SCHOOL SHORTENS THIS YEAR'S SCHOOL CALENDAR

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education took two days off this year's school calendar and rejected bids from three companies for property and casualty insurance during a meeting Monday night.

The last day of school for students will be May 29 instead of June 2 as originally scheduled. The calendar change was possible because the school district has not missed any days due to bad weather, something which hasn't happened in recent memory, said Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent. The school year will still be three days longer than the 174 mandated by the state, and no state funding will be lost by the reduction, he said.

"Our state aid is figured based on our Average Daily Attendance, and we don't want to see drops that might affect funding," Tallent said. "If we keep June 1 and 2 on the calendar, I'm afraid our attendance might drop and affect our ADA, which would cause us to receive less state funding."

In other business, board members rejected bids from three companies attempting to provide the school district with property and casualty insurance to "draw a line in the sand" regarding bid specifications. Voted down was the recommendation by administrators to accept the low bid of $116,846 from W.E. Walker Co., which currently carries the district's insurance. Also rejected were bids of $173,632 and $204,231 from Capital Insurance & Associates and the Missouri United School Insurance Council, respectively.

The bids were rejected largely because of bid discrepancies pointed out by the two local companies. Board members Steve Wright and David Goncher said they wanted companies to submit bids that matched specifications set by the district instead of submitting something close to the mark.

The bidding process will be reopened today, and board members expect to make a decision during the board meeting scheduled for May 18.

"If we're going to lay out some recommendations, we need to stick to them and ask these companies to meet them," said Goncher, who works in the insurance industry. "I think we need to live by the specifications that were laid out and draw a line in the sand for these companies to meet."