SCHOOLS' BUSINESS TEACHERS GOING TO CENTER

Plans are under way to put the faculty and staff of the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center under one roof within the next two years.

Center director Harold Tilley said most people are unaware that business education classes are taught at both the vocational school at 301 N. Clark as well as at Central High School.

Business teachers working at the vocational school teach two three-hour courses, computer technology and business technology. Teachers at the high school teach one-hour courses that include keyboarding, computer fundamentals, basic programming and general business.

The business department will come together after the opening of the district's new career center next fall and a new high school the following year.

Construction of the career center west of Kingshighway and east of Interstate 55 is nearly three-quarters done and scheduled for completion in April. Staff will begin moving in as their class schedules allow, and the school will open next August.

The business education teachers at Central High School will delay their move until the district's new high school, which will be built on land adjacent to the career center, is opened in fall 2002.

"We're going to wait and make that transition whenever the new high school is built," Tilley said. "Transportation time would be prohibitive because all those classes are one-hour classes, and the new school will be across town."

By uniting the department under one roof, Tilley said teachers will have access to state-of-the-art business equipment and rooms designed specifically for business education. It also will be easier to standardize the curriculum so students achieve a smooth transition between classes taught by different instructors.

"We're not trying to make clones, but we do want to standardize the curriculum," Tilley said.

He said he doesn't foresee a problem with the transition, although he recognizes some people may have a perception that a vocational setting is less well-received than a traditional academic setting.

"All my people are very well educated. All of my staff members have a teaching license just like other teachers," Tilley said. "Really, as far as education-wise and preparation, there's no difference whatsoever.

"No one's losing their identity. We're all in the same school system," he said.

The high school's business department became a part of vocational programming two years ago when Tilley successfully applied to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to receive vocational programming funding for business classes.

By reclassifying the high school courses as vocational education, the district became eligible to receive partial reimbursement for teachers' salaries, 50 percent reimbursement for equipment purchases, and enhancement grants that reimburse up to 75 percent of equipment costs.

"The benefit is the state helps by reimbursing us," Tilley said. "It only made sense to do that because it takes the pressure off the high school budget."

Tilley said students also benefit because the state requires vocational administrators to track career paths and placement rates of their students after high school. This helps to ensure training provided in the classroom is relevant to careers, he said.

"We're just trying to educate our children as best we can," said Tilley. "We've been doing this in all of our other areas some 30 years with success.".