GROUND BROKEN FOR K-12 EAGLE RIDGE CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

Supporters of Eagle Ridge Christian School haven't raised all the money yet, but they have faith that they will be able to pay for a $1.2 million building. About 200 parents, staff and supporters of the school attended a ceremonial ground breaking for a planned building with 16 classrooms, a gym and cafeteria Sunday.

The school will be located 1 mile west of Interstate 55 on the north side of Route K.

Pastor Mark Carbaugh said the school is designed so that students can move in to some classrooms if the building isn't completed by the beginning of next school year.

The $1.2 million would only cover the first phase of what eventually would almost double the size of the school.

Eagle Ridge currently has about 100 students ranging from 4-year-olds to high school seniors. Junior high and high school students attend classes at 2109 Boulder Crest while the younger students are at 207 N. Pindwood Lane.

Founded in Scott City in 1982 as the Christian Faith Academy, the school has grown from fewer than 30 students when it moved to Cape Girardeau in 1994 to nearly 100 students today, said school administrator Janice Margrabe.

Margrabe and Carbaugh believe the school will grow because of a growing dissatisfaction with the secular education offered by public schools.

John and Marsha Davisson of Cape Girardeau agree. They send 6-year-old John Jr. to Eagle Ridge because "we want our children to be taught the same beliefs that we had when we were growing up," John Davisson said. "We don't want sex education taught in our schools the way the state and federal government make the public schools teach them."

They also prefer to have "biblical classes within the setting of the school," John Davisson said.

Mike Woelk, who teaches sixth grade at Jefferson School, sends his two children to Eagle Ridge. He said he appreciates the teachers in public schools and will vote for the upcoming bond issue, but prefers his children to be in a setting where "where our kids will be taught by people with hearts like ours."

At Eagle Ridge, there's emphasis on the three Rs with no time spent on drug education or self-esteem, Woelk said.

"There isn't any question about right and wrong," he said. "It's wrong to lie; it isn't a question."

Carbaugh and Margrabe believe there are enough people in the area who agree with Davisson and Woelk that the school's enrollment will double by next school year.

Carbaugh believes the money and material will be in place to move at least some students in by the fall. Even with 100 students the school is pressed for space.

Architect Ron Grojean said plans call for beginning to move dirt and pour concrete in two weeks.

"We feel there is a mandate on us from the Lord to put in a school with an emphasis on the high school," Carbaugh said.