LAND BOUGHT FOR SAXONY LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL

FRUITLAND -- Finding interest in a proposed Lutheran high school was simple compared to finding the right location for a permanent home.

The Board of Regents for Saxony Lutheran High School looked at 11 different sites before buying a 40-acre tract near Fruitland along County Road 601.

The agreement was reached late Friday and announced during a Saturday morning service. The Saxony Lutheran High School Association bought the land for $320,000 from AA Mobile Home Sales in Festus.

About 60 people -- pastors, parents and elementary students attended a short service Saturday morning to offer their thanks to God for the land acquisition. The crowd huddled together around a sign and podium to block themselves from chilly winds during the 10 a.m. service.

"We were looking forward to Florida weather, but we didn't get it," said the Rev. David Dissen, spokesman for the school. "But the day we have been looking forward to has come."

A site selection committee looked at 11 different pieces of property but always kept coming back to the Fruitland location, Dissen said. "It will take some grading but it was the most level piece."

The property also offers a central location for students coming from Perryville or Sikeston since there is easy access from the interstate. Cranes and equipment being used to revamp the Fruitland interchange along Interstate 55 were easily seen from the hilltop.

As the crowd departed, each person was given a small, plastic cup of dirt from the site to pray over in the coming months. It will serve as a reminder of the school and its progress, Dissen said.

Linda Boren quickly blessed her cup of dirt. Having a small token from the property seems to make the high school that much more of a reality, she said.

Her sons are too old to enroll in the school, but her grandson could attend, she said. Boren is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

Debra Martin had been a bit disappointed to learn that the area had no Lutheran high school when she moved here about four years ago. But now she is grateful that such an option exists for students. "This is fabulous," she said.

Saxony Lutheran High School expects to draw its enrollment from Lutheran grade schools and congregations across Southeast Missouri. Inquiries have come from as far away as Poplar Bluff and Farmington, but the bulk of the enrollment will likely come from a region bounded by Perryville to the north and Sikeston to the south.

The high school was formed with a partnership of 20 Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod congregations in the immediate area.

Despite having a permanent location for the school, questions still exist about how it will operate: Will there be sports and club activities, or a band? Will the students have access to computer labs? What about transportation issues?

The board has been holding public meetings to help answer any questions, but they also need input for planning. Another meeting is planned for 3 p.m. today at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

Bill Dillon, board president, said many of the answers to the public's questions won't come until the school's plans are well-defined. "We considered baseball fields and a football stadium," he said. "We want this to be a real high school."

But the board also needs to know how many students will be enrolled before those sort of decisions are made, Dillon said. Estimates show about 35-50 students within the first year. Freshman and sophomore classes will be offered when the school opens, with plans to add a junior and senior class as necessary.

A proposed budget, tuition rates and curriculum have already been set by the board of regents. Rates are graduated for association members and other Lutherans. Tuition rates at other Lutheran high schools in Missouri range from $1,800 to $6,400, with the median cost at $3,700.

By keeping the rates at Saxony relatively low, the board hoped that it would make the school accessible to a "cross-section" of the community. Many of the students who attend Lutheran elementary schools are not members of the area's Lutheran congregations, organizers said.

Plans are to open the school in August at a temporary site in St. Andrew Lutheran Church.

Within three years, a building could be built on the new land, Dissen said.

The board will begin looking at ways to raise funds to pay for the land and a building. "We need to raise enough to open in August and then we will be doing more," he said.