PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS CONTINUE GROWTH

The popularity of parochial education in Cape Girardeau has been on the rise in recent years, and the trend doesn't seem to be near a foreseeable end.

Most of the area schools started small, in church basements or homes, but all have had to consider expansion as their class sizes have soared. Several schools also have had to limit enrollment recently as their buildings reached maximum capacities.

Newcomer Deer Creek Christian Academy is one example. The school, which opened last summer, is situated in the basement of Trish LaFoe's home and serves children in second through sixth grades. Students attending the school receive a home-based educational program dedicated to the "realization of each child's maximum potential."

LaFoe said the school has reached its maximum enrollment of 15 students and already has a fairly long waiting list. The school is "bursting at the seams," she said, but she wants to keep enrollment at 15 to maintain low student-teacher ratios and to be able to transport students on frequent field trips.

Both Notre Dame High School and Eagle Ridge Christian Academy are in the process of building new facilities to meet increased demand.

Notre Dame teachers and students should move into their new, 114,000-square-foot school along Route K by Aug. 1. The new building was needed because the school's enrollment has seen a 2 to 4 percent increase during the past five years, said business manager Bob McGahan. The new building will be able to accommodate 600 students, nearly double the old building's capacity. The school's enrollment is 359.

McGahan said the enrollment increases could be credited in part to overall growth in Cape Girardeau County. "With any kind of population increase there's always a percentage that desires private schooling," he said. "I think it's just a function of growth."

Construction on the new Eagle Ridge Christian Academy facility is scheduled to be completed in April or May. The new building, which will accommodate up to 300 students in grades kindergarten through 12, will be along Route K, a mile west of the I-55 interchange.

Eagle Ridge opened in 1982 in Scott City. After the school moved to Cape Girardeau in 1994, enrollment increased. Eventually the small classrooms in the church basement could not hold all of the students, so the school moved high school students to another building.

About 70 students are enrolled in the school, down from around 100 last year. The lower number is due to space constraints rather than lack of interest, said principal Janice Margrabe; enrollment has been limited since a high school facility was sold last year.

"We've had to limit our enrollment because we moved all the students back into one building," she said. "We're in the 70s, but we're anticipating in the neighborhood of 120 for the fall."

Margrabe said it was "scary to imagine" such a high jump in enrollment. There are nine faculty members at the school, she said; that number could change after enrollment is opened to the public in March.

"We try to limit our ratio to around 20 students per teacher," she said. Right now we've got nine teachers on staff, but we'll take another look at our staff needs after enrollment is completed."