NO EVIDENCE FOUND OF DISCRIMINATION BY CAPE SCHOOLS

The U.S. Office of Civil Rights found no evidence of racial discrimination in the Cape Girardeau School District and has concluded its investigation of the district.

The school board unanimously approved an agreement with OCR more than a year after a complaint alleging discrimination was filed by the NAACP.

"There was no evidence that the district has discriminated," said Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed the complaint last February with the Office of Civil Rights and the U.S. Department of Education.

The complaint alleged that the district placed black students at May Greene Elementary School in special education classes without testing, suspended black high school students in larger numbers than white students and encouraged other black students to drop out of classes at Central High School.

The Department of Education conducted an investigation in April but no conclusions were made then.

No other information about the complaint was available from the department Monday.

"It is the understanding of the Cape Girardeau School District that there is not a finding on the part of the Office of Civil Rights that any student has been discriminated against either in the administration of discipline or in dropping out of school," the statement said.

Another complaint which names an individual student is still being investigated and cannot be publicly disclosed, Tallent said.

As part of the agreement with the Office of Civil Rights, the district must provide copies of all high school disciplinary referral forms for the school year. The forms must specify name and race of the student being disciplined. Also, the district will continue to provide training to teachers, administrators and staff about its discipline and drop-out policies.

In other business Monday, the board took steps to increase the amount of classroom space for job training programs run by the Vocational-Technical School.

"We have $18,000 in equipment that is still boxed up because we don't have the space for the programs," Tallent said.

The school board approved leasing space from Greater Missouri Builders Inc. in the Town Plaza Shopping Center to provide electrical, electronic and mechanical maintenance training for companies.

The rental agreement will not cost the district since tuition fees for the training classes will offset the expenses.