SAXONY LUTHERAN HIGH SCHOOL BUYS LAND NEAR FRUITLAND

FRUITLAND -- A high school will open its doors in the Fruitland area for the first time since 1939, when the new Saxony Lutheran High School is constructed.

After looking at several sites for the planned school, the Board of Regents bought a 40-acre tract of along County Road 601, near Fruitland. The land was bought for $320,000 from AA Mobile Home Sales in Festus.

Fruitland High School, still fondly remembered by older area residents, closed its doors at the end of the 1938-39 school year. Among the highlights of the FHS years was the 1932 Class B state basketball championship.

Whether Saxony Lutheran will compete in Missouri State High School Athletic Association-sponsored sports or participate in other activities, is not known at this time.

The school is expected to open his fall, with classes being held at St. Andrew Lutheran Church. The building may be built within three years.

Tuition rates will likely be below the median Missouri Lutheran high school rate of $3,700 per year. Some 35-to-50 students are expected to enroll for the 2000-2001 school year.

How many non-Lutherans who may wish to enroll has not been addressed either. The Fruitland area is rapidly growing, due to the expansion of Procter & Gamble and other factors.

Dr. Ron Anderson, superintendent of Jackson R-2 Schools, declined to comment on how the new school may or may not cut into Jackson High School attendance.

"We'll have a better idea when their facility is constructed, he said.

Inquiries about the school are said to have come from as far away as Farmington and Poplar Bluff.