ELEMENTARY ATTENDANCE DISTRICTS ARE FIRST STEP TO GOOD PLAN

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education this week appointed a committee to redraw elementary school attendance districts. Members are to present recommendations at the February board meeting.

The district's new master plan -- which includes a building program and which the board adopted this week -- would require redistricting with the addition of a new elementary school and the closing of two old buildings.

Redistricting is always a hot button among parents. The whole notion of neighborhood schools builds loyalty among families. Redistricting has always been an issue as the district previously tried to build a new elementary school.

That is why the board's stance this time is sensible: Let's get the whole issue of redrawing elementary school boundaries out of the way well before any vote is held on bond issues or taxes to pay for the bonds. It is also a good-faith effort on the part of the board to lay everything out on the table. There is no hidden agenda here, and district patrons should appreciate this kind of openness.

The committee makeup is also important. Thankfully, parents are involved in the process at the start. The committee includes a parent representative of each elementary school along with the principal at that school and the assistant superintendent. Parents chosen are familiar names -- mothers and fathers who are actively involved in those schools and have worked hard for the district.

The committee will be asked to develop two proposals, one for each of the two phases of the district's new master plan.

In the first phase, an elementary school would be built along with an addition to Jefferson. May Greene and Washington schools would be closed. Kindergarten through the sixth grade would remain in the elementary buildings.

The second phase of the master plan would bring a new concept to the district. The junior high would be remodeled into a fifth- and sixth-grade center. The current high school would become a seventh- and eighth-grade center, and a new high school would be built for grades 9 through 12.

This committee is charged with an important undertaking. The openness of this process can only help ease any difficulties ahead.