SCHOOL BOARD PLANