NEW SCHOOL AREAS PROPOSED; BOARD SEEKS INPUT ON ATTENDANCE BOUNDARIES

Cape Girardeau's Board of Education wants public input on a plan to redraw attendance areas for the city's elementary schools.

The board Monday night tabled until Feb. 24 a proposal that tries to balance racial inequities in addition to reducing six elementary schools to five.

Board president Bob Fox said board members want to hear concerns and suggestions from residents about the plan. The board asked that comments be made in writing to the school board by Feb. 17.

An Attendance Area Study Committee was convened in November at the same time the Board of Education approved a 10-year, two-phase master plan. The first phase of the plan calls for a new elementary school and the closing of Washington and May Greene. The second phase would establish a fifth-sixth grade center along with a seventh-eighth grade center and a ninth-12th grade high school.

The changes necessitate new boundaries for the city's elementary schools. The plan also asks voters to approve a 69-cent tax increase in April to fund construction and improvements outlined in the master plan.

Steve Trautwein, chairman of the attendance committee, presented the boundaries plan Monday to the school board. It addresses the first phase of the master plan.

The boundaries plan developed by the committee is based on the assumption that the April bond issue passes and an elementary school is built at Sprigg and Bertling. The school district owns the property. Fox said that is the planned site of the new school.

The boundaries plan looks similar to the current boundaries, except the city is divided into five sections instead of six.

The biggest changes would take place in Jefferson and May Greene attendance areas. In the master plan, an addition would be built at Jefferson, allowing many May Greene students to move to that building. Much of the Washington attendance area would be included in the new school.

Trautwein said the committee didn't set out to make subtle changes. "We had some really outlandish plans," he said. "One meeting I came in and we had a proposal with stripes across the city. There were no sacred cows."

In the end, making less dramatic changes seemed to meet the goals of the committee, he said.

Committee members considered five key factors in redrawing the lines: student safety, racial and socioeconomic diversity, building capacity, transportation and cost effectiveness.

Trautwein said student safety and diversity were by far the two top concerns.

To address safety, the committee looked at major thoroughfares like Kingshighway and William Street as natural boundaries.

To address racial and socioeconomic concerns, the group talked with Dr. Charles Rankin of the Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center. Based on his advice, the committee worked toward two goals: No elementary school would be racially identifiable (with a minority population of 50 percent or more), and a desirable target would be for every school's minority population to be within 10 percent of the city's minority population.

Cape Girardeau has a minority population of 21 percent, making the target range 11 to 31 percent minority population. Under the proposal, all but one elementary school fits within the range. Alma Schrader would have a projected minority population of just 6 percent.

Here is the proposal:

-- New elementary school -- Projected K-6 enrollment, 483; capacity, 525; minority enrollment, 30 percent.

The attendance area would include most of the current Washington School attendance area, bounded on the north by the school district boundary, on the east by the river, on the south by Morgan Oak and on the west by Sprigg. It would include the portion of the current Franklin attendance area north of New Madrid Street, as well as the Oak Hills area, currently part of Alma Schrader's attendance area.

-- Franklin Elementary School -- Projected K-6 enrollment, 344; capacity, 350; minority enrollment, 30 percent.

The attendance area would include the current Franklin attendance area south of New Madrid, extending south to William. A section of the May Greene attendance area bounded by Good Hope on the north, Hanover on the west, the river on the east and extending south to College Street, also would be included.

-- Jefferson Elementary School -- Projected K-6 enrollment, 445; capacity, 525; minority enrollment, 29 percent.

The attendance area would include all of its present attendance area and a portion of the May Greene attendance area to the east. The Edgewood area to the west, currently in the Clippard attendance area, is also included as a part of Jefferson.

-- Clippard Elementary School -- Projected K-6 enrollment, 444; capacity, 500; minority enrollment, 14 percent.

The attendance area would no longer include the Edgewood area south of William nor the area east of Kingshighway along Cape Rock Drive to Peach Tree. An added area would be a section northeast of Kingshighway along Lexington to Kent and the area north and west of Kent.

-- Alma Schrader Elementary School -- Projected K-6 enrollment, 515; capacity, 525; minority enrollment, 6 percent.

The attendance area would include its present attendance area, except for the area north and west of Kent and the Oak Hills area. An added section would be that area that formerly was a part of Clippard, which lies along Cape Rock Drive from Kingshighway to Peach Tree.

(Look for a map of the proposed changes in Wednesday's Southeast Missourian.)