CITY SCHOOLS, SEMO ADOPT NEW ALLIANCE

Cape Girardeau public schools and Southeast Missouri State University have formed a "Cooperative Alliance for Public Education" (CAPE) to focus on long-term strategies for restructuring education.

The new alliance was announced Friday by school district and university officials.

Neyland Clark, superintendent of Cape Girardeau public schools, and Lenore Bierbaum, dean of the College of Education at Southeast, said the long-term focus of CAPE is to improve education.

Clark said the idea of an alliance had been discussed for several months. But he said tight state funding at both the school district and university level "kind of got it (the alliance) kicked into high gear."

"If we wanted to have any hope of retaining the level of service delivery that we had become accustomed to in years past, we were going to have to come up with ways to pool our resources," said Clark.

Bierbaum said it's important for the College of Education and the school district to work together.

"Teacher education cannot be divorced from public education. Our mission is common," she said.

"College faculty need very much to have strong relationships with public schools and teachers, and with children," she said. "This gives us a terribly important link to what we would call `the real world.'"

Plans call for the school district and the university to work together to restructure both the public school and teacher education curricula.

CAPE will focus initially on a number of projects, Clark and Bierbaum said. Those projects are:

Establishment of a steering committee to plan and facilitate the collaborative effort. The committee will include faculty and administrators from the school district and the College of Education. It will identify areas where the two entities can work together, establish goals, recommend strategies for implementing the projects and assess the achievement of those goals.

Implementation of the Comer Project, a school development program that brings together parents with school and university personnel to improve academic and social achievement of students as well as school operations.

Development of a partnership between the university, school district and area businesses in sending a team to the White House Conference on Education in June.

Beginning a restructuring of the mathematics and science curricula in the public schools and the teacher education program at Southeast, including looking at establishing a mathematics-science center or academy in the school district.

Seeking designation of an "America 2000" school site within the Cape Girardeau district and planning for a "New American School" that would serve as a model for education. This project reflects state and national education goals.

Increasing development of field sites and internships in the school district for university students, which will also provide assistance to school teachers and administrators.

The new alliance is good news for the school district, Clark said. "It's been a real boost in the arm for us this week because of some of the very negative impacts of the budget reallocations we have had to live with this year.

"I think this is an example that we are going to move forward in spite of the reductions," he said. "We are ready to move from the negative to the real positive and get some things moving in programs for our kids."

Clark said the school district and the university have a long association in regards to education. But he said that until now, there had not been a formal structure for cooperative efforts.

"I think for the first time in a long time we have a formal structure by which needs can be addressed and we can look at the continuity of programs," he said.

In a prepared statement, Clark and Bierbaum said, "Through this collaborative effort, the Cape Girardeau public schools will be able not only to sustain programs but to embark upon a period of visionary change, which will prepare students for the increasing competitiveness of academia and work."

Clark said student internships could provide schools such as Louis Schultz with administrative help.

As to the math and science academy, Clark said it would be "kind of a school within a school concept" that would involve a sharing of math and science educators between the school district and the university.

"There is a strong emphasis today from the federal Department of Education that an emphasis be placed on math and science education in public schools," said Clark.

He said that federal grant money is being made available for such educational activities.

With an academy, he said, the school district could offer expanded science and math offerings to students through 12th grade.

As to the Comer Project, Clark said the school district is one of only 20 nationwide and four in the state of Missouri chosen to participate in the program.

The program, developed at Yale University, deals with designing programs around children's natural developmental stages, primarily at the elementary- and middle-school-age levels.

As to the "America 2000" effort, Clark said designations for such schools in Missouri would be made by the governor as part of a nationwide program. A total of 535 "America 2000" schools will be designated nationwide, he explained.

Clark said restructuring education is "exciting."

"It's exciting in the fact that we want to be able to kind of explore the Hewlett-Packard mentality what if a school looked liked that or what if a school performs these functions?"

Bierbaum said CAPE will allow the local school district and the university to be on the "cutting edge" in education.

"The wheels will be turning this summer," she said, "but I think things will really start to happen with the teachers and the schools this fall."