TWO PRINCIPALS TO LEAVE CAPE SCHOOL DISTRICT NEXT FALL

Two Cape Girardeau public school principals will go to work for other school districts when their contracts end June 30.

Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent said principals John Eck and Gerald Landewee have submitted their resignations and accepted jobs in other school districts for the next academic year.

The Board of Education received official notice last month that Eck, principal of L.J. Schultz Middle School, had accepted a position at Fredericktown Middle School. Tallent said the board is already searching for a new middle school principal.

Eck was a teacher for 10 years and then worked for five years as principal at St. Vincent High School in Perryville before becoming principal at Schultz in 1994. He said he has seen and learned much during his time in Cape Girardeau but anticipates the challenges his new job will bring.

"We've got a good district here, but I'm looking forward to working in Fredericktown next year," he said.

Tallent said school board members have not been formally informed of Landewee's resignation, which was submitted last week. Landewee taught at Nell Holcomb School for a number of years and was principal of Immaculate Conception School for one year before coming to Jefferson, where he is in his second year as principal.

Landewee, who will be the Oak Ridge Elementary School principal next year, said he resigned because a "new path" offered an opportunity he felt he should pursue.

"I sent a letter to the families of my students and told them each person walks along the roads of life, and we have paths that cross our way," he said. "I managed to have a path come across my road, and I have chosen to pursue that path."

Tallent said board members have completed evaluations of all administrators, and no other principals have indicated plans to leave the district.

"Those guys are going to jobs that they want to go to, not that we want to see them go," he said. "As of right now, all the other principals are returning, as far as I know."