NAACP's ACTION THREATENS STUDENTS, NOT ADMINISTRATORS

The board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People voted last week against supporting the Cape Girardeau school bond issue package on the ballot Tuesday.

Voters will be asked to approve the sale of $14 million in bonds and waive a tax rollback. If passed, those actions would increase assessed valuation by 69 cents. The package would fund extensive building and programming changes in the district, including a new elementary school and vocational school.

Topping the list of NAACP concerns was the low number of minority teachers in the district and high dropout rates in the district.

These aren't reasons enough to disavow the bond issue. Understandably, the closing of Washington and May Greene may upset some parents, because neighborhood schools has worked so well in the district. But the district must also deal with the fact May Greene has such a high percentage of black students. Either the district must handle this disparity, or some federal agency could step in.

The issue of too few black teachers may well be a legitimate one: 12 out of a staff of 300. Superintendent Dan Tallent has said the district is working to improve both minority teacher recruitment and the dropout rate. The district has invested considerable time and energies into the new Alternative School, which offers another chance for dropouts and at-risk students.

But this is not the stick to hold over the head of administrators. The NAACP needs to seek another forum to make its point on these concerns. It is the students themselves -- both black and white -- who will be shortchanged by the failure of this bond issue, not the administrators.

The needs for the bond issue are very concrete. Many of the buildings are in sorry need of replacement or refurbishing. There is no place to plug in the newest technology. Our kids are going to fall behind. Children need a better and safer learning environment in our district.

Schools are a good place to build community. Only a minority of Cape Girardeau residents actually have children in schools. For a bond issue to pass, all kinds of people must come together in support of our schools: senior citizens, single people, parents, businesses, men, women, all races.

This is a chance to come together for the good of our young people. This school package Tuesday represents an investment in the future of our children and our city. It's time to work together.