SCHOOL EYES CUTS IF BALLOT PLAN WINS

SCOTT CITY -- Scott City School Superintendent Doug Berry predicted this week the district will lose at least $361,000 if Amendment 7 passes.

And, he told school board members the cuts couldn't be absorbed into the budget.

Amendment 7 is the Hancock II proposal on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Berry said reducing the district's budget by $361,000 would mean cutting:

-- Fourteen teaching positions,

-- Some administrative staff,

-- Some custodians and maintenance workers,

-- Some secretaries and teachers' aides,

-- Some extracurricular and sports programs

Besides the cuts, some classes could be increased to 45 or more students.

After hearing Berry, the board again strongly opposed passage of Amendment 7.

In other business, Berry reported a representative from the vocational section of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has visited the school and was pleased with last month's addition of 18 Macintosh computers.

They were partially purchased through some grant funding.

The new Macintoshs give the high school computer lab a total of 24 machines.

The DESE representative also told Berry that the school district qualifies for 50 percent vocational funding for 10 new IBM computers next school year.

The school qualifies because of its increased offerings of computer classes.

The elementary school already has a 14-IBM computer lab. If the school receives another 10 IBM computers, it would have two computer labs with 24 machines each.

Vocational funding would be one of the state programs adversely affected by the passage of Amendment 7, Berry told the board.

Berry said he hoped the school didn't have the 10 additional computers taken away because of Hancock's passage.

"Our students have done without for too long to be denied this opportunity," he said. "The demand for computer classes has created a real need to add additional computers."

In other business, Berry reported last month's attendance figures:

-- 95.7 percent, kindergarten, enrollment of 72;

-- 96.6 percent, grades 1 to 6, 427 students;

-- 94.9 percent, grades 7 to 12, 476 students.

School will be dismissed Nov. 3 after the morning classes for parent-teacher conferences from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 will be a teacher workshop, and there will be no classes.

Opaa Food Management Service will operate the food service program beginning Nov. 7. Students will be able to choose between three menu items.

The board received a proposed curriculum guide for grades 7 to 12, which could be considered for adoption at its November meeting.

In financial matters, the board accepted the annual audit report for the 1993-94 school year from Stanley, Dirnberger, Hopper and Associates of Cape Girardeau.

The accounting firm was hired to do the audit at the end of this school year.