PRIVATE (SCHOOL) DECISIONS

Private and parochial schools come in different sizes and faiths, but school officials and parents said they all offer what their families want most: Faith-based education that raises the academic bar and disciplinary code for students.

More than 2,000 students attend 10 private and parochial schools in Cape Girardeau County. Several of the schools, including Notre Dame Regional High School, are actively recruiting students from throughout the region using open house events, advertising campaigns and word-of-mouth communication.

"I sell the school because of the religious background. I also sell the family atmosphere," said Brother David Anthony Migliorino, principal at Notre Dame. "We have the ability to teach the Gospel, and that's very important to us. I think that's a hindrance to public schools because they can't do that."

Private school officials said they are not in an all-out competition with any of the five public schools in Cape Girardeau County or the 13 other school districts in the region from which they pull their enrollments. Even so, they recognize the religious component sets their educational offerings apart from what is provided in the public school setting.

"I think when you're in private education you have to have a product, and people have to want your product," said Janice Margrabe, principal at Eagle Ridge Christian School. "Our goal is to provide a quality education to our students with a biblical basis. If that puts us in competition, which I guess it does in a way, that's not to say every school doesn't have a quality program."

Religious teaching

Parents said the decisions to pull their children out of public schools were not made easily. Children who transfer to private schools leave behind friends and activities. And opting for a private school means being double-billed for your child's education in the form of public school tax levies and private school tuition.

It's a price many parents said they are willing to pay.

"If I felt total confidence in public school, my kids would be there," said Sarah Hess, a Chaffee School District resident whose two daughters attend Eagle Ridge Christian School in Cape Girardeau. "I will pay Uncle Sam my tax dollars, but what happens from there I don't know."

Neither of Hess' daughters has ever attended a public school, but interaction with public-school children in community activities led her to believe her daughters needed a different environment that reinforced the values she teaches in her home.

"You can't control how other people raise their kids, so I want my kids to be around other kids who are raised with the same values as mine," Hess said. "Not that public school is not OK for some people."

St. Mary Cathedral School Principal Carol Strattman said the majority of families who choose her school are looking for spiritual and moral development and the ability to pray in school.

Parents also want a rigorous academic climate, she said. Students who earn a 70 percent or lower receive failing grades at schools in the Cape Girardeau-Springfield Diocese, while most public schools in the region allow another 10 percentage points before assigning a failing grade.

Individuality

But high academic standards and faith-based teachings are not the only factors that lure parents to non-public schools. Kim Mothershead of Benton, Mo., said she has made several educational moves in recent years to address the individual needs of her children.

Of four children, Mothershead and her husband have paid tuition so her older two children could attend a public school district outside of the one they reside in. The two younger children attend school at Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau.

"We're Baptists and we're sending our children to a Lutheran school. For us, it wasn't an issue of religion," Mothershead said. "You have to choose the school that also best fits your family values."

Several Cape Girardeau School District employees have ties to private schools in the city. Alma Schrader Elementary School Principal Frank Ellis has a son who attends St. Mary Cathedral School and a daughter who attends Notre Dame.

Ellis received a Catholic education through the eighth grade before transferring to the public high school in his hometown. He said the decision to enroll his children in a parochial school was made at the bequest of his father, but the children are allowed to decide whether they will remain in Catholic schools through graduation.

"I said I'd do that up until the eighth grade, and my daughter decided which school she wanted to go to," Ellis said. "At one time, I though she would do like me and go to a public school, but after going to school with certain people for so long who were her friends, she decided that's where she wanted to be."

Despite the questions he sometimes receives from his colleagues, Ellis said he's "not losing any sleep" over the family's decision to attend private schools.

"It was all about our religion," he said. "I just explain that it's a choice I had to make. If that is something that disturbs individuals, it's something they will have to live with."

Joni, a business education teacher at Central Junior High School, feels much the same about her decision to enroll her son at St. Vincent de Paul School. Her daughter attends Central High School.

Parrent said she transferred her son out of Franklin Elementary School three years ago after she realized having 32 students in his class made it difficult for him to learn to read.

"It was hard because we'd always been pro public school. Our family struggled because we wanted it to work," she said.

Parrent said believes public schools have much to offer students. Specifically, diversity in the enrollment, excellent teachers and strong academic programs can be found in public schools. And competition from the private sector will only make public schools stronger, she said.

"I think the competition improves everybody," she said. "In public schools, I sense if we start seeing a lost of a lot of students, we're going to work harder to improve the schools.

PRIVATE ENROLLMENT

Private-school enrollment in Cape Girardeau County

Eagle Ridge Christian School: 144 students

St. Mary Cathedral School: 215 students

St. Vincent de Paul School: 424 students

Notre Dame: 420 students

Cape Christian: 120 students

Deer Creek Christian Academy: 24 students

Immaculate Conception: 257 students*

St. Paul Lutheran: 246 students*

Trinity Lutheran: 219 students

* 1999-2000 enrollment