TEACHER GROUP BACKS BOND ISSUE

The Community Teachers Association is the most recent organization to support the Cape Girardeau School District's proposed $18 million bond issue that would finance construction of a new high school.

CTA president Carol Brice read a statement of support for the measure during a Board of Education meeting Monday night.

Voters will decide the measure, which does not require a tax increase, during April 4 elections.

Brice said faculty members supported the measure because the educational needs of children have changed. The community must "re-evaluate the needs of the district and provide room for growth, equipment for technology, and facilities conducive for learning."

Teachers also supported the high school because it would allow for better use of buildings and because all grades would be reconfigured. Those improvements would mean better access to technology and other educational resources.

"We now feel the need for growth in the areas of technology and research has caused the district to rethink structuring of our attendance centers in order to expand the learning environment in those areas to better prepare our children for the 21st century," Brice said.

A new high school facility would enable the district to redistribute grade levels throughout all the district's buildings. The high school would house ninth through 12th grades, and the existing Central High School would become a seventh- and eighth-grade junior high school. Central Junior High would house fifth- and sixth-grade students, which would reduce enrollment at the district's five elementary schools.

Louis J. Schultz School, the district's oldest building, would be closed if the measure passed.

Caring Communities director Chrissy Warren explained the mission and operation of her program during the board meeting. Caring Communities is an interagency organization that works within the school setting to provide social workers, counseling and other services families may need to help student achievement.

The program operates in Blanchard, Clippard, Franklin and Jefferson elementary schools. Some services also are provided at Schultz and Central Junior High.

Caring Communities has documented a number of positive statistics that prove its impact on students. From July 1996 to July 1998, the district has experienced a 55 percent decrease in the number of students placed out of their homes. At the same time, state out-of-home placements have increased 5 percent.

Suspensions also are on the decline in the district.

Jefferson sixth-grade teacher Rhonda Durham said she witnesses the benefits of Caring Communities daily.

Students are displaying better socialization skills because of the Boys Town Model training Caring Communities provides, she said. The organization's Accelerated Reader program is bolstering reading achievement levels in students, and student self-esteem also is evident.

"In sixth grade we have no self-esteem, we just have chips," said Durham. "Now, students are realizing they can do anything they want to do, they can be anyone they want to be, and it's because of the services Caring Communities provides."

Kevin Sexton, chairman of the board that governs Caring Communities, said the program works because it provides a link between school and home. Teachers are being required to help students much more outside of normal educational needs, and Caring Communities helps them to reach more students who might otherwise not achieve academically, socially or otherwise, he said.

"It is the collaboration between the school district and Caring Communities that is allowing us to get to those students," Sexton said. "What we're doing is taking those one to five teachers a child may come into contact with and increasing the number of people who might be able to help that child."