THREE SEEKING ONE-YEAR UNEXPIRED SCHOOL TERM

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Candidates seeking a one-year term on Cape Girardeau's Board of Education listed long-range planning, student retention and a building program as top concerns.

Seeking the seat are Lyle Davis, Julia Cowsert and Sandy Bonner.

Voters Tuesday will decide who will fill an unexpired term on the board. The seat was vacated by Benjamin Lewis after he was elected Division III associate circuit judge.

Lyle Davis, 1223 Rockwood, general manager of The Trane Company in Cape Girardeau, said long-term planning is his top concern.

"A building program and the middle school and elementary school issues would logically be addressed by this plan," Davis said.

"When we look at the age of all our facilities, some approaching 80 years, we have to look at the possibility of not only a middle school but also an elementary building," Davis said.

"I think the consensus is that we probably, ultimately need both," he said. "But we need a lot more input from our professional educators and the community at large."

"After examining and looking at them," Davis said, "the buildings are in dire need of upgrading. A building study needs to be addressed. It's been ignored for too long."

He said the idea of a middle school should also continue to be studied.

"I'm not opposed to a middle school concept," Davis said. "I have talked to administrators at all levels about their thoughts, and they think it needs a lot more study. I think they need to have more input in the process."

Davis said these professionals are the best ones to determine which grades should be included in a middle school.

Davis served on a task force two years ago that reviewed athletics in the school district. A series of recommendations by the committee was adopted by the school board.

"The recommendations as a whole are a nice dream," Davis said. "But I think as the board can incorporate the recommendations, they are and will.

"I think, like any extracurricular activity, athletics is important to a child's development," Davis said. "It takes a certain kid to participate in athletics just like it takes a certain kid to participate in orchestra or debate," Davis said. "But athletics and other extracurricular activities are important as an extension of the educational process.

"We are not in the business of training professional athletes or band members or debaters," he said. "We are in the business of educating kids."

Julia Cowsert, 2501 Tulip Lane, a youth specialist at the East Missouri Action Agency in Cape Girardeau, said keeping students in school is her top goal.

She said: "Quality education is important to me. I love kids and want to do everything I can to make their educational futures brighter."

Cowsert said she was most interested in student retention and follow up.

"The issue is brought through my office," she said. "A lot of dropouts probably could have stayed in the public school setting if alternative educational programs were available for them and if someone had followed up. We need to keep our kids in school so they see education as an important thing."

Cowsert favors the middle school concept.

"I think it's a wonderful solution to the overcrowding situation we have in some schools," Cowsert said. "As far as a sixth, seventh, eighth grade combination, that's a good combination. Another alternative would be fourth, fifth and sixth grades."

Cowsert said redistricting, redrawing attendance areas for elementary schools, would be her last option for solving overcrowding.

"I think it would cause a lot of families trouble. People move to a particular area because they want to be in a certain school district," she said. "Redistricting would upset a lot of people."

She said: "Athletics is important because many students are talented in that area. But there needs to be a balance between it and all the other activities. The arts should be given an equal say."

Cowsert also favors early intervention programs like Parents as Teachers and Head Start.

"These programs are a good way to foster the importance of education," she said.

Sandy Bonner, 2024 Concord Place, manager of installation/repair at Southwestern Bell Telephone, said the district needs a building plan to follow.

"The most important issue at this time is the building program," Bonner said. "At this point, the middle school is being pursued for public consideration. I think this will go hand-in-hand with a long-range plan. We need some sense of direction we can initiate policy on.

"Building programs don't happen overnight," she said. "They have to be initiated and it can take up to three or four years before we have one built."

She said the board must act quickly. "We need to act before class size becomes critical and those concerns override the idea of doing something because it benefits students."

One such idea, Bonner said, is a middle school.

"I am really pleased at the board's approach to the middle school concept with sixth through eighth grades," she said. "The data supports this approach for transitional students."

A middle school would fit into the long-range plan as a way to deal with overcrowding, she said.

"Until we get a long-range plan in place," she said, "an option for the overcrowding issue would be using a buffer zone in school districts where the crowding is most serious.

"We also might consider main streaming some children in special programs at schools where the current enrollment is okay.

"I think we can temper it for a period of time, one to three years, to give us time to establish the long-range plan."

And she said athletics fits into the plan. "I enjoy athletics myself and I think it has a place in the educational system," Bonner said. "We do have budget constraints so we have to evaluate what is more important. This makes athletics an issue because it eats money."

She said funding sources are available outside the school district, which should be pursued.