JACKSON KINDERGARTEN PUSHES HIGHEST RECORDED ENROLLMENT

JACKSON -- An average of 200 kindergarten students enroll in Jackson public schools every April, and 30 or 40 more join the ranks during the summer and following school year.

This month, 257 children already are enrolled for kindergarten next school year, and if just 40 more come in between now and August, Jackson will see its largest class ever.

Joe Crain, Jackson School District director of elementary education, said it could be the school system did an exceptional job in getting parents to enroll children early this year.

But probably not: It more likely indicates the continued growth of Jackson, whose population has almost doubled since 1970, and whose schools have grown by about 100 students each year.

Last year, total enrollment in Jackson schools was 3,805, just under 600 students shy of that of public schools in Cape Girardeau, a city of 35,085.

Jackson's population is about 10,000, but its school district takes in Gordonville, Burfordville, Millersville, Fruitland, and much of rural Cape Girardeau County. At one time, elementary attendance centers in those towns were for convenience; now they are not only vital, but packed full.

Part of the reason is because Jackson doesn't have large or many schools. But the school district's population has grown.

"There is a dire need for more construction, and soon," Crain said. "We should build a new kindergarten and first-grade center, which would take care of overcrowding at Orchard Elementary and give the Annex Building to the high school."

Because of the growth, some Jackson students may change schools three times while going through grade school. Even the new Jackson Middle School, which will host sixth- and seventh-graders beginning this year, won't alleviate the problem.

People have good reasons for living in Jackson. Janet Adams, a Jackson public works employee, moved her family from Cape Girardeau to Jackson five years ago just as her oldest child was beginning kindergarten.

It was no coincidence.

"I grew up in Sikeston, and we always had the idea that Jackson had a good athletic program and just a better, overall school system," Adams said. "There's a small-town atmosphere, and we don't worry so much about the gangs or drugs."

Adams' husband is a teacher in Cape Girardeau schools. She said he sometimes comes home with stories that concern her.

She liked Jackson so well she convinced her sister, Ellen Clements, to move there from Doniphan with her two young boys. One is in first grade and the other is preschooler.

Clements said she doesn't regret her decision of a year ago to move.

"I like that the teachers seem to be young and haven't run out of fresh ideas," she said. "They are excited about teaching."

Before its reorganization two weeks ago, the Jackson Board of Education announced it was developing a long-term growth plan for the district. Board Vice President Marvin Adams said answers to the growth will be tough to find, but he was confident parents would work with the district while it grows.