SCHOOL BOARD DIVIDED OVER ADMINISTRATOR

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Two Cape Girardeau Board of Education members voted Tuesday against rehiring school administrators for 1991-92 because of concerns they said they had about one of them.

Board President Carolyn Kelley and member Johnnie James declined to reveal the individual who led them to vote against the group.

Before the vote, Kelley indicated she was going to vote against rehiring those on the list, but said her vote should not be taken as dissatisfaction with the entire group of administrators.

"I cannot accept this list in its entirety," said Kelley.

The other three board members Pat Ruopp, Ed Thompson and John Campbell all voted to rehire the administrators.

Normally, discussion on administrators is held in closed board meetings as a personnel matter, and, when they are rehired, the entire group is approved routinely.

Kelley said she could have asked the board to remove from the list the name of the individual she was concerned with, and then a separate vote be taken. But, she said, doing that would single the person out, and, by keeping the name on the list, the person "keeps his credibility."

James said although he did not ask Kelley who she was voting against, it was likely they were voting against the same person. James said he had concerns about only one person on the list.

The vote on hiring administrators was tabled from the board's regular meeting Feb. 11, and was part of a brief, open session held prior to a closed meeting with a consultant who is assisting in a search for a new superintendent of schools.

In another matter, the board tabled action on approving an expenditure of $7,500 for a new electronic scoreboard for the Central High School baseball field. At last week's meeting, Terry Ashby, who was a member of an athletic task force that reviewed school athletic programs in summer 1989, asked the board to pay half the cost of the $15,000 scoreboard.

Kelley advised Ashby that before the board might act, it would be wise for him to have the money in hand.

Kelley reported that Ashby had presented a promissory note for $7,500 for half the cost of the scoreboard. She also pointed out that the task force had recommended a new scoreboard and that the board had voted to implement recommendations of the task force. But other board members were reluctant to take action Tuesday.

"I don't feel comfortable spending money we don't have," said Thompson.

"I don't feel comfortable spending money we don't have to spend," said James. He said a new "scoreboard won't change the outcome of any game."

Coca Cola had agreed to provide an electronic, lighted scoreboard free for the field; however, the scoreboard would not provide an inning-by-inning display that Ashby suggested is needed.

Ruopp said he would like to think about it for a while and talk with the baseball coach.

Campbell said he noticed the task force had recommended $10,000 for a scoreboard, but total athletic needs in the report were $400 to $450,000. "I'd like to see that this is a priority; I want to make sure this is where we want to spend this money," said Campbell.

Ruopp said he was unsure why the matter could not be handled administratively if the $7,500 could be taken from the athletic budget.

Kelley said it is not often that half the funds for a project are provided from outside the school, and that was a reason to involve the board. Kelley said action should be taken soon because it will take about a month to get the scoreboard here and in place, and the baseball season starts soon.

Also Tuesday, board members met to begin sifting through more than 40 applications for the superintendent's post.

W. Deane Wiley, a consultant coordinating the search, said more than 40 applications have been received. The application deadline was Friday.

"I anticipate this will be a lengthy meeting," Wiley said before it began. "We will be looking at all the files, and, with five people having to go through 40-plus files, it will take some time, especially if they do it the way it should be done."

Wiley said he will "try to keep their noses to the grindstone, but I think it will be a lengthy meeting."

He said this first phase of the selection process may require another meeting of the board. "It may be more than they can do and do well in one meeting," Wiley said.

The board must pare the 40 applications down to five or six semi-finalists, who will be interviewed at St. Louis March 1-3. Finalists will be brought to Cape Girardeau to meet with school personnel and the public.

Wiley said, if everything goes according to plan, a new superintendent could be hired as soon as April 1.

Superintendent Arthur Turner will be leaving the job at the end of June because the board did not renew his contract.

Administrators who were re-hired as a result of the board's action were: Central Office, Richard Bollwerk, Calvin Chapman, Betty Chong, Larry Dew, and James Englehart; secondary principals, directors, and assistants, Lanny Barnes, Gary Gilbert, Weldon Hager, Robert King, Gary Lynch, Dan Miligan, Gerald Richards, Harold Tilley, and Carolyn Vandeven; elementary principals, Charles Clippard, David Giles, Ron Haggard, Sam Jarrell, Gary Kralemann, and James Watkins; and cafeteria director Lisa Elfrink.