Community, staff unite for Cape Girardeau Public Schools' 10-year facilities overhaul

The Cape Girardeau Public Schools’ long-range facility planning committees held their inaugural workshopping meetings Monday, Dec. 9, at the district’s central administration offices.

The district has created two separate committees to help develop the plan — an internal committee of 34 district employees and an external committee of 18 prominent members of the Cape Girardeau community — which it will present to the Board of Education on Monday, June 23.

“You all’s role is to bring in your expertise and your viewpoints that you have and help us guide that,” district superintendent of support services Josh Crowell said during the external committee meeting.

The district is changing from a five-year facility plan to a 10-year plan, which Crowell said could “open up monumental possibilities.”

“As we all know, within 10 years, a lot can change,” Crowell said. “Now, this plan will be adopted by the board at their June meeting, and it’ll be presented to them at that time, but the adaptability of this plan is what’s also going to be a pretty big positive. If something with technology changes in five years, or six years or seven years, we can adapt it. It’s not always going to be set in stone. The foundation will be, but it could be an adaptable plan.”

Once approved at the June meeting, the district plans to put a no-tax-increase bond for approximately $30 million to $32 million on the ballot in the spring of 2026.

“We want to make sure that, as we have been in the past, we continue to be good financial stewards of taxpayer dollars,” Crowell said. “We don’t want to go after a bond if it’s not needed, but we do know we have needs within our school community, so that’s where you come in.”

Cape Girardeau schools partnered with incite Design Studio (iDS), an architectural design firm out of St. Louis that also provides long-range planning services, bond and FEMA grant assistance, to help “guide the process”. According to its website, iDS has helped create more than 25 long-range facility plans for school districts over the last five years, raised more than $1.8 billion in bonds and impacted more than 160,000 students. Aiding the district from iDS are principal and director of educational planning Aaron Harte, studio director and client leader Michelle Muir and architectural designers Amber St. Aubin and Megan Book.

“They are also analyzing our classroom data to make sure that we’re utilizing our school buildings to the best capability that we can utilize them to,” Crowell said. “If we’re wasting resources in an area or a silo, they’re going through, crunching the numbers and looking at that. For example, this past summer, they went through and 3D mapped all of our buildings and how they were utilized.”

Through a survey issued to teachers and building principals, the district and iDS summarized the survey results across nine main categories to receive consideration for improvement. The categories include space constraints and overcrowding, HVAC systems, security upgrades, bathroom upgrades, special education facilities and accessibility, technology upgrades, roofing and ceiling repairs, playground safety and accessibility and general maintenance and aesthetic improvements.

The initial results from Monday’s meetings, as well as the surveyed improvement considerations, will be presented to the school board by iDS during a 4:30 p.m. work session before the Monday, Dec. 16, regular board meeting.

Internal committee members: Chris Jauch, district maintenance director; Mark Wyatt, district lead school resource officer; Brian Hall, district tech director; Tyson Moyers, district athletic director; Amber Horrell, district reading specialist; Andrea Beggs, Cape Central Academy director; Nichole Buehrle, Central Academy JAG instructor; April Garner, Early Childhood Center (ECC) director; Ashton Doran, ECC psych examiner; Amy Emmenderfer, Clippard Elementary principal; Laura Pletcher, Clippard behavioral interventionist; Debbie Peters, Clippard librarian; Amber Walker, Jefferson Elementary principal; Delrease Barnhill, Jefferson lead custodian; Ed Landewee, Jefferson teacher; Barbara Kohlfeld, Blanchard Elementary principal; Laura Jahn, Blanchard fourth grade teacher; Tara Bova, Blanchard librarian; Garrett Cook, Terry W. Kitchen Junior High principal; Jess Compas, junior high teacher; Darren Neels, junior high teacher; Becky Wright, Central Middle School principal; Jennifer Wilson, middle school librarian; Travis Wilson, middle school assistant principal; Drew Church, Cape Central High School assistant principal; Derek Gohn, high school athletic director; Kim Newman, high school teacher; Roanne Dean, Franklin Elementary principal; Lori Laramore, Franklin teacher; Keith Brennecke, Franklin head custodian; Amber Price, Alma Schrader Elementary librarian; Sandy Rinehart, Alma Schrader Elementary principal; Brock Crowley, Career and Technology Center director; and Tyler Abernathy, CTC assistant director.

External committee members: John Spear, Realtor; Ashley Seiler, Big Brothers, Big Sisters; Rob Gilligan, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce; Shad Burner, SEMO Redi; Julia Unnerstall, retired principal; Adam Kidd, parent/supporter; Lynn Ware, former school board member; Tina Wright, parent; Casey Cook, school board member; Jared Ritter, school board president; Tamara Buck, Southeast Missouri State University Mass Media Department chairwoman and PORCH Initiative representative; Rodney Pensel, SEMO Field Experiences director; Amanda Heslinga, Mineral Area College navigator; Roger Seay, KFVS12 news director; Lawrence Brookins, retired teacher and coach; Daniel Bird Sr., parent/CHS graduate; Dustin Schroeder, project manager/parent; and Kristie Shamoun, KBSI general manager.