SIKESTON USHERS IN CLASSROOM OF FUTURE

SIKESTON -- Sikeston public schools won a race into the future Thursday, becoming the first district in the state to offer Distance Learning.

Students at Bell City High School watched a television monitor as Steve McPheeters, executive director of the Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce, lectured to an economics class at Sikeston High School.

McPheeters and his class watched the Bell City students on two large-screen televisions.

When the lecturer asked questions, Bell City students raised their hands and answered as though they were in the room.

Just a few years ago, such a scene was reserved for movies or television commercials about the future.

Not anymore.

Donna Burk, a spokeswoman for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., said Sikeston educators were interested in the Classroom of the Future and Distance Learning -- two Southwestern Bell programs -- from the start. They were determined to become leaders in bringing the technology to Missouri.

The Southwestern Bell program uses a two-way television hookup over fiber optic phone lines to connect classrooms. Cost is the most prohibitive factor; Sikeston schools paid $50,000 to set up the equipment and will pay $1,550 a month to Southwestern Bell for the service.

The telephone company installed fiber optic cable to the Sikeston and Bell City high schools for free after each district signed a contract for services. Scott County Central will go online with the program in February.

Dr. Robert Buchanan, superintendent of Sikeston schools, said fiber optic technology will help small schools survive in today's competitive educational environment.

"The smaller districts surrounding Sikeston can't offer four years of foreign language or college credit courses, but we can do those things," Buchanan said. "And we can make them available to Bell City and Scott County Central."

Economics class is just a trial run for the system; more are soon to come. By fall there will be seven full hours of classes on the system.

Buchanan said college classes will follow, allowing teachers to get their master's degrees from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau without ever leaving Sikeston High School. And eventually interns at Missouri Delta Medical Center will be able to complete course work at Sikeston High School.

"We have no idea what we will be able to do with this," Buchanan said. "It's unlimited."

The students were a little more subdued about the prospects of interactive classrooms. McPheeters had a tough time with class participation. Students seemed a little uncomfortable with all the technology around them.

Brooke Malone, a Sikeston junior, said her experience Thursday was very different from her average day.

"I don't know if I'll get used to it," she said. "Maybe if I see it enough times."