SCOTT CITY -- Members of the Scott City Board of Education Thursday discussed the district's participation in the new Tech-Prep program designed to teach job skills to students while they are still in high school.

The district is one of several in Southeast Missouri to participate in the technical preparation program, involving area vocational schools and Mineral Area College at Flat River.

"The goal is, they want to be sure when the student comes out of the school with a diploma, they will have some type of employable skill or are college-bound," High School Principal Fred Graham told board members.

Superintendent Bob Brison said the program goes along with the district's goal of ensuring students have some type of marketable skill when they graduate in order to fit in a more demanding job market.

Experts estimate that by the year 2000, more than 70 percent of low-technology jobs will have been cut out of the job market, leaving few alternatives for unskilled workers.

If students fail to prepare themselves while in school by deciding to take less-demanding courses, they will have done themselves a real disfavor, he said.

"They will be in for a rude awakening after graduation," the superintendent said.

Graham estimated that about one-third of Scott City students could benefit from the Tech-Prep program. It allows students in vocational schools to begin working toward an associate's degree while still in high school. They can then spend the next two years at a community college or technical school.

Graham said it will require students as young as those in the ninth grade to decide if college or technical school is in their future, and to choose classes to fit that expectation.

"When you come into high school, you're going to have some choices to make," Graham said. "And you're going to have to stick with these choices."

College-bound students in the district are not being overlooked either, he said. They are being made aware of increasingly tougher admittance standards at Southeast Missouri State University and other institutions, he said. Graham said a majority of college-bound students at Scott City attend Southeast.

The standards often require a high school student to have completed four years of English and at least three years of math, social studies and science. Electives such as foreign language and the arts are also important, he said.

"It's more important than ever to make sure you can make it through the doors of a college," he said.

In other business, Brison reported that the district had 842 students enrolled in December, and that overall attendance for the month was at 92 percent. Considering recent flu outbreaks, the superintendent said attendance was good for the month compared to previous years.

Other items discussed include a proposal to renovate restrooms at the school to make them handicapped-accessible, and to begin the 1992-1993 school year before Labor Day, possibly on Aug. 24. School would then be dismissed for the year in mid-May. These items will be formally voted on by the board later.