CRITICS CITE WHY THEY WANT CLARK OUT

Critics of Neyland Clark, superintendent of Cape Girardeau public schools, cite a bungled commencement procedure this year and Clark's aloof attitude in the aftermath of the uproar it caused as reasons for seeking his ouster.

About 50 people are circulating petitions asking school board members to sever Clark's contract with the school district. Some are members of a group of school patrons looking for a change in school leadership.

Clark said Tuesday afternoon he plans to meet today with Amy Randol and Terry Ashby, spokespersons for the group. Clark said he would discuss the group's concerns after they are aired in that meeting.

Brenda Dohogne is collecting signatures because she is tired of being ignored.

"Dr. Clark will listen to what you have to say on an issue," Dohogne said. "However, when the time comes to act on that issue, he ignores what you had to say."

Dohogne has been involved with the Washington School Parent-Teacher Association and the city-wide PTA council for several years.

She said members of the PTA council advised Clark that the first of two recent bond issues, a proposed property tax increase of 99 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, was excessive.

"We were ignored," she said.

Members of the council told Clark residents opposed construction of a middle school.

"We were ignored," she said.

After viewing architect's drawings of the proposed middle school, members of the council said Cape Girardeau voters would think the plan was too fancy with too high a price tag.

Again, the council was ignored, Dohogne said.

Now, she questions whether the school system can move forward with Clark at the helm.

Robert O'Grady said the lightening rod issue for him was the superintendent's decision to allow students who hadn't completed graduation requirements to participate in commencement.

"That got my attention and really alarmed the whole town," Grady said. "I began asking some questions about what was going on. What I found was a pattern where he would regularly ignore the wishes of the community."

Three failed school tax issues in the past three years is evidence of the community's waning confidence in the school district's operation, O'Grady said.

He also believes recommendations from a group of business and school leaders, called Project Partnership, were ignored.

In 1992, three Project Partnership committees studied finances, facilities and educational programs and presented their findings to the school board.

The facilities committee recommended construction of a new elementary and middle school and addition of classrooms at Jefferson School. The committee recommended that May Greene, Washington and L.J. Schultz schools be closed.

The finance committee advised against putting the middle school on the ballot with any other issue, because public sentiment slanted against a middle school.

The board took the information and developed the first ballot issue calling for construction of an elementary school, a middle school, an addition to Jefferson and the closure of May Greene, Washington and Schultz. Voters said no.

O'Grady also is alarmed by the number of administrators who left the district during Clark's tenure.

"I don't know how it compares to other schools," said O'Grady, "but I've begun to ask why."

Calvin Chapman, director of special services, retired. Gary Gilbert, director of the area vocational-technical school, retired. Dan Milligan, Central High School principal, retired. Rick McClard, Central High School assistant principal, took a job as assistant principal at Jackson. Carolyn Vandeven, L.J. Schultz principal, took a job as an assistant superintendent at Joplin schools. James Englehart, director of secondary education, retired, but he will continue to work part time in the district.

"He is absolute arrogance walking around," O'Grady said of Clark. "If you are going to be a school superintendent, and you're going to be a leader, you can't walk around with this attitude of arrogance."

The school board's regular meetings have no provision for public comment without prior approval by the board, which, O'Grady said, is indicative of Clark's arrogance.

Helen Miner is collecting signatures asking for Clark's ouster, because she believes the superintendent is unresponsive to the community.

Miner helped plan educational activities on behalf of the city's bicentennial celebration committee. Committee members wanted school children involved in the celebration.

But it took three months and calls by three members of the committee to reach Clark. Miner said she believes Clark returned her phone call only after she introduced herself as Dr. Helen Miner. She is a faculty member at Southeast Missouri State University. "Is that pretentious?" she asked.

Clark allowed Miner to speak with building administrators about the bicentennial events during an administrative meeting.

"There was no encouragement from the superintendent that the school children at any age be actively involved," Miner said. "As a result, they were very minimally exposed to a lot of really neat programs. I lay that directly on his attitude toward the community."

Miner also opposes the board's practice of holding an annual retreat outside the city. This year the school board will meet in St. Louis.

"I question why they have to go to St. Louis and what value it is," she said. "Couldn't they do it closer and much less expensively?"

Helen Rose wrote a letter to the editor calling for the school board and Clark to make amends to the community. Her letter has prompted celebrity status. "I'm amazed at the response I've had from the letter," she said.

Strangers have written and called and stopped her while shopping to tell her they share her feelings. She said she felt like the man in a popular beer commercial. "`Are you Helen Rose?' `Yes I am,'" she said.

Rose said she was prompted to write the letter following the commencement episode. When she began asking questions about the board and its decisions, the answers were troubling.

She said the board has stopped listening to members of the community.

"The people are tired and want to be heard. After all, it is our school system," she said. The petition drive seems the only way to get that message across, Rose said.