SCHOOL DISTRICT BOUNDARIES CAUSE CONFUSION FOR MOM

When Mike and Michelle Weber moved to the area from Kansas City last fall, their son Dylan was too young for kindergarten. They paid only cursory attention to the schools in Cape Girardeau County as they went about the business of settling into life in Southeast Missouri. They rented a former dairy farm and made plans to start construction on a house in Jackson.

In March, Michelle turned her attention to registering 5-year-old Dylon for kindergarten. Three months later, she's upset because she said she can't get her child registered.

No one has been able to specifically tell her which school she should register her child in or even which district she lives in.

"Here it is June and I still don't know where my child is going to school," said Michelle. "All I want to do is know where my son is going to school."

The Webers rent a property located at 440 Robin Lane, which is near the junction of Route K and Interstate-55 behind Sam's Club. Although the property lies within the Cape Girardeau city limits, they said there has been a long-running disagreement over whether they live in the Cape Girardeau or Jackson school district.

Michelle said she has been in contact with representatives from both districts' offices, and each time she has been referred to the other district for registration. The Jackson office insisted she lived in the Cape Girardeau district, she said, but the Cape Girardeau office told her anything west of I-55 belonged to Jackson.

After several calls, the Jackson office referred her to the county assessor's office, she said, whose employees eventually told her she lived in Cape Girardeau's district.

"They (the Jackson representative) told me to call the assessor's office and find out where my landlord is paying his property taxes, and that's where I'm supposed to register," she said. "I called them and found out he pays in Cape, but the Cape schools said that's wrong."

Jean Kurre, director of transportation for Jackson schools, said she has talked with Michelle several times. "I really felt for that lady," she said. "According to my 911 address book, it is not ours. I looked and told her it looks like Cape. No one can argue with the assessor, but apparently Cape can."

Employees at the Cape Girardeau Board of Education office said no one remembers speaking with Michelle. They said her family definitely lives in the Cape Girardeau School District, and that her son should register at Jefferson Elementary School.

"I've asked around, and I even asked Dr. Tallent if he had heard anything about this, and no one knows anything," said Laverne Smith, office manager and secretary to Superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent. "She definitely lives in Cape Girardeau: In fact, that's Jefferson Elementary School. I just can't believe anybody would say that that's not our school district."

But Michelle said they did tell her that, and more than once. She had the name of the person she spoke with each time, but would not reveal it because she said her mission was not to get anyone into trouble. "It was my understanding that the person on the phone was looking at a map, and according to her map we were outside of the district," she said. "I don't want to get anyone into trouble, I just want to know where my child is supposed to go to school."

Employees in the Cape Girardeau County mapping and planning division confirmed that the Weber family lives well within the Cape Girardeau School District.

Now that she knows for certain which district she lives in, Michelle plans to get him registered as soon as possible.