SCHOOL BOARD HEARS ABOUT MAGNET SCHOOLS

In search of a way to ease the pain of redistricting, the Cape Girardeau Board of Education Tuesday heard about a magnet school program in Pine Bluff, Ark.

Cape Girardeau school board members and administrators for about a year have talked about redistricting elementary attendance areas to achieve racial balance. A school board committee is being formed to look at how the change can be made here.

Brenda Scruggs, coordinator of the Pine Bluff Magnet Schools, told board members here that federal money can help with the transition. Her school district, situated just south of Little Rock, was placed under court-ordered desegregation in 1970. In 1985, the school changed to voluntary desegregation, offering more local control.

Last year the Pine Bluff schools received $3.5 million from the federal government to institute five magnet schools. Millions of federal dollars are available for desegregation projects.

For a school district facing redistricting or restructuring, the magnet program can make the changes more palatable for parents, Scruggs said.

"The ultimate goal is program enhancement," she said. "The vehicle is desegregation."

Pine Bluff opened one school for children in kindergarten through third grade that uses the Montessori method of education. Four schools for children in grades four through six were made magnet schools, each with a different focus: fine and performing arts, foreign language and communications, computer technology, and math and science.

Scruggs said parents were initially against the idea, but as they learned more about what could be offered parents and students were won over.

The Montessori magnet school, for example, had twice as many applicants as seats this year.

The five schools are funded entirely through the grant. But magnet funding is for two years only. After two years, the district must pick up the cost of the program or discontinue it.

Scruggs said Pine Bluff has pledged to keep the magnet schools operating. Most of the $3.5 million has been spent on training teachers and staff and for equipment and technology. For example, $1.6 million was spent on computers. Teachers last year underwent 10,000 hours of training.

Scruggs said input by parents, teachers and staff is vital to the program. They must understand and buy into the idea, she said. Themes for schools were selected based on surveys of parents. Teachers were assigned based on interest. The funding cycle comes around every two years. To be eligible for the next round of money, schools must submit applications by February.

The school board has a study session planned Sept. 26 to discuss finance. Board President Ed Thompson said magnet schools would fit into that discussion.