BOARD TO DECIDE PLACEMENT; KINDERGARTEN ENROLLMENT AT ISSUE

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education will choose the best method of handling excessive enrollments for the 1997-98 school year during a meeting Thursday at noon at the board office.

A number of students throughout the district -- including at least 17 kindergarteners from Clippard Elementary School -- have already been reassigned to prevent overcrowded classrooms this year. The students will be bused to their home schools, where they will then board another bus to be transported to the nearest building with openings.

Parents concerned about the reassignment and busing of students have been writing, calling and visiting district administrators since late June requesting alternative ways of handling excessive enrollment. Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent said he will present four or five alternatives and their costs during the meeting on Thursday.

"That way, they'll have several different options to consider," he said.

Tallent said the district has not made any decisions on the issue before this time because current enrollment numbers don't accurately reflect the actual number of students a building will have. For example, he said, although Clippard generally has high pre-enrollment numbers, Jefferson, May Greene and Washington schools all have low pre-enrollment figures. Parents at these schools generally bring their children in during the two weeks prior to the first day of school, he said.

"We want to make decisions based on numbers that are somewhat accurate," said Tallent. "Hopefully, by Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we can get some people to come in and enroll their kids so we'll have a better number to work with."

Philip Crawford's son was one of the children reassigned after the Clippard lottery. Crawford said he is concerned that his child will miss classroom instruction because of the additional bus time.

"We've been told by other parents whose children were reassigned that the kids are generally 20 minutes late everyday and leave 20 minutes early," Crawford said. "If that's true, I find it pretty disturbing. It disturbs me that my child might be basically cheated out of school time."

Crawford said he is also concerned about the effect the reassignment will have on young students. He believes his son will be reassigned to Alma Schrader after district lines are redrawn next year, which could mean he would attend two or even three different schools in two years.

"I just don't like the idea of shipping kids around," Crawford said. "I also don't like the idea of him attending three elementary schools in the first three or four years of education."

Some Clippard parents said they will seek other options if the meeting Thursday doesn't produce a plan that keeps their children in their neighborhood school. One mother, who asked that her name be withheld because of possible repercussions to her child, said she knows of five children who have been enrolled in parochial or private schools because of the reassignments.

"People tell me `Oh that's your choice,' but no, our choice was taken away," she said. "My child still does not know where he is going to school. The way I understand it, he'll be pulled out a hat for reassignment also, and I just don't think that's fair. I think my child will be going to a parochial school, since I don't think that their answer will be what I want to hear."

Tallent said his goal for Thursday's meeting is to develop a plan that is logical and cost-efficient for everyone involved. Although most of the complaints are coming from parents in the Clippard district, he said, his recommendations must benefit the entire district.

"What I'm trying to do is just look at the different options and make a sound decision," Tallent said. "It doesn't make any difference to me where the kids go, as long as the decision benefits all of the kids throughout the district and not just a handful of kids."