SCHOOL BOARD IN JACKSON TO BE ENLARGED

JACKSON -- The six-member Jackson School Board will be enlarged to seven members next April because of legislation approved by the last session of the General Assembly.

That means that in addition to filling the two vacancies on the board next spring, voters will also elect a new member to a three-year term to make it a seven-member board.

On Tuesday, the board set the filing period for school board candidates between Jan. 5 and Feb. 2. Candidates may file at the school district's administrative offices on Oklahoma Street. The election will be held April 6.

Board members whose terms expire next April are Dr. T. Wayne Lewis, who is completing his second year on the board, and Darrell Hanschen, who is completing his first term as board member.

Members of the junior and senior high school counseling staff gave presentations on the advisory programs in the two schools. The counselors noted that Jackson High School seniors last year received $18,500 in local scholarship funds and $300,000 in scholarships from sources outside the district.

High School Principal Vernon Huck asked the board to consider adding two advanced placement courses in the high school curriculum next year for college-bound seniors. He also presented a list of recommended curriculum changes at the high school for the 1993-94 school year.

Huck explained the advanced placement courses are presented in the high school as college freshman level courses. Students would have the option of taking the courses, in this case chemistry and calculus, for high school credit only. Or, they could elect to take a standardized, nationally scored exam next May. A passing score on the exam for a specific subject could either earn the high school student college credit or exempt the student from taking an entry level college course.

If the board approves the changes next month, Huck said an advanced chemistry course would be dropped in favor of the advanced placement chemistry course. He noted the advanced placement calculus course would require very little change from the current calculus course, which is taught from a college-level text.

Huck said most schools in Southeast Missouri are already offering advanced placement courses.

"It's not new, just new to this school," he remarked.

In his report on the recent parent-teacher conferences, Superintendent Wayne Maupin said there were 3,352 conferences.

"In all my years as superintendent, I've never seen a number that large," he said. "In the junior high, there were 1,056 conferences, and 487 in the high school, which was up 20 percent."

Maupin said participation in the seven elementary schools ranged from 95 to 99 percent. Maupin termed the turnout "excellent."

He said the majority of the conferences were in the evening hours, which reflected the number of working parents in the district. "Next year, we're going to look at expanding the evening conference hours for those working parents," Maupin said.

Board member Lewis said the large turnout "speaks well for the school district."