SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS OFFER PLANNING IDEAS

New elementary schools, innovative financing and improved public relations were top suggestions of Cape Girardeau public school principals and administrators at a meeting Thursday.

Their suggestions came as part of a process to collect ideas for improving city schools. The Vision Planning Committee, appointed by the Cape Girardeau Board of Education, is asking for ideas from anyone on how to improve the schools.

Information generated through a series of public meetings will be compiled, tabulated and presented at a town hall meeting Nov. 4 at Central High School. After that meeting, the Vision Planning Committee will add new members and write a report. The school board will use the report to develop a five-year strategic plan for the district.

The final communitywide meeting will be held Saturday at 9 a.m. at Clippard Elementary School. Its topic will be school finances.

A meeting for students is planned Monday at 7:45 a.m. at Central High School.

New buildings, especially elementary school buildings, topped the list of suggestions from administrators. They also urged plans for future building projects and upgrading existing buildings.

Among suggestions were upgrading technology in classrooms, developing alternative methods of educating potential dropouts, introducing career-awareness and vocational education at earlier ages, and improving counseling and preschool programs, ideas which require money.

The administrators suggested looking at the district's finances and how money is spent, developing budgets that building administrators can use for planning, and searching for alternative methods of financing projects. The administrators also wanted parents and voters to understand where money comes from and how it is spent.

For most future plans to happen, administrators said, the school district needs to improve communication with the community and develop better public relations. They said internal public relations needs a boost also.