LUTHERANS PLAN TO HAVE HIGH SCHOOL IN FALL 2000

They don't have a site yet, but the Lutheran High School Steering Committee selected its name Tuesday night.

Saxony Lutheran High School should open its doors, wherever it might be, by fall 2000.

The name was selected from 35 suggestions submitted by school-age children. Congregations interested in supporting a new Lutheran High School submitted the names. A 20-member committee dwindled that list down to one.

The name reflects the region's Lutheran heritage and gives the school an identity, said Fred Younghouse, vice chairman of the steering committee. Younghouse represents Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

Although it seems reversed to have a name before having a site for the school, the name says "this is a viable thing and we are here now," said Curt Wills, steering committee chairman. Wills, who represents Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville, was unable to attend the meeting because of a back injury.

Now that the school has a name and a mission statement, the committee is ready to start its search for a building.

"We have to regroup and find a site at this point," Wills said from his home.

Sites that were formerly available might not be suitable for the school in its first few years. And opening the school in Cape Girardeau isn't the only option.

Originally, the steering committee was interested in leasing or buying the old Notre Dame High School at 1912 Ritter, but the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese is still looking at other uses for it.

A 12-member task force, headed by the Rev. Ralph Dufner, pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Chaffee, is still studying development uses for the former school.

"There are many options still possible," Dufner said. "All the parishes have contributed to the building and they all have a vested interest."

No decision is expected about the building's use for about two years, but word has been spreading about using the building as a retreat center or as a part of the St. Vincent de Paul's parish.

But the steering committee doesn't want to wait two years to start its school, so it also talked to Cape Girardeau school officials about using Washington or May Greene schools after they are closed at the end of this school year.

However, Wills said Notre Dame and both the public school buildings might be too large for the school at the outset.

"Realistically, Notre Dame is wonderful if we have 150 children," he said, but if only 25 or 30 students enroll the first year, then there might be better options, like church classrooms that could be used during the week for the school.

"We're not eliminating anything now," Wills said.

Even sites in Fruitland or Jackson could be feasible, because demographic studies say that is the area where Cape Girardeau County will grow the most in the next 12 years.

"We are wanting to go toward where the people are," Wills said.

Because the school's potential enrollment could come from Perryville to the north and Sikeston to the south, the school should be centrally located, Wills said.

"If we get anybody from Sikeston then we don't want to be in Perryville," he said.

When Lutheran congregations from the region were surveyed about the school, 80 percent of the people who responded said they would support the school.

Lutheran grade schools operate in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Altenburg and Perryville. The closest high school is in St. Louis.

"People said they will support it and pay for a child's tuition," Wills said.

Tuition costs haven't been set, although a group from the committee has been studying it. Tuition rates at the 68 Lutheran high schools in Missouri range from $1,800 to $6,400, with a median cost at $3,700. Surveys asking supporters about tuition have not been totaled yet, but should be ready by the May 10 meeting.