SCHOOL CAMPAIGN PLEDGED; BOARD TO UNDERTAKE MIDDLE-SCHOOL PLAN

PADUCAH, Ky. Cape Girardeau's Board of Education ended its retreat Sunday with a pledge to launch its middle-school plans with a careful and deliberate campaign.

The board, meeting in Paducah, decided Saturday that it would ask voters to fund construction of a new middle school.

Details of the project, including which grades would be included at the school, how much the project will cost, and when it will be on the ballot, are undecided.

"A bond issue is a rather detailed procedure," Superintendent Neyland Clark told the board. "It is a public-information campaign."

Clark has been directed by the board to compile information needed for the board to complete the plan.

Board member Gwen Bennett said, "The administration needs to provide us the detailed information to fine tune our long-range goal."

For example, board member Lyle Davis said he wanted to see enrollment projections for the district.

"What we need to do is get the documents to you," Clark said. "Right now we all know something is going to happen but we don't know the scope."

In deciding the scope of the project, the board also will consider upgrading existing elementary buildings and/or construction of a new elementary building, air conditioning schools, improving athletic facilities, updating technology in classrooms, and reviewing seismic designs of the buildings.

The superintendent said he believes it's important for the school board to get other groups involved in the process, including the school district's administrators and staff, parent groups, older people and community organizations.

Board member Carolyn Kelley said, "We need to share all this information with all these groups so we can all be one-minded and know what we're doing.

"We have all the research about middle schools," she said. "What we need is a systematic way to get the information out."

Board member John Campbell said the state education tax on the November ballot provides no money for building projects.

Clark said the bill would likely provide the district about $500,000 to $650,000. The funding formula by which money would be distributed has not been established.

James Englehart, director of secondary education, said the new programs mandated by the law probably would cost more than the district would receive.

The administrators said other districts around the area likely would receive three, four or five times as much money from the proposal as Cape Girardeau.

"It will be hard for us to maintain teacher salaries when we get $650,000 and a district next to us gets $1.9 million," Clark said.

"The bill raises some concerns for us," said Clark. "We will monitor it from now until November."

The board also discussed the possibility of an early retirement program for staff members. The Community Teachers Association committee that negotiates salaries asked last year that the school board consider an early retirement plan for the coming year.

"There are some programs which are advantageous to both the district and the employees," Clark said.

Senior teachers are at the high end of the pay scale. Hiring younger teachers would save money.

Also, Clark said, the school district is poised for change. "For this to work we have to pick up the intensity of everyone; we have to have people with a fire in their belly.

"If we have people who have put in their 35 years and are looking toward retirement, maybe this is what they need."

On Aug. 28, Clark said, the district will open school with a meeting at the Show Me Center. The first day of classes is Sept. 3.

Clark said everyone in the school district who draws a paycheck bus drivers, food service workers, clerical personnel, staff members and administrators will all be invited to the Show Me Center meeting.

In addition, he said, business leaders and community leaders will be invited. The entire education staff at Southeast Missouri State University also has been invited.