REDISTRICTING NEES FOCUS AND PUBLIC INPUT

Attendance areas for Cape Girardeau's public schools haven't been changed in 30 years, so it is no wonder the process currently under way, usually called redistricting, is generating strong feelings on the part of parents. Those feelings are a strong indication that the neighborhood school concept has worked well.

So far the redistricting effort has been poorly directed. Discussion has appeared aimless. The meetings lack an agenda and a clear focus. To make matters worse, the committee tried to close half of the meetings to the public. Members changed their minds later in response to overwhelming objections from interested parents. Thank goodness. This issue is too controversial to discuss behind closed doors. Parents and the community at large must understand the full reasoning behind a final decision. Besides, if the committee had closed its doors it would have been in violation of Missouri's open-meetings laws.

But meeting while the public watches doesn't mean the committee has to endure interruptions or comment from the audience. It is time for leaders of the redistricting committee to set some ground rules. At the next meeting, they should bring an agenda that includes an opportunity for public comment at some point. Comment could be limited, but not eliminated.

The district also needs to be honest with the community. Is this redistricting effort merely a ploy to pass a bond issue for a new school? If it isn't, then quit talking about it. If it is, rename the committee. Redistricting and a new elementary school are issues that affect each other, but district patrons deserve to know up front if the redistricting discussion is headed in the direction of another bond issue. Many parents feel threatened, and that doesn't make for happy taxpayers.

Another problem is that leaders of the redistricting committee have so far played down the issue of race in their discussions. They have instead focused almost exclusively on overcrowding in some schools. District growth is an issue, but racial imbalance should be a thrust of the redistricting effort. A representative of the Midwest Desegregation Assistance Center told the school board more than a year ago that May Greene School, with a minority enrollment of about 63 percent, is in violation of federal civil rights requirements. The regional center is one of 10 in the country funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Overall, the district's minority enrollment is 18 percent. The percentage fluctuates at various schools within the district: Alma Schrader 5.6 percent; Clippard, 13.4 percent; Franklin, 13.4 percent; Jefferson, 21.3 percent; Washington 34.7; Schultz, 17.5 percent; junior high, 18.9 percent; and Central High, 13.3 percent.

That isn't to say class size isn't also an important consideration. The average class size is 22.7, which sounds good. But district classes have as few as 11 students and as many as 30. The committee is right in trying to find a happy medium.

Members of the redistricting committee have suggested a number of possibilities to alleviate overcrowding, including pairing schools, creating a magnet school, putting trailers at schools, creating a sixth-grade center and leasing classroom space. The committee has also asked that community residents send letters with other suggestions. The more ideas the better.

Committee members are right when they say redistricting won't make anyone happy. In fact, it might make everyone unhappy, including school employees. But if the effort is conducted in the open, with an opportunity for public comment, then everyone should feel that all sides were heard.

SCHOOL REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE INFORMATION:

Committee meetings: 7 p.m. on Feb. 6, Feb. 23, March 14, March 28. L.J. Schultz school library, 101 S. Pacific.

Committee members: Alma Schrader principal David Giles and Ferrell Ervin, Clippard principal Dick Giles and Rita Crain, Franklin principal James Watkins and Kim Hagler, Jefferson principal Gary Kralemann and Pat Hodge, May Greene principal Barbara Kohlfeld and Stafford Moore, Washington principal Barbara Blanchard and James Collins, Marie Walker, board members Dr. Bob Fox and Steve Wright.

Mail suggestions to School Board Office, 61 N. Clark, 63701.