SCHOOLS COMMITTEE TO GET LOOK AT MASTER PLAN FOR DISTRICT

Nearly a year after a committee formed to look at the direction Cape Girardeau public schools should head, a roadmap is being presented for that group's approval.

Tonight, members of the Vision Planning Committee will take a look at a draft of a master plan for the Cape Girardeau School District.

The plan calls for a 69-cent tax increase and includes a 10-year plan on how to spend that money. In the first phase the district would build a new vocational building and elementary building and renovate the four elementary schools it plans to keep.

The second phase calls for a new high school, converting the junior high school to a fifth- and sixth-grade center and the old high school to a seventh- and eighth-grade center. Eventually May Greene, Washington and Louis J. Schultz schools would be closed.

The Vision Planning Committee held a series of community meetings a year ago asking people what they would like to see happen in schools. In addition to the meetings, a phone survey and a newspaper survey collected information about priorities for the school district.

The information formed a base to develop a long-range plan.

The master plan now being considered recommends improved educational programs, including a hefty dose of new technology. It also addresses facility upgrades, new construction and ways to pay for the improvements.

Tonight, the Vision Planning Committee will preview the plan and see if it meets its expectations.

The plan will formally be presented to the public and to Board of Education at the board's Monday meeting.

Superintendent Dan Tallent said that through the planning process, two suggestions were voiced by almost every committee: develop a long-range plan to phase in facility improvements and keep the tax levy as low as possible. Tallent thinks the proposed master plan does both those things.

"We feel strongly this is the message people were giving," Tallent said. "But if we've missed the boat, we hope people take this opportunity to raise a red flag so we can re-examine it."

The school board is expected to ask for feedback at Monday's meeting and then adopt the master plan at its November meeting.