MORE FILE FOR CAPE, JACKSON SCHOOL BOARDS

A former Central High School Booster Club president and a university mathematics professor finished out the slate of candidates for the Cape Girardeau Board of Education.

And in Jackson, Jeanette Bollinger has refiled for her position on the Jackson Board of Education.

The filing period for school board seats closed Tuesday.

The former Booster Club president, Terry Taylor, and the math professor, Harold Hager, join Larry Trickey, Ferrell Ervin and incumbent Ed Thompson in seeking a seat on the Cape Girardeau school board. Lyle Davis didn't seek re-election.

Two three-year positions will be filled in April.

Taylor opposed redrawing the city's elementary school boundaries; instead, he would like for Cape Girardeau voters to approve a bond issue to build a new elementary school.

"I don't think the current board can get it done," Taylor said. "I'm really hurt that our community can't pass a bond issue. I just think there will have to be some change."

He said he isn't running against any members of the board or the administration.

"I just care about kids," he said. "And I think people in the community care. I'm tired of hearing about how much people in Jackson support their schools. I think people in Cape Girardeau will support their schools also."

Taylor is in the meat brokerage business, selling to grocery stores. He formerly worked in retail grocery and managed up to 500 employees.

"I have written budgets. I know how to balance budgets," he said. "I guess the business end is what I'm most interested in."

Taylor and his wife, Debbie, have a son Chris, who is a freshman at Southeast Missouri State University, and a daughter Sara, a sophomore at Central High.

Hager said he has considered running for a seat on the board for several years.

"I decided maybe this was a good time to do it," he said. "The community has been good to me, and I wanted to offer my services to try to repay the community."

Hager has served on the faculty at Southeast Missouri State since 1957, and has been chairman of the mathematics department for 20 years.

"I would like to think, having been a department chair as long as I have, that I have skills dealing with people and problem-solving and organizing things so hopefully they make sense," Hager said.

Hager, who has worked in higher education his entire working life, said higher education and public schools face many of the same issues.

He said no single issue prompted him to seek a seat on the board.

"The redistricting question is out there, and the continual improvement of the educational program and the buildings and many other issues," he said.

Hager is a native of Cape Girardeau and a graduate of Central High. His children are graduates of Central High.

Hager and his wife, Jeanine, have two grown daughters: Wendy Kunc and Kim Train. His older brother Weldon Hager was vice principal at Central High for many years.

He is a past president of the Cape Girardeau Lion's Club, past president of Trinity Lutheran Church and current president of the Cape Girardeau Executives Club. He has also been active in professional mathematics associations at the state and national levels.

At Jackson, Bollinger was first elected in 1991 to finish an unexpired term and was re-elected to a three-year term in 1992.

She said she delayed filing because of Superintendent Wayne Maupin's decision to retire. Now that the board has hired Dr. Howard Jones of Stillwater, Okla., as superintendent, Bollinger said she feels more confident about running again.

"I'm excited about being on the board and helping Dr. Jones with his transition from Stillwater to Jackson," she said. "We're expecting a lot of new ideas and new leadership."

During her four years on the board, Bollinger promoted a computer lab for the new middle school, insisting that the school needed to keep students current in technology. She said she hopes to see a better program for gifted students, a better vocational-technical program and an updated high-school science lab in the Jackson school system.

Bollinger and her husband, Larry, have two grown children and three grandchildren, two of whom attend North Elementary School. She retired in 1984 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Jackson, later working as the head of group-claims at Tullis Insurance in Cape Girardeau. She retired from there in 1990.

Bollinger is active in First Baptist Church in Jackson and the Jackson High School Boosters Club. She is certified by the Missouri School Boards Association.