WHERE WILL OUR CHILDREN GO? (DRAWING THE LINES -- FIRST IN A SERIES)

Elizabeth Seesing wants her children to attend Franklin Elementary School. Janet Berry feels just as strongly that her children should attend Alma Schrader Elementary School.

Therein lies a problem faced by the Cape Girardeau School District as it tries to consolidate six elementary schools to five.

Many parents bought homes so their children could attend particular elementary schools, and they have forged a fierce loyalty to their neighborhood schools. They don't want to change.

Seesing is among those. When preparing to buy a home, she looked for something in the Franklin district. "I grew up there. My sister teaches there. I like the idea of a smaller school. I like the minority mix," she explained. "I would like my children to attend Franklin."

All across town parents have equally passionate reasons why they want their children to remain in the school they currently attend.

But this fall at least 550 children will attend a different elementary school as Washington and May Greene Elementary schools are closed and a new elementary school is scheduled to open.

A decision concerning elementary school boundaries must be made. The question remains how best to draw the lines.

The question of redistricting isn't new to Cape Girardeau, although district lines haven't been changed significantly for more than 30 years.

In 1994, a redistricting committee was formed to look at ways to redraw Cape Girardeau's elementary school boundaries. The committee quickly determined a master plan was needed for the school district before changes were made.

Over the next three years the school board established, with input from hundreds of people, a 10-year, two-phase master plan for the district.

The first phase calls for construction of a new elementary school and closing of two elementary buildings, Washington and May Greene. The second phase would establish a sixth- and seventh-grade center, moving sixth-graders out of elementary buildings.

Those changes would necessitate changes in the boundaries of the city's elementary schools.

In 1997, at the same time the master plan was approved, a committee set to work to draw the lines.

Steve Trautwein serves as chairman of the committee. The committee didn't set out to make subtle changes.

"We had some really outlandish plans," he said. "One meeting I came in and we had a proposal with stripes across the city. There were no sacred cows."

In the end, making less dramatic changes seemed to meet the goals of the committee.

Committee members considered five key factors in redrawing the lines: student safety, racial and socioeconomic diversity, building capacity, transportation and cost effectiveness.

Trautwein said student safety and diversity were by far the two top concerns.

To address safety, the committee looked at major thoroughfares like Kingshighway and William Street as natural boundaries.

To address racial and socioeconomic concerns, the group talked with Dr. Charles Rankin of the Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center. Based on his advice, the committee worked toward two goals: No elementary school would be racially identifiable with a minority population of 50 percent or more, and a desirable target would be for every school's minority population to be within 10 percent of the district's minority enrollment, which is 25 percent.

The committee called the plan fluid and said it would have to change as the city's population changes.

When the proposal was unveiled in 1997, few people objected. The school district put a bond issue and Proposition C rollback waiver on the ballot. Voters said yes.

All was quiet for two years as construction of the new elementary building plodded along.

This past January, when it seemed likely that the building might open this fall, the redistricting committee reconvened to review the numbers and see if any adjustments would be needed. To the committee's surprise, numbers had changed considerably over the two years. Using the same criteria from two years prior, the group adjusted the lines and created an updated proposal.

"I wish people understood how we agonized over the numbers," said Cord Polen, a parent who serves on the committee. "No one knows what we had to go through to get to this point."

"And this was considered by us to be a step process," said Kathy Wolz, also a parent serving on the committee. "This isn't the end but a step in the right direction."

The committee continues to say that boundaries should be analyzed in the future and changes made on a regular basis.

This time parents have been more vocal in their objection to the plan.

The changes, which are more dramatic under the 1999 proposal than the 1997 proposal, affect more families.

Some parents feel misled.

"It's a matter of trust," said Janet Berry. "Back in 1997, we waited for the plan to be announced, then we voted on the plan. I manned the telephone and worked to get the vote out to pass that bond issue. Now the plan is changed."

"I'm suspicious," said Andrea Schneider. "I think they're trying to hide information. At the board meeting when they announced the plan, there was no map, no overhead. It was all done in this cloak-and-dagger way."

Parents aren't the only ones concerned about the decision. People wonder what the changes might do to property values or neighborhoods.

Some wonder if an alternative like single-grade-level centers might be better than moving this fall and worrying that another move could be coming two years from now.

Others aren't as worried.

Like dozens of other parents, Susan Nabors selected her home so her children would attend a particular elementary school. "We bought our house to be in the Clippard district," Nabors said at a recent PTA meeting.

Then her son was transferred to Washington Elementary School when enrollment in his kindergarten class got too high. That was two years ago.

"I have to say, I was very pleased with Washington," Nabors said. "It'll all worked out in two or three years."