PARENTS CHECK OUT SCHOOL

Wide hallways, large classrooms with computer access, ample parking, these were among the many things that impressed parent Al McFerren about a new high school in Troy, Ill., that he traveled by bus to see on Saturday.

But more important to McFerren, who traveled with more than 60 others on the trip organized by the Cape Girardeau school district, was that he now has a clearer idea of why the school board wants to build a new high school and what it could offer students.

"Physically seeing this school for myself gave me a clearer picture of the kind of facility the board is looking at," said McFerren on Saturday after stepping off the chartered bus from visiting Triad High School. Superintendent Dr. Dan Steska has said the school in Troy is close in size, cost and design to what the proposed Cape Girardeau high school should be.

"I've been trying to determine if it's a good idea to build a new high school," McFerren said. "Now I think it is. The community could only benefit from a school like this, especially when you are looking toward the future."

And that's what McFerren is looking toward. He has a daughter who is now a senior at Cape Central and a 6-year-old granddaughter who could go to the new high school, if it is built.

Triad High School cost about $25 million to build and furnish. The ceiling the Cape Girardeau school board has set for the cost of a new high school is $25 million. Triad opened in the fall with an enrollment of about 1,100 and can hold up to 2,000 students.

Those who toured Triad Saturday were asked to fill out surveys and most indicated they liked the facility, said Steska as he prepared for an afternoon board meeting at which representatives from Wm. B. Ittner Inc., the company that designed Triad, were to make a presentation.

"Nearly everyone said Cape could use most of the ideas they saw at Triad," said Steska as he flipped through the surveys. He noted that most of those who toured that high school agreed that plans will have to be individualized for the Cape Girardeau community.

Still, those departing the bus after the trip to Troy were talking about the many features at Triad High School that students and teachers here would like.

Cape Central High School biology teachers Linda Dirden and Pam Schulte were impressed with the open, airy concept of its design.

"It was a very nice set up," Dirden said.

"I liked the fact that different departments were grouped together to make it easy to work together," Schulte said, noting that isn't the case with the present high school.

Both liked the large classrooms.

Judy McLain, a speech pathologist at Cape Junior High and parent of two Cape Central students, said she liked the way academic classrooms were grouped at one end of the school and athletics and shop facilities at the other.

"I would think it would make security and supervision easier," she said.

McFerren liked Triad's large hallways.

"When the bell rings for change of classes at Cape Central, the hallways are so congested," he said, noting the halls at Triad seemed to have plenty of room.

McFerren also would like to see Cape's new high school have the modern technological features that Triad does. At that school, every classroom is wired for at least one computer and biology and chemistry classrooms have ventilation systems for handling fumes.

"We want a building that will meet our needs for the next 50 years," McFerren said.

He also liked the way space was used effectively at Triad. Many rooms were multipurpose, including the cafetorium, a combination cafeteria/auditorium.

"There was space enough for students to mull around, yet it met more than one need," McFerren said.

R. Ferrel Ervin, president of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, described Triad High School as "serviceable."

"I thought it was a well-planned facility. Everything was designed in neat units and the school is bright and airy. It's very attractive."

He thought students would like the newness of it.

McFerren said he talked with other parents on the bus ride back to Cape Girardeau and they all agreed the high school in Troy offered many nice features.

"We thought a school like it would be something Cape Girardeau students would be proud of," McFerren said.