COMMISSION WILL APPOINT NEW MEMBERS

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones couldn't imagine why people kept calling him Wednesday morning hinting that Kathy Swan and Pat Ruopp would resign from the school board.

"I asked, `Why tell me?' Well, surprise, surprise," Jones said.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission will appoint three members to the Cape Girardeau school board under a rarely used state law.

John Campbell resigned April 7. Pat Ruopp and Kathy Swan resigned Wednesday.

The law and the school district's policy state that when more than two vacancies occur on the board at the same time, the county commission steps in to make appointments.

"Before today, I didn't realize this could end up in my lap," Jones said. "I had no earthly idea."

Steve Wright, attorney with the Missouri School Board Association, said he was unaware of any time this has happened in the past nine years.

A 1935 court case ruled that a quorum of board members is needed to fill a vacancy.

When the law on filling vacancies was written, Missouri school boards had six members. If a board had three vacancies, a quorum wouldn't be left and the positions couldn't be filled by the school board. In 1993, the law changed and school boards now have seven members. However, this portion of the law remains in effect.

Jones expects the commission to accept applications and nominations of people interested in serving on the school board.

Commissioners will talk about it today at a 9 a.m. meeting. School district attorney Joe Russell has been asked to attend and talk about the process. Board president Bob Fox and Superintendent Neyland Clark are expected to attend, also.

The three appointed board members will serve until next April's election.

Jones hopes the commission will receive lots of applications from people "who'd like to see their school district prosper and grow."

Jones said the commission is quite capable of making the appointments. He is an ex-teacher and ex-employee of the state education department and holds a master's degree in education. His wife is a schoolteacher in Perryville.

"I'm not scared of making a decision on this," he said. "We'll definitely handle it in a very expeditious manner."

Commissioner Larry Bock agreed.

"Whatever the process, the commission will attempt to make the best choice and soon, so that the Cape Girardeau school board can get back to the most important business -- educating our children."

Fox said he hopes people who have served on the school board in past years might consider applying for the one-year terms.

"We need people with experience, people who have been there before," he said. "We really want to get things back on track."