COMMITTEE LEADERS SET TO START WORK; TO AMASS COMMUNITY INPUT ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

In the wake of last week's Cape Girardeau public school educational summit, the three individuals charged with coordinating a community review of the city's schools say it's time to get to work.

Harry Rediger is chairman of the finance committee; Sue Balsamo is chairman of the educational programs committee; and Bob Fox is chairman of the facilities committee.

These committees have been formed to gather community input about expectations for the school district, said Superintendent Neyland Clark.

The information and recommendations generated by these committees will be used by the Board of Education in formulating a five-year strategic plan for the district. Committee recommendations are due in April. The board is scheduled to finalize a plan by June.

The three chairmen dismissed concerns that the committee work is only a formality and that decisions have already been made.

Each said they believe the school administration and board of education genuinely want community input about the direction the district should take over the next five years.

"I've been on lot of committees where things were cut and dried before it started," Balsamo said. "I'm not interested in something like that, and I told Dr. Clark that up front. But the district has got to have a long-range goal in mind and it needs to know what the people want."

Rediger said: "I've heard that too, that we've got the plan and now we are going through the motions of making it come about. That's not the way I view it. And that's one reason I would encourage everyone to give whatever input they can."

All three committees plan to hold public forums to solicit additional community input.

"Anybody in the public who has questions or information that may influence our decisions should come to those meetings," Fox said.

Rediger said: "I think this is a very open and participative committee. We are looking for a lot of input. Especially in light of the fact that money is tight and there is so much pressure on increasing the level of elementary and secondary education, as many people should look at the process as possible.

"The district has said here are our books and our entire plan. Everything is open. Peruse it and see if you can help us."

Rediger said the finance committee has called its first meeting for Tuesday.

School administrators are collecting facts and figures about past budgets, spending and trends.

"We can peruse that information," Rediger said. "Also available to us will be a list of proposed cuts as they have been dealt with within the system so far. The cuts are not solidified by any means."

Armed with this information, Rediger said, the committee members will "just talk about the income side of the house and expenditure side.

"We are going to talk about where we might be able to reduce spending without damaging the educational system."

Balsamo said the educational programs committee will look at all academic and extra-curricular programs in the district, except those mandated by law.

"This is supposed to be more than just chatting about education," Balsamo said. "The board wants to use our findings, whatever they are, to help make a long-range plan for the district."

Balsamo said, "This is not an ax committee. We are not supposed to be saying this is not good and needs to cut.

"We hope this will be more of a positive effort to assess programs and to think about what we want these programs to be like in five years and also to discover what the people feel is most important to have in place in five years."

Balsamo said it's important for the school district to include the community in its planning process.

"The community votes for funds," she said. "Unless they have the support of the community and the trust of the community, people are not going to vote their pocketbooks, as we've seen in the past."

Fox said, "We are charged with providing some direction to the board, giving them some idea of what the community wants.

"In dealing with facilities, we've got to physically look at every building, it's age, condition, how it has been maintained and future maintenance that's needed. We also have to look at the demographics in each building itself and in the community."

In addition, Fox said, the committee will look at whether all the current buildings should remain open, if the district needs a new elementary building or a middle school, and will look at undeveloped property the district owns.

"I think Dr. Clark is going about this in the right way," Fox said. "He realizes we had a study for a middle school, but anything that's going to be done has got to have community support."

Fox said he is not in favor of any particular building proposal and will not advocate any position within the committee.

Administrators are in the process of compiling information about each of the buildings.

Once committee members have had a chance to review that information, Fox said they will likely meet on a Saturday and tour all the school facilities and then begin discussions about what the district has and needs.

"I think this is a great idea," Fox said. "How else can you get the public involved."

Fox added that the board of education is dealing with budget cuts right now. "I don't know that they have time to do all this right now too."