Working the Plan, part 3: Cape Girardeau School District's facilities plan about more than bricks and mortar

It opened two years before the Great Depression struck.

Over the course of its long life, Franklin Elementary School has survived 14 U.S. presidential administrations, four-plus American wars, the Soviet Union, the Edsel and the "Macarena."

The two-story brick building, constructed in 1927 at a cost of $179,611, has served thousands of children. But its days are numbered.

As part of the Cape Girardeau School District's facilities improvement plan, Franklin will be demolished and a new school will be constructed near the existing site, facing Themis Street. Franklin principal Rhonda Dunham, who once walked the echoing halls as an elementary student, has a lifetime of fond memories of the neighborhood school. But she's excited about what a new Franklin will mean for today's generation of learners.

The $10 million project, set to begin in late March and completed by July 2012, at 50,000 square feet will afford much more classroom space than the long-standing building offers. That's critical, Dunham said, for a school experiencing growing enrollment. The plan also calls for the construction of prekindergarten classrooms, something that Dunham is eager to see put in use.

"It gives us longer to get to know the children and the families, which is very, very important," she said. "The better you know families and students, the more you can help them."

The $40 million district?wide facilities improvement plan approved by voters in April will, among a long list of projects, add prekindergarten space to Franklin and Clippard Elementary School, even if the funding isn't in place to staff it. When construction is complete, all five Cape Girardeau elementary schools will provide space for early learners.

The facilities plan, administrators say, isn't just about bricks and mortar. As the third element in the district's five-year Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, educators say better buildings, more functional classrooms, cutting-edge technology and all the support services that go with them are vital to the entire education campaign. The schools, after all, make up the district's educational homes.

Building momentum

Thanks to the support of district taxpayers and their willingness to fund the upgrades, Neil Glass, the school system's director of administrative services, believes he has the "easiest row to hoe" among participants in the school improvement plan. The other elements -- improving student performance, developing a highly qualified staff, increasing parental involvement and improving governance -- in many ways are much more involved and funding is far less certain.

"It's not if we get [the facilities work] accomplished, it's when," Glass said. "I am well on my way to meeting goals, and I feel comfortable and fortunate."

Some of the work is done. Alma Schrader Elementary School has a new roof, as does Clippard, which now has dry classrooms for the first time in several years. The projects are part of a broader effort to alleviate deferred maintenance, including replacing mechanical and lighting systems.

Remodeled classrooms, additional classrooms, restroom renovations, scores of doors, Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades and a litany of other improvements are slated over the next couple of years.

Central High School will see more than $14.5 million in facilities improvement, including a $7.27 million 750-seat auditorium, a 16-classroom wing priced at $4.3 million, and a $2.98 million stadium complex.

A big part of the facilities side of the school improvement plan is increasing student safety. The district will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars installing video surveillance in every building, upgrading door hardware and conducting annual safety inspections.

"This is an old building, and any time you get security updated, that's a good thing," said Roy Merideth, principal of Central Junior High School.

There is a growing body of research that suggests better buildings produce better students. In 2008 testimony before the House of Representatives, California Education Department official Kathleen J. Moore pointed to a University of California at Los Angeles study that found a difference of 5 to 17 percentile points between achievement of students in old, ill-equipped buildings and those students in above-standard buildings.

Moore cited a National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities analysis from 2002 that found "there is a consensus in the research that newer and better school buildings contribute to higher student scores on standardized tests." Studies also indicate that student attitudes and behavior improve when the facility conditions improve and that schools retain more educators, she told lawmakers.

All of that might be a tough sell for the 39 percent of Cape Girardeau voters who cast ballots against April's $40 million bond issue, particularly those who view the upgrades as a frivolous use of taxpayer money.

The school building boom continued despite the effects of the recession. Total construction spending by school districts increased to $25.5 billion in 2008 from $20.3 billion in 2007, according to the latest figures from the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.

Glass said the goal of the district's facilities plan is to provide an environment that is conducive to learning for all students.

"It's a place where they feel safe, secure and they don't have to worry about their safety, the cleanliness of the building," he said. "That is a commitment, that our students are given the best possible education they can have."

mkittle@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

215 N. Louisiana St., Cape Girardeau, MO

301 N. Clark Ave. Cape Girardeau, MO

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