HIGH-SCHOOL BACKERS SEEK SUPPORT

If you have a student attending one of the Cape Girardeau public schools, expect to be hearing from someone soon who wants your vote.

When voters decide April 4 whether to approve an $18 million bond issue to build a new Central High School, all of Cape Girardeau's public schools will be affected, says Harry Rediger, co-chairman with Dennis Marchi of the bond issue campaign.

The campaign slogan "Continue the Commitment" refers to the commitment campaign leaders say voters made in 1997 when they approved Phase 1 of a master plan. That resulted in building Blanchard Elementary School and renovation of the city's other elementary schools.

"The voters have already said yes," Rediger said.

Rediger, Marchi and Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska presided over a campaign kickoff attended by about 175 people at the Central Junior High School cafeteria Wednesday night. Each of the city's schools was represented by a table of people who were there to organize a get-out-the-vote campaign.

Each table was handed a list of school parents who are registered voters and another list of school parents who are not registered. Both will be targets of the campaign, which must generate the approval of four-sevenths of the voters to pass.

Before the parents and teachers at the tables started organizing, Steska outlined the plan and answered questions from the audience.

Under the schools' master plan, the old Central High School would become the junior high with grades seven and eight, the existing junior high would house fifth and sixth grades, with elementary schools adjusting to just kindergarten through fourth grades. The new high school to be built west of the Kingshighway and Southern Expressway intersection would house grades nine through 12.

The aged Schultz School, which currently has all the city's seventh-graders, would be closed.

If the $18 million bond issue passes, the rest of the school's $23 million construction cost would be funded by the current capital projects levy and interest on the bonds.

The current levy of $3.41 per $100 of assessed valuation is set to continue for another 17 years. Authorizing the bonds would not increase taxes to city residents but would extend the levy by three years.

Most of the questions focused on why junior high school students would be moved into a building that has been deemed "instructionally and functionally outdated" for high school students.

"The high school is structurally sound, but it is becoming more old-fashioned all the time," Steska said.

Because of the types of classes offered and the library needs, a high school program is more complex than a junior high school program, Steska said. "Functionally, (the building) becomes more outdated."

But, he said, "it will be one of the nicest junior high schools in the area."

As a junior high the building will have to accommodate only about 600 students compared to the nearly 1,000 attending the high school now.

The plan also will eliminate traffic congestion around the current high school, Steska said, and the new high school will afford better security and supervision for the high school students.

Someone else wondered when the current high school would be air-conditioned. Steska could make no guarantee about when money would be available but said air-conditioning the school would be the first priority after getting the high school built.

One questioner was concerned that the new school would not have an auditorium initially and wondered where drama and music performances would be given. Those would continue at the current high school, Steska said.

Citing the cost of $4 million for a 950-seat auditorium, Steska said the auditorium would benefit a relatively small segment of the student body. "The best expenditure is the most money for the most kids," he said.

Rediger said school parents will be targeted first, but the campaign will be spread through advertising to the entire community in the weeks before the election. Vision 2000 also will be involved in the get-out-the-vote campaign.

March 4, the last day to register for the election, is one of the group's target dates. But they don't want the campaign to peak until two to three weeks before the election.

They were handed "Commitment Cards" for them to list the name and phone number of a personal contact who has promised to vote for the bond issue.

Rediger hasn't heard much opposition to the proposal.

"There's very little opposition but more confusion," he said, referring to some of the questions from the audience about when certain improvements will be made. "But all those decisions haven't been made yet."