When Cape Girardeau school board member Steve Wright votes against extending Superintendent Neyland Clark's contract, he merely will follow Clark's advice.

"Dr. Clark always says, `vote for what's best for students,'" Wright said. "I agree."

Wright believes Clark is unable to do his job, because he lacks community support.

"To me, a superintendent should be a leader, one who gets out and does PR and gets bond issues and tax levies passed," he said. "If he doesn't have the backing of the community and teachers, he cannot get the job done."

Wright and his wife, Kathy, find themselves in the middle of the school district's discord, because of their link to both the National Education Association and a citizens group calling for Clark's resignation.

Kathy Wright teaches chemistry at Central High and helped form the local NEA affiliate. Steve's former campaign treasurer is spokesman for the citizens group.

Clark believes the petition drive seeking his resignation is linked to National Education Association activity. He also believes his ouster might be among the items on Steve Wright's agenda as a school board member.

Clark said he always has worked to build a board unified in the students' best interests. Even one dissenter on the board makes a difference.

"When seven members come collectively together, it is one of the most satisfying and rewarding experiences," said Clark. "When they don't, it can be one of the most horrendous situations to live through."

But Steve Wright denied any link with the local NEA. He said Clark's problems stem from a lack of leadership in the community, not from any single board member.

When Wright announced his bid for the school board, a rumor ran through the school buildings that the NEA had a candidate on the ballot.

Wright, who was elected to the board in April 1993, rejects the idea.

"To be truthful, I don't know that much about the NEA or what Kathy does," he said.

In turn, he says his wife doesn't get an inside look at school board issues.

She does have strong opinions on which issues are important for the school district: teacher salaries, student discipline, low teacher morale and a high administrator turnover rate. Those are views Steve shares.

Some board members say Wright is preoccupied with raising teachers salaries, which, they say is a conflict of interest.

Wright serves on the board's finance committee, along with board member John Campbell. They participate in setting teacher salaries before the package reaches a final board vote.

But Steve Wright doesn't see that role as a conflict of interest.

"I'm in there representing all the teachers, not just my wife," he said. "There is nothing I can do to personally give her a raise. If I could, then it's a conflict."

He isn't the only board member whose spouse is employed by the school district. Campbell's wife, Claire, is a school secretary. Also, board member Bob Fox's wife, Connie, teaches at Central High.

Campbell has abstained from voting on the salary package for support staff, and Fox, elected in April, has yet to face a salary vote.

The Wrights say they aren't part of the citizens group circulating petitions and asking for Clark's resignation.

Terry Ashby, one of the spokesmen of the citizens group, was Steve Wright's campaign treasurer.

But Ashby said he and Wright have spoken only a handful of times since the election and never about the petition drive.

Ashby said Clark's allegations are merely an attempt to deflect criticism.

Kathy Wright has taught chemistry at Central High since 1980. She helped form the local NEA affiliate at about the same time Clark came to the district. But she said the timing was coincidental.

The NEA was formed because Kathy Wright and other teachers were dissatisfied with the job the Community Teachers Association, a local chapter of the Missouri State Teachers Association, was doing.

"Honestly, I do not care if we are the NEA or not," Kathy Wright said. "I would like to see the CTA become an organization that represents all the teachers."

In the spring, a vote of CTA members to open the organization to non-MSTA members failed to receive the two-thirds majority required.

Tomorrow: NEA activity in the region and state.