FOUR HOPE FOR SCHOOL BOARD SEAT; DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR UNEXPIRED TERM IS FRIDAY

People wanting to serve an eight-month term on the Cape Girardeau Board of Education have until 10 a.m. Friday to apply.

That is the deadline for handing in a letter to the school board office at 61 N. Clark. At noon Friday, board President Ferrell Ervin will meet with board members Bob Fox and Steve Wright at an open meeting to look over the letters and possibly recommend three names for the board to choose from, Ervin said.

Four people have applied: Harry Rediger, manager of JCPenney at West Park Mall and a former school board member; Patricia Schlosser, a teacher's aide in the preschool program at Jefferson School; attorney Michael Maguire; and Mark Busch, owner of River City Dental Arts.

Whomever the school board chooses would finish out Terry Taylor's term. Taylor, the board vice-president, resigned when his employer, Jimmy Dean Foods, transferred him to Scottsdale, Ariz.

Voters elected Taylor to his first term in April 1995. That term expires next April. Under state law, the remaining school board members select the successor to serve until the next April election.

School board members must live in the district, have lived in Missouri for at least a year and be at least 24 years old.

Busch said that since his 9-year-old daughter started at Clippard Elementary School he has "grown more and more interested in what's going on with the schools. I thought that this would be a good opportunity to get more involved," he said.

He said he is happy with the way the schools are run and, if chosen, would probably run for a full term in April.

Maguire said he applied because "I can't think of a more important job than to be involved in the educational process, especially now, when the school board is implementing the master plan."

Maguire said his seven years working in the Missouri Division of Youth Services gave him insight into young people that would help him as a school board member.

Schlosser just served a term as president of the PTA at Schultz School. She was a member of the committee that wrote the district's master plan and wants to work to implement it.

"I really support this board we've got in place," Schlosser said. "It's more accountable to the people."

Rediger could not be reached for comment. He served two years on the school board ending last April and is currently a member of the Cape Girardeau Planning and Zoning Commission.

The school board plans to choose the new member at its meeting Monday.