COMMISSION TO PICK SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS FROM LIST OF 29

Twenty-nine people have now turned in resumes expressing interest in serving on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education.

Adding their names to the list of school board hopefuls Thursday and Friday were Robert Blank, Pamela Sheets Spradling, Calvin Chapman, Jacqueline Sessoms, Louis Haynes, Marie Walker, Janet Rueseler, Charles Herbst III, Shaunna McGhie, Morris Osburn, Dr. James Fletcher Jr., Debra Ann Tracy, Sheldon Tyler, John Jenkins and two people who asked the commissioners not to release their names.

Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said the names of those two individuals will be made public if they are seriously considered for a spot on the board.

Under a rarely used state law, the Cape Girardeau County Commission will fill three vacancies that recently opened up on the school board due to resignations.

Over the weekend, members of the Cape Girardeau County Commission will be reading resumes and asking questions. The commission will discuss the potential appointees Monday.

The commission plans to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday to announce the three new board members.

Jones said, "I believe everyone is sincere and is saying we've got to to quit fighting and we have got to get our kids educated. They're ready to go."

Others who have expressed an interest are David Goncher, Jenny Strickland, David Rosener, Jaynee Browning, Dr. Harold Hager, Al Pannier, Brenda Dohogne, Richard Rolfing, Ruth Ann Simon, Wilfred Hoelscher, Bob Komorech, Dr. C. John Ritter and Steve Robertson.

-- Robert Blank is a lifelong resident of Cape Girardeau. For 25 years, he has been president of Bi-State Oil Co., a petroleum marketing company in Cape Girardeau.

Blank served four years on the Trinity Lutheran Grade School Board of Education, two of those years as the board president. He said communicating with parents and the faculty is one of his strong points.

"In the near future there will be many tough decisions facing the school board," he said, "but I feel the most important at this time is to establish a working relationship with the community."

Blank said the public is disenchanted with the school board and it is time for change. His experience dealing with people in business over the past 39 years should serve him well on the board, he added.

--Pamela Sheets Spradling said she wants students in Cape Girardeau schools to be proud of their education.

"I want the kids who are in school now to have the same feeling about Cape and the education they got here as I did," she said. "It is a good education and a good school."

Spradling's husband is Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III.

"I know there will probably be people who will wonder why I'm doing this," she said.

Spradling said the school board and mayor's jobs aren't connected.

"Frankly I have things I am very interested in and what I have an interest in I want to act on," she said.

She has three children, ages 18, 15 and 11. She grew up in Cape Girardeau and graduated from Southeast Missouri State University.

She is a homemaker, and a volunteer with several civic organizations.

-- Calvin Chapman worked 30 years for Cape Girardeau schools as a teacher, a counselor and an administrator. He retired in 1991.

"I thought my years of experience in public schools could bring some solidity to the school board," he said.

He said Cape Girardeau schools and its students are unparalleled in the region.

"Let's focus on where our needs are and improve where we need to and tell the story of our successes, too," Chapman said.

He retired in 1991 as the director of special services for the district. Chapman has worked as a fund raiser for the Area Wide United Way and is a past president of the Lions Club.

-- Jacqueline "Jackie" Sessoms is the parent of a kindergarten student who is in special education classes. The school system, she said, cannot forget children like her son..

Sessoms is employed as a family worker at the Cape Girardeau Head Start.

Many parents, especially low-income parents, she said, feel they don't have a voice.

At age 24, Sessoms is the youngest candidate, which she sees as a plus. "I'm not that far removed from school," she said. "I remember what it's like to be in school."

Her parents were both teachers and administrators. "I'm familiar with education and the working of it," she said.

"My number one issue is to insure quality of education for students," she said.

--Louis Haynes is a retired firefighter from the Anchorage, Alaska, fire department. He was raised in Cape Girardeau and graduated from Central High in 1959.

Since returning to his hometown in 1991, he has seen a large number of children drop out of schools.

