JACKSON SCHOOLS PITCH VIRTUES TO REALTORS

JACKSON -- People used to helping others buy and sell had a good meal while students, school officials and Chamber of Commerce members tried to sell them on the virtues of the Jackson School District during a luncheon meeting Thursday at Jackson Middle School.

The school district and Jackson Chamber of Commerce hosted a meeting with some 50 members of the Cape County Realtors Association to share information with the people who are the first contact for newcomers to the community. Following the meeting, students conducted tours of the middle school and answered questions about the school district.

Real estate agents were encouraged to pick up and share leaflets containing locator maps of each school building, names of administrators and other facts about the district and community with newcomers. The chamber also provided coffee mugs emblazoned with the Jackson mascot and assorted door prizes.

"We're proud of our community, our school district, and we have a collective spirit of working together," said superintendent Ron Anderson. "It was an opportunity for them to learn a little more about the school district."

A similar meeting was hosted by Cape Girardeau school officials last month. Despite historic rivalries between the two school districts, Anderson said such meetings are beneficial to both districts and communities.

"I think there's a sense the better Cape's promoted the better we are here and vice versa," he said.

Anderson said the job of realtors is to sell homes. In Cape Girardeau County, that goal often is applied throughout the county rather than to a particular city, so it's important for realtors to understand all the district's in their work territory.

"They work beyond the city limits of Jackson and Cape together promoting sales, so I look at it from a reasonable point of view," said Anderson. "The city limits almost connect and we're in this altogether. The more knowledgeable they are about Cape and Jackson and the whole area, the better they can help all of us.".