PARENTS PUSH ELEMENTARY BUILDING

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education should consider asking voters for a new, basic elementary building, several parents suggested at a forum Tuesday night.

For the most part, the sixth through eighth grade middle school concept, or a sixth-grade center at May Greene, received negative reactions from parents at the second of three open forums the school board is holding.

One hundred fifty people attended the meeting Tuesday at Alma Schrader; 14 spoke. The third meeting is planned Monday at Central Junior High School, beginning at 7 p.m.

The school board is asking for community input on a trio of goals: moving the district toward a sixth-, seventh-, eighth-grade middle school concept; giving parents a choice in which elementary school their children attend; and achieving racial balance in the district.

Bill Stahr, a parent of two sons at Alma Schrader and member of the school's PTA, told the Cape Girardeau Board of Education he was a "no" voter on both issues the school district has offered.

"The first and foremost reason was that you were going to remove the sixth grade from the elementary school," Stahr said. "The second reason was the incredible amount of resources -- $18 million -- you were going to drop into the middle school."

He said voters might be more receptive to a simpler building.

"It's going to take a utilitarian building," Stahr said. "It's going to take a building that costs much less -- no atriums, no sky lights."

He pointed out that Jackson School District's new middle school will cost just under $5 million.

Michelle Dewrock, a parent of children attending Alma Schrader, said, "A sixth- through eighth-grade middle school has been voted down twice. That should tell you a lot of people do not want a middle school.

"I think most people like neighborhood schools. Please consider building a new elementary school."

Greg Smith, an Alma Schrader parent, said, "I'm totally opposed to moving sixth-graders to a middle school or a sixth grade-center. I still look at my fifth-grade boy and still think he's my baby. I'm not ready to give that up."

He said that he was confused about the condition of May Greene Elementary School. During the April bond election, "I was told that May Greene was a death trap. Now why are you wanting to put our children there."

He agreed with Stahr that the middle school price tag was too high. "We need a basic elementary school, even if you have to redistrict.

"I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell your middle school concept, at $18 million, is going to fly."

Richard Bollwerk, director of elementary education for the school district, said he believes the last time elementary school boundary lines were drawn was when Lorimier School was closed. The building was vacated by the school district in 1975.

Speaking in favor of the middle school concept was retired music teacher Larry Bohnsack. She said, based on her teaching experiences, "as sixth graders they are ready for better challenges. They were just more sophisticated than the little elementary children. Yes, they still need nurturing, but it is my understanding that they would get that at a middle school. A middle school has some wonderful opportunities."

Nancy Christian, an Alma Schrader parent, said, "We want to support the board and the school district. That's why we are here. But I want something I feel comfortable supporting."