Iowa lawyers will take home $85 million and Kansas counsel will receive $54 million.

The friendly selection process of lawyers has some in the state pointing a finger at the attorney general. State Sen. Peter Kinder filed suit challenging the Nixon selection process. And now the state auditor has questioned the selection process.

But there's another part of this story to be told. Records reveal that lawyers from the firms chosen by Nixon have donated $559,000 in political contributions to state officeholders. About $200,000 of that has come after Nixon selected the firms. And about 90 percent of those donations have gone to Democrats including Nixon and Gov. Mel Carnahan. Is there a connection? What do you think?

Nixon now says he can't reveal the reasoning for his selections. He says that information is "privileged." But that answer clearly falls short of acceptable.

Jay Nixon played fast and loose with the tobacco lawsuit, and his actions should be held accountable. He handed a group of lawyers a virtual bonanza, and he can't fully explain his selection process. Missouri taxpayers deserve better from our attorney general. -- Michael Jensen, Standard-Democrat, Sikeston.