FUTURE OF REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE IN QUESTION

Transportation. Accessibility. Pupil adjustment.

The factors involved in redistricting the Cape Girardeau School District seemed endless as Dr. Richard Bollwerk, assistant superintendent, discussed them with a committee Wednesday at Schultz School.

Over the past few months the committee of school board members, principals and parents has looked at several options. The most recent was pairing elementary schools to make combinations of kindergarten through third grade and fourth through sixth grades.

Bollwerk passed out charts with potential matches, but only Clippard and Washington or May Greene; or Jefferson with May Greene, Washington or Franklin looked promising.

In the other potential matches, class size was too large or there were too many minority children or free lunch recipients in one school.

Other charts Bollwerk designed illustrated grouping three schools together to accommodate kindergarten through sixth grade. In one of Bollwerk's scenarios, Clippard would house kindergarten through second grade, May Greene would house third and fourth grades and Jefferson would house fifth and sixth grades.

That grouping could work, but a grouping of the three remaining elementary schools -- Alma Schrader, Washington and Franklin -- wouldn't.

Some principals on the committee questioned the wisdom of pairing off just two grades in one school.

"I like the continuity of having a school where your brother and sister went, you will be there for awhile and you know the faculty," said David Giles, Alma Schrader principal. "You will never be connected to a unit that serves only two grade levels, and we're suffering from a lack of connection now."

But Chairman Bob Fox, a school board member, looked at a bigger issue. He questioned the committee's goals and reminded the group that its original purpose merely was to draw new boundaries to eliminate overcrowded classrooms.

"People thought we were going to draw a few lines here and a few lines there and be done," he said. "All we have done is learn that it's not that simple."

At other meetings, several parents mentioned the possibility of passing a bond issue to build another school, which would free up more space in existing elementary schools. If the bond issue passed, redistricting probably wouldn't be necessary.

Fox said he wanted to go back to the school board and ask for direction. The redistricting committee might face reform or elimination.

The group's next meeting will be after a thorough review by the school board.