He believes more parental and teacher involvement are needed to encourage children to stay in school.

Hiring minority teachers throughout the school system would also help, he said.

"Role models should be your next-door neighbor, or a teacher, or a minister," he said.

He has volunteered with the Community Caring Council and at May Greene Elementary School. Haynes serves on the board of directors for the Women's Safe House and works with Vision 2000.

His three daughters are grown.

-- Marie Walker has been a social worker with the Division of Family Services for 13 years. She works at May Greene Elementary School's Caring Communities Project 2 1/2 days a week.

She ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 1994.

"I feel that I'd like to make some sense out of all the chaos and help rebuild the confidence the community has in school," she said.

"I think board members have forgotten that the board is there for the children. I'd like to refresh their memories."

She said working with families has taught her about the needs people have and how to address those needs.

She has five children, ages 5 to 23.

"I think I'd be well qualified to work with parents in the community," she said.

Walker serves on the committee looking at redistricting elementary school boundaries in the city.

-- Janet Rueseler, a former teacher, is hopeful about Cape Girardeau's educational future.

"While there have been controversies and changes in the Cape Girardeau school board this year, it is still possible with pro-active leadership and long-range plans to provide an excellent education for the students of Cape Girardeau," she said.

Rueseler sees a need to change the perception that some Cape Girardeau elementary schools are better than others based on geographic location.

She also said the board must represent the whole school system and needs to always be fiscally responsible with taxpayers' money.

She and her husband have two children, a fifth-grader and a pre-schooler.

"The school board through their own actions have taken attention from teachers and put it onto themselves," she said, adding that the focus should be on teachers and students.

-- As the father of five children, Charlie Herbst has an interest in Cape Girardeau schools. Two of his children are in school. Three more soon will be.

Herbst works for the Cape Girardeau Police Department in the community policing program. He has been a patrolman for the past five years, and has lived in Cape Girardeau all his life.

"There is a perception that Jackson is better than Cape," Herbst said, but he doesn't believe it. "I'm interested in trying to rebuild the public's confidence in the school board and the staff of the school system."

Top priorities are a 5- and 10-year plan for new buildings, renovations of schools and redistricting.

Herbst had to secure the city manager's approval before applying for the board to ensure it wouldn't be a conflict of interest.

--Shaunna McGhie instructs future physical education teachers at Southeast Missouri State University. She holds a doctorate in education and has taught at all different levels, from elementary school through college.

She also has taught in California, Utah and Arizona.

"I think I've got experiences from different perspectives that other candidates don't," McGhie said.

She didn't want to run an election campaign, but said she is willing to serve if selected.

McGhie said: "I'm very good at understanding different viewpoints and different cultures. I'm unique to the area because I'm from out of the area. I've traveled extensively and lived in other countries."

McGhie is single and has no children. "My whole career is based on education," she said.

-- Morris Osburn is a retired educator who moved to Cape Girardeau in 1989.

He spent many of his professional years teaching at the university level. He retired from the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked as an administrator for student financial services.

He started his career as a high school coach. In 1964, he opened a human relations and desegregation center at Western Kentucky University.

In Cape Girardeau, he and his wife headed the "Citizens for Better Schools," which promoted an April 1993 99-cent bond issue that failed.

He serves on the board of the American Red Cross and works with the East Missouri Action Agency.

-- Dr. James "Jim" Fletcher Jr. is a family physician in solo practice.

He has three top issues: restoring community confidence in the school board, exploring concerns about Missouri's plan for Outcome Based Education, and passage of a local bond issue to upgrade the school system's physical plant.

He taught 10 years at the Medical College of Georgia before moving to Cape Girardeau.

Fletcher and his family have lived in Cape Girardeau three years. He was raised in Gideon and attended the University of Missouri-Columbia and Vanderbilt Medical School.

He and his wife have three children, who are in grades 12, 10 and eight.

Attempts to reach other candidates Friday were unsuccessful.