SWAN WINS CONTESTED BOARD SEAT

Kathy Swan, who emphasized the need for better communication between the Cape Girardeau Board of Education and the community, won election Tuesday to a one-year term on the board.

The Cape Girardeau businesswoman defeated insurance consultant Jeff Daniel by nearly a 2-1 margin, 2,364 to 1,287.

Incumbents Ed Thompson and Lyle Davis won re-election to three-year terms, running unopposed.

Thompson received 2,640 votes and Davis received 2,488. Each of their vote totals was more than 1,000 votes less than was cast in the Swan-Daniel contest, in which more than 3,600 voters cast ballots.

Tom M. Meyer, president of the Washington School PTA, said Tuesday night he believes the lower vote totals for the incumbents reflected public dissatisfaction with a school board budget cut plan that calls for eliminating one elementary school principal. That could leave Washington School without a full-time principal.

"I believe what we see here is that of those people who went to vote, there was an intentional direction of their vote. That they went in to vote for Daniel or Swan and ignored the incumbents."

He pointed out that all of the budget cuts came after the filing deadline for school board candidates. As a result, he said, voters were left with little choice but to vote for the incumbents or simply not mark those ballot boxes.

Meyer said the punch card ballot didn't allow for write-in votes. Still, he said, he believes voters made their point.

Swan said she believed her message about improving communication hit home with the voters.

"I think they would definitely like to have a voice in things that are happening in school and suggestions on ways things can be handled," she said.

The public, said Swan, wants to know the reasons behind school board decisions. "I think they desperately need explanations and they desperately need avenues for expressing themselves," said Swan.

"This is our community school. For it to be the best it can be, we need all the community members to play a part," said Swan.

She said the recent public concern over school budget cuts is an example of the need for better communication between the school board and the district's residents.

But she said there is also a need to simply explain school programs, such as mandated programs for children with special needs.

Swan said that as a school board member she plans to be "a sounding board" for ideas and suggestions from the community.

Part of the job of school board members, she said, is to facilitate communication.

Swan, who is president of Johnson Communications Co., said communication is important, both for her business and the school district. "We have communication products and services and what I am touting is two-way verbal communication."

She said she sees the school district's budget as a major area of concern, both on the income side and the expenditure side.