NEW NOTRE DAME COULD BRING PROGRAM EXPANSION

Notre Dame High School covers the basics of education, but could expand both its curriculum and sports offerings with additional space and a new building.

Members of the school's building committee are asking area parishioners for input about curriculum, athletics and building plans through a short survey.

By completing the survey, people may come up with ideas about the building design or curriculum offerings that committee members had not considered, said Hillary Schmittzehe, building committee chairman. All surveys should be returned within 10 days.

"We want everybody to feel like they are part of it," Schmittzehe said. "We've got the basics, or what we think are the basics, and what we'd like is to get something from the stake-holders."

Catholic parishes within a 45-mile area of Cape Girardeau send students to Notre Dame High School, so they have an important stake in the future of the school. Teachers had already completed a similar survey about classroom needs and curriculum.

Construction of a 90,000-square-foot building is set to begin in 1997. The new school will be on 40 acres near Route K and Hitt Street that were donated by the James L. Drury and Wanda L. Drury Family Trust. Estimated building costs are $5 million.

Before construction can begin, half the money must be placed in a bank account; the remainder can come in as pledges, according to regulations of the Cape Girardeau-Springfield Catholic Diocese. The first phase of the fund-raising campaign -- advanced gifts -- has already begun. A public phase should begin in the fall.

An eight-member building committee meets weekly but is not to the point of deciding how much space will be allotted to school programs or what areas will be expanded. "We're still in the discovery stage," Schmittzehe said.

"Like many things, we have to separate the needs from the wants," he said. "We have to accommodate the needs first and then make our wish list."

A new Notre Dame high school has been on the wish list for some church members, parents and teachers for many years. Long-range plans developed during 1992 called for an addition to the existing building at 1912 Ritter or a new high school. In 1994, the Notre Dame school board approved plans to proceed with a building project. By 1995, the school committee had narrowed its locations to a site near Interstate 55 because it would be more accessible to all area students.

Notre Dame is one of two Catholic high schools in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. Another is located in Perryville but is part of another diocese.

With a 47 percent jump in enrollment since 1991, the need for a new building in Cape Girardeau was evident. The new building could accommodate 550 students, almost 200 more than current enrollment.

The building site was announced in April, but no blueprints for the school have been drawn since the building committee is still gathering suggestions about curriculum, design and athletics. The new building will add more classrooms, a chapel area, a library and media center and a larger gymnasium. No architect has been hired either.