Long line of cars at school's first day

When the first bell rang at 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, cars were still creeping through the only entrance into the new Central High School.

Impatient-looking parents on their way to work sat for up to 30 minutes, hoping to drop their children off on the first day of classes. A few, frustrated with the long lines, simply let their children out on Mount Auburn Road and turned around.

Students, many happy to prolong their return to school by even just a few minutes, sat in their cars tapping their fingers to loud music, their feet propped up on dashboards.

The traffic finally thinned around 8:15 a.m., leaving some half an hour late.

"I really wasn't expecting it to be this bad," said freshman Lindsey Reiman, who arrived 15 minutes late because of the traffic jam. "I'm definitely leaving my house earlier tomorrow."

Tuesday's traffic problems were caused by delays in construction on Silver Springs Road, a new, five-lane concrete road running in front of the school.

The road was scheduled to be completed before 1,300 high school students and 130 teachers and staff members began another year, but several delays prevented that from happening. With the road incomplete, only buses were allowed access to the $18 million high school from Silver Springs. The rest took a back driveway accessible from Mount Auburn or Kingshighway.

On top of that, some students and faculty of the Career and Technology Center, located next to the new high school, drove from Mount Auburn across the high school parking lot to reach the center.

Encouraging carpools

School officials held a meeting Tuesday morning to discuss the traffic problem. Central High assistant principal Mark Ruark said staff members and school buses will use the incomplete Silver Springs Road today, while student drivers and their parents will continue to use the back driveway.

"We're encouraging students to carpool and to ride the school buses instead of being dropped off," said Ruark.

Sgt. Barry Hovis, Central High resource officer, said no one really knew how bad the traffic would be. He spent the morning directing traffic and said Mount Auburn was backed up almost to Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

"The construction on Silver Springs is really inhibiting us. Until that opens up, we'll just have to do the best we can," Hovis said.

Russell Lappe with Lappe Cement Finishing Inc., the company contracted for the Silver Springs Road project, said construction past the school should be complete in the next four weeks.

The new high school was only one of many changes in the Cape Girardeau School District this year. A complete grade reconfiguration in all schools made the first day a new experience for the estimated 3,900 students in the district.

The new high school facility now houses students in grades nine through 12. Central Junior High, formerly the high school building, is now home to seventh- and eighth-graders, and fifth- and sixth-graders moved from the elementary schools to Central Middle School, formerly the junior high. L.J. Schultz School, the former seventh-grade center, was closed.

The reconfiguration was part of the district's efforts to improve facilities and group grades together in a more natural way, school officials said.

Freshman Emilie Lohrmann said being a part of the first ninth-grade class to attend the high school was intimidating.

"It's big. I know I'm going to get lost, so I'm carrying a map with all my classes marked on it," she said.

Despite the traffic glitches, high school principal Mike Cowan said the first day in the new facility was excellent.

"Inside the school, things were great. This is the only time in our lifetimes that we'll have a first day like this, with four new grades in a new facility. It's tremendous, and I couldn't have asked for things to go better," Cowan said.

'Plenty of space now'

According to Central Junior High principal Lee Gattis, the first day of school went smoothly at his building on Caruthers Avenue.

While construction on a new air-conditioning system is still taking place in the gymnasiums, Gattis said the building is a huge improvement from the old junior high.

"We've got plenty of space now," Gattis said.

So much space that a few of the students found themselves lost as they moved from class to class. Eighth-grader Theresa Oberts was among those who had a hard time finding their way.

"It's really big compared to Schultz," Oberts said. "I got lost one time and finally had to ask a teacher where to go."

Seventh-grader Jessica Coleman said the new building was much different than the elementary school she attended last year.

"It's hard getting back and forth to classes. It's so confusing, I got lost," Coleman said.

At Central Middle School, assistant principal Debbie Followell said there were fewer problems than she'd expected. As with the high school, Followell said the middle school experienced some problems with the bus routes.

"The last bus didn't pick up students until 4 p.m. That's not on schedule," Followell said. "But all in all, it was a great day."

cchitwood@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128