LIST OF HOPEFULS FOR SCHOOL BOARD AT BAKER'S DOZEN

The pool of potential Cape Girardeau school board candidates, which reached 13 Thursday, is expected to grow even larger before today's 4:30 p.m. deadline.

People who want to be considered for one of three spots on the school board must deliver a resume and letter to the Cape Girardeau County Commission today.

However, commissioners said Thursday they won't limit their choices to those who submit resumes.

Richard Rolfing, Ruth Ann Simon, Wilfred Hoelscher, Bob Komorech, Dr. C. John Ritter and Steve Robertson added their names to the list.

They join David Goncher, Jenny Strickland, David Rosener, Jaynee Browning, Dr. Harold Hager, Al Pannier and Brenda Dohogne as potential board members.

The commission got the job of appointing school board members because three members resigned within a week, and under a rarely used state law, if more than two vacancies on the school board occur, the county commission picks replacements.

The three appointed members will serve until next April's election.

Commissioners said they may not interview potential candidates. Earlier they said an interview process was possible.

Presiding commissioner Gerald Jones said, "The caliber of the people who have applied almost eliminates the need for interviews."

Commissioner Joe Gambill said he is interested in the best people for the job, not necessarily the best people who turn in resumes.

Gambill said some community leaders might not want their names publicly announced as potential board members because if they weren't picked, they might be embarrassed.

"I would not hold anybody's feet to the fire to put a document in front of us," he said.

The three commissioners will read resumes over the weekend and discuss possible appointees Monday, with a decision by Thursday, Jones said.

Ritter served on the Cape Girardeau school board for 13 years in the 1970s, including two years as president.

During his tenure on the board, the district built a gym and a swimming pool at Central High School.

He is a doctor of internal medicine with Physician Associates of Cape Girardeau.

"I don't want to be a long-term board member," Ritter said. "Perhaps I could come back in to help the board stabilize," adding that the board needs to become cohesive and provide direction for the school administration.

Once the board gets stabilized, it would be able to move ahead with a bond issue, he said, adding: "I don't think the public has had enough confidence in the board to pass a bond issue."

The school system has always been a good one, and it is time to get the board back on track, Ritter said.

Rolfing, who describes himself as an independent businessman, also wants to promote cohesiveness in the board members.

"As you know there's been some personnel conflicts." he said. "We need to put those aside and look to the expansion of the future: future buildings and redistricting."

Rolfing said four of his children have graduated from Central High School and his daughter is a sophomore. He has personal experience with the school system and would like to serve.

"The opportunity arose and I thought I'd take it," he said.

Simon lives in the Nell Holcomb School District but also owns a home in Cape Rock Village, which is in the Cape Girardeau district.

"I noticed that there were openings," Simon said. "I have a deep interest in the school and children. I'd like to help if I can."

She has a son, 24, and a daughter, 13.

Simon graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in psychology and works part-time through Manpower at Procter and Gamble. She also has worked as a substitute teacher.

No particular issues top Simon's agenda. "I'm just interested in anything to help make it a better school system."

Komorech is a computer and business instructor at Meridian schools in Mounds, Ill., and has lived in Cape Girardeau nearly 30 years and is raising his family here.

He and his wife have three children, a high school senior, a seventh-grader and a fifth-grader.

"We're at crossroads in education here," Komorech said. "I think it's time to pick up the pieces and move forward."

Komorech wants a large and varied pool for the board positions.

"It demonstrates there are people who are interested in the school system, hopefully for the total betterment of the school system," he said.

Komorech served on the Project Partnership facilities committee that studied school buildings in 1991. He holds a master's degree in guidance and counseling and a specialist's degree in school administration.

Wilfred, a sales representative for a medical supplies company, said he could offer an unbiased approach to serving the board.

"I don't have an ax to grind," he said. "I'm just an interested citizen."

Wilfred said two of his children have graduated from Central High School and a daughter will graduated in the next few weeks. After living in the community for 15 years, he would like to have more of a voice at the school-board level.

"I've been active in both the soccer program and the ice hockey program since their inceptions," he said. "I have experience with the youth of the community."

Robertson, the owner of Robertson's Creative Photography, serves on the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport Advisory Board. Robertson at one time was at odds with the administration over the contract for photographs in the Central High School student yearbook.

In his letter to the commission, Robertson said: "I feel I have five important assets to contribute to the board and community: a unique historical perspective of the Cape school board, a background in good, business common sense; a peace-making ability, an opposition to group-think, and independence."