SCHOOL BOARD SEEKS INPUT; BOUNDARIES LIKELY TO BE DECIDED IN APRIL

Cape Girardeau Board of Education members say they favor many of the redistricting changes proposed by its Attendance Area Study Committee but oppose any changes that would separate neighborhoods.

The board likely will decide new school boundaries in April after receiving public input.

"I'm a big advocate of neighborhood schools," said board member David Goncher. "The closer we can keep kids to their neighborhood schools and their go-home, after-school buddies, the better," he said.

Board members charged the Attendance Area Study Committee to study population shifts in the district and recommend a boundary system that achieves racial and socioeconomic diversity in each of the district's elementary schools. The committee was also asked to consider building capacity, student safety, and improved transportation and cost effectiveness.

In its presentation to the school board Monday, committee members said efforts were made to bring each elementary building to within 10 percent of the district's 25 percent minority enrollment. They emphasized that minority enrollment included all nonwhite students.

The school attendance areas are much larger under the latest proposal. The size changes are dramatic in some cases because the number of elementary schools will be reduced by five when Barbara Blanchard school is completed and Washington and May Greene schools are closed.

Most students currently attending May Greene school will be moved to Jefferson school after Blanchard school opens next fall. The majority of students attending Washington school will attend Blanchard school.

Under the new proposal, Alma Schrader school lines would be shifted for a bigger minority enrollment. Alma Schrader would have a larger tradeoff of students with Clippard school, and a portion of the Northfield subdivision would be moved into the Blanchard school area.

Franklin school's boundaries also would be altered to ease overcrowding in the school.

Goncher said he was unfamiliar with the current elementary school boundaries, which were adopted in 1997 prior to his election to the board.

Mark Carver was elected to the board last April. He said he was unfamiliar with the old boundaries and couldn't comment on the changes. He said he anticipates the board will make some changes before approving the proposed redistricting lines.

"Some people are going to have to go to a different school, but it doesn't mean the plan we saw Monday is going to be the plan we adopt," Carver said. "We're a long way from having the borders set."

Dr. Bob Fox, who was board president when the initial boundary changes were adopted, was the only school board member to oppose the first proposal in 1997. Fox said he prefers the new proposal over the 1997 recommendations because fewer neighborhood divisions are included.

Said Fox: "In my mind there were some divisions between neighborhoods that shouldn't have been drawn. I really felt if you have a cohesive neighborhood, especially in some of the newer subdivisions, that to put a line through a subdivision was something we wanted to try and get away from."

The Rev. William Bird approved the initial boundary changes in 1997. He likes the new changes because they reflect the current population trends.

Population shifts will occur, and in Cape Girardeau the shifts have been positive, said Bird. The school district must respond to these changes by considering new boundaries when necessary.

"I think they did what they had to do for the changes in the first proposal," said Bird. "Shifts are going to be necessary, and we have to have a well thought out plan to instigate new changes if needed

"All of the schools should be equal, and if all of them are coming up, we should feel good wherever our children are going to be."

Dr. Ferrell Ervin also was a board member in 1997, but he did not attend the meeting during which the new boundaries were adopted. Ervin said one of the most significant changes he has noticed in the new proposal is the shift of a major boundary from William to Independence streets. Another major shift affected Cape Rock Drive and Cambridge streets.

Ervin said the opinions of parents will provide valuable insight, but board members will need time to study the new proposal in detail before they can form any lasting opinions.

"I think we need some time to try to digest what's really been suggested to us and a similar chance to talk to people who do have concerns about it," he said.

Board member Bob Blank could not be reached for comment Wednesday.