SCHOOL BOARD RECONSIDERS POLICY FOR NAMING SCHOOLS

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education has suspended action by an ad hoc committee while it reconsiders a policy regarding the naming of school buildings.

An 11-member committee was seated earlier this month and charged with submitting three unranked recommendations to the school board for the naming of the district's newest elementary school under construction near the intersection of Sprigg and Bertling streets.

Board members decided during a meeting Monday to suspend action by the school naming committee until after a policy committee can present a new draft of the current board policy. The policy was adopted in 1992 to provide specific guidelines for the naming of any school facility. It includes a restriction against naming any facility for a living person.

"I don't like the policy. I don't like the idea that a person has to be dead three years to be considered," said board member Dr. Bob Fox.

Board members will consider adopting a revision of the policy during a meeting Nov. 16. If a policy revision is accepted, the school naming committee will receive new instructions from the board and resume its process of developing recommendations.

Anyone with recommendations for the naming of the new school may forward suggestions to the board office for consideration by the committee.

The board tabled action on establishment of a fund raising organization for the district's athletic program. Several community members have proposed forming an athletic foundation that would assist the district with capital projects related to the athletic program. The superintendent and athletic director would serve as ex-officio members on the organization's board of directors.

The board will review the organization's by-laws and other information and consider its establishment during the Nov. 16 meeting.

In other business, board members discussed whether land bordering the site of the new elementary school could be developed for use by the vocational school's construction program. Each year the vocational school purchases a plot within the city for residential development. Students provide all of the architectural design and landscaping labor, and the finished project is later sold by auction.

A preliminary study by surveyors suggests about eight residential plots could be developed along Old Sprigg Road. If all sites were used by the vocational school, students would be kept busy for some 10 years, said schools superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent.

The cost of plot development, including installation of water and sewer lines, might cost the district less than similar construction costs at existing sites in the city. A formal cost study of the plot development will be presented to the board at a future board meeting.