BLANCHARD MARKS NEW ERA FOR CAPE SCHOOLS

It has been a long time coming, but the official opening last week of Cape Girardeau's first public school since 1967 was a significant event.

Tuesday's parade from the nearby Show Me Center to Blanchard Elementary School and the festivities and reception that followed served to announce to the community that the Cape Girardeau School District is on the move.

Not since the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School opened in 1967 had a new public school gone up in Cape Girardeau. That followed closely the opening of Clippard Elementary School in 1965. Blanchard was desperately needed to replace two elementary schools, Washington and May Greene, which had served the district well but had fallen victims of age after 80 years.

With Blanchard up and running, the school district can turn its full attention to still more capital improvements.

A Cape Girardeau Vocational Center is being built to replace the vo-tech school, and the district is in the midst of planning for a new high school. Tonight the school board will consider a resolution that would put on the April 4 ballot a no-tax-increase, $18 million bond issue to build and equip the high school. The Central High School building would become a seventh- and eighth-grade center and Central Junior High School would become a fifth- and sixth grade center. Elementary schools would serve kindergarten through fourth-grade students.

Voters have supported these improvements and will probably have an opportunity April 4 to assure that the district's plans for more improvements are carried out.

The administration and school board have worked diligently in their effort to see that a high school would be built within budget after getting initial estimates of millions of dollars more than had been anticipated. The latest estimate is right on target at $25 million.