CAPE SCHOOLS TO CONDUCT PUBLIC PLANNING MEETINGS

Cape Girardeau's public schools want to know what ideas and suggestions people have for the district's future.

Collecting information from the community is the first step in developing a long-range strategic plan, and the process officially begins at 10:15 this morning with a press conference at Central High School.

A community-based steering committee will be announced along with a series of meetings to gather information from citizens and school employees.

Members of the school district's Vision Steering Committee are David Hahs of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co.; Robert Foster, executive director of the Southeast Missouri State University Foundation; Judy Wilferth, owner of Children's Bazaar; Kevin Ford of Ford and Sons Funeral Homes; John Jenkins, executive chef and kitchen director at the Holiday Inn; Richard Bollwerk, assistant superintendent; and Bryn McDougall, a Central High School student. Vision 2000 -- a community betterment group in Cape Girardeau -- will help conduct the meetings and compile community response.

Hahs said the committee is a result of board members and others expressing a desire to set a direction for the district.

The school board has a goal of developing a five-year plan by spring, which board president Bob Fox called "a pretty lofty goal."

He said the board wanted community members to spearhead the informational portion of the process.

Vision 2000 will assume a role similar to the one it took with Cape Girardeau's recently passed transportation tax issue.

Melvin Gateley of Vision 2000 said: "Our job is to just gather all this information so the board can put together a strategic plan."

Board member Harry Rediger, who is coordinating the strategic planning process, said today's meeting is the culmination of six months of planning.

"We're off and running," he said. "It's time to get down to action. We want to do a lot of listening. We want to get as much input as we can."

Rediger also headed the city's successful transportation sales tax issue.

As a member of the school board, Rediger recruited the steering committee members.

"We worked hard putting together a committee that had a lot of knowledge about our community, highly respected people who will give this a lot of attention and a lot of follow-through," he said.

A series of community meetings will be held in October to collect information about priorities for the school district in three areas: educational directions, facility needs and school finances.

The community meetings will be held at specific schools, and anyone may attend the meetings.

The committee also will solicit ideas at meetings with teachers and school support staff.

At the culmination of these meetings, a town hall meeting is planned Nov. 7 to share information with the community.

"That's not the end of the process," Rediger said.

The committee will tie together the information collected in October. If more meetings are needed, they will be scheduled. If not, the committee will begin to rank district issues in moving toward the goal of a five-year plan by spring.