OAK RIDGE STARTS NEXT WEEK

Some area elementary and high schools will hold their first day of classes as soon as next week. The Oak Ridge School District will be the first district to open its doors for the 1991-92 school year, with classes starting on Aug. 16.

Oak Ridge Superintendent Roger Tatum said the district is starting classes early in the year because last winter students missed seven days of school due to ice-covered roadways.

"We've traditionally started sometime around the 20th of August," Tatum said. "But this is the earliest we've started. It just worked out that way."

Tatum said a few of the classrooms are air-conditioned, and teachers can take students into the air-conditioned cafeteria if temperatures are extremely warm.

Cape Girardeau Public Schools will open Sept. 3. Superintendent Neyland Clark said many of the building principals have spent their summer overseeing projects such as putting protective film on windows, an earthquake precaution.

A new elevator at Schultz Middle School, which is in the process of installation, will help the school meet handicapped requirements, he said.

Jackson School District begins classes on Aug. 22. Superintendent Wayne Maupin said students will find no major changes in school buildings when they return.

"We're excited about the start of school but there haven't been any major changes," Maupin said. "The 1990-91 school year was filled with changes, so we're looking forward to a little of the same."

Maupin said students can expect "business as usual" on the first day.

Bob Brison, superintendent of Scott City schools, said officials are gearing up for the school year by ordering supplies and making sure the building is spotless for the start of the classes.

"We're also getting a new roof over a section of the building," he said. The first day of school is Aug. 26.

School districts that will begin classes Aug. 19 are Meadow Heights, Perryville public schools, St. Paul's Lutheran in Jackson, St. Vincent schools in Perryville and Woodland schools in Marble Hill.

Advance schools will open for classes Aug. 21, along with the Delta School District, and Egyptian and Meridian schools in Illinois.

Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau will begin classes on Aug. 22, followed by the Oran School District on Aug. 23. The Chaffee School District, St. Mary's School and Trinity Lutheran School will open on Aug. 26. Schools opening on Sept. 3 are Immaculate Conception, Kelly schools, Kelso schools, and St. Vincent de Paul elementary school.