Parochial school phasing in more grades

Cape Christian School officials are hoping that a recently approved grade expansion will bring more students to their door in coming years.

The Cape Girardeau parochial school, which currently serves kindergarten through sixth-grade students, will phase in seventh and eighth grades during the next two school years.

"We found that some parents don't enroll here because we only go through sixth grade, so we're hoping this will increase our enrollment," said principal Beverly Smart.

The school has 116 students this year divided into eight classes -- two kindergartens and one class each of first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades.

A seventh grade will be added in the 2004-2005 school year, followed by an eighth grade in 2005-2006. The school has enough vacant rooms to accommodate the additional grades. Smart estimates that the expansion will cost less than $20,000, most of which will be salaries for two additional teachers.

Julie Bell of Scott City, who has children in third and sixth grade at Cape Christian, said the additional grades answer a prayer for her family.

"We weren't sure what we were going to do after this year, but we considered homeschooling," Bell said. "And then this happened, and we're very excited."

Bell said she thinks the expansion will increase the school's visibility in the community and also the opportunities for students there.

Cape Christian, located in Bethel Assembly of God Church at 1855 Perryville Road, opened in 1975 and originally served kindergarten through 12th grade but later downgraded to kindergarten through third grade when the school changed education programs. Eventually, fourth through sixth grades were added.

It is one of 10 parochial schools in Cape Girardeau County and attracts students mainly from Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City.

Officials in other parochial schools and public schools said expansions such as the one at Cape Christian have little effect on them.

"The parochial schools in this area have all been established for many years, so it's not something we've really dealt with," said Elizabeth Babchak, principal at Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau. "But I wouldn't assume it would impact us because our program is so strong with those grades already intact."

Rob Huff, assistant superintendent in the Cape Girardeau School District, said his schools have actually seen an increase in enrollment of former parochial school students in recent years.

"It may be that the new high school attracts them or because we reorganized the grades last year," Huff said. "But we've gained more than we've lost."

Basketball teams

When the expansion at Cape Christian is complete, Smart said, the school intends to divide into a sixth-through-eighth-grade junior high and a kindergarten-through-fifth-grade elementary. The school also plans to add boys and girls basketball teams.

According to Smart, the school received an overwhelming amount of support to expand from parents such as Bell and Teri Goodman.

Goodman, a Jackson resident whose daughter is a sixth-grader this year at Cape Christian, said the additional grades will provide continuity and make the transition to high school easier on students.

"There was no doubt in my daughter's mind, if there was going to be a seventh grade at Cape Christian, that's where she was going," Goodman said. "The education she receives there and the atmosphere, you can't find it anywhere else."

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128