NEW CATHOLIC SCHOOL TO REPLACE NOTRE DAME

Notre Dame will be replaced within the next few years by a Catholic high school that will be built on a 30-acre site in the Cape Girardeau area near Interstate 55. The site hasn't been chosen.

School officials expect to finalize plans and begin a fund-raising campaign over the next few months. The one-story building is expected to cost $4.5 million, which includes the costs of land, construction, furniture and equipment.

The three-story Notre Dame High School at 1912 Ritter, which opened in September 1954, cost about $750,000 to build.

Rising enrollment and expanding curricular and extracurricular programs have fueled plans for the new school.

Notre Dame had 327 students at the start of classes last fall, the most in 13 years. In fall 1993, enrollment stood at 285. At the start of the 1994-95 school year, the student body included 102 freshmen, the most in 17 years.

Notre Dame building project co-chairman Tom Reinagel said the school has "growing pains."

Reinagel said today's curriculum and the emphasis on smaller class sizes require schools to have more classrooms.

In the past, when Notre Dame had almost 400 students, graduation and college requirements were less rigid and most students took a study hall. As many as 50 to 60 students would study in the cafeteria at any one time, and teachers taught in classes with 35 to 44 students.

Today, few students have a study hall; instead, they are taking classes to meet requirements, increasing the need for classrooms.

The extracurricular program today includes girls sports, which puts gym space at a premium, school officials said.

Reinagel said Notre Dame's enrollment is expected to continue to grow over the next several years.

The new school will be designed for 500 students. It will include 16 classrooms, science labs, a computer lab, art room, library, band and choral room, auditorium, cafeteria and gymnasium.

In 1992, school officials began looking at future needs of the high school. In March 1993, a school committee concluded there was a need to expand the school or build a new one.

Last May the Notre Dame school board voted to proceed with a new high school.

"We are very excited about it," Reinagel said. "Now it is time to proceed to nail down a site and a set of blueprints, and after that we will have a capital campaign."

Bishop John Leibrecht of the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese has endorsed the project. The diocese owns the building.

School officials discussed the on-going planning process in a two-page fact sheet that was distributed Sunday at church services in all Catholic parishes that send students to Notre Dame.

"We are telling everybody these are the facts," Sister Mary Ann Fischer, Notre Dame principal, said.

Since planning began two years ago, many rumors have circulated. "This is an effort to quiet the rumors," she said.

The fact sheet said: "There are exaggerated rumors regarding tuition increases. The construction project will not depend upon tuition dollars."

School officials said construction money will come from a capital campaign. Tuition, they said, will increase as the cost of living increases.

A site near I-55 would provide the school greater visibility and accessibility. At 30 acres, the site would be more than twice as large as the existing school campus.

Students attend Notre Dame from a 45-mile radius that encompasses parts of Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Reinagel said the school has students from as far away as Cobden and Cairo in Illinois, and as far south as southern Scott County in Missouri.