NOTRE DAME SEEKS HIGH SCHOOL SITE WITH GOOD ACCESS

Nearly a year after beginning the search for a site to build a new Notre Dame High School, a priority is finding property that's accessible to commuter students.

Students from six counties in Southern Missouri and Southern Illinois travel to attend the high school.

"From the very beginning we have said we wanted to locate the school near one of the main arteries of transportation," said Sister Mary Ann Fischer, the school's principal.

"That doesn't mean we'll be sitting right on I-55, but we want to be located in such a place so we're accessible to all the students."

Officials hope to make a selection soon but cautioned that real estate deals can be tricky and don't follow timetables.

Mike Jansen is chairman of the site selection committee trying to purchase a 40-acre site on which to build the Catholic high school. The committee has looked at sites in the city and outside the city limits.

Jansen said the committee isn't ready to make any announcements yet.

"At this point we're trying to finalize a location," he said. However, he couldn't nail down a time frame.

"We are working diligently to come up with a package to present to the Catholic community," Jansen said.

Fischer said the process has taken longer than she had hoped. Investigating sites outside the city limits "brings with it its own set of challenges," she said.

Notre Dame's enrollment growth of 46 percent over the past six years has fueled plans for the new school.

If the school is built on a main artery, students would be able to get to school more easily than they do now. Notre Dame is at 1912 Ritter in a neighborhood some distance from a major thoroughfare.

The school's enrollment this year is 340.

"We are hoping to build to accommodate 500 students if the money holds out," Fischer said.

The project will depend on a capital campaign to raise money through donations.

"We can't go to the voters. We can't float bonds," she explained.

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.

In May 1994 the Notre Dame school board voted to proceed with a new high school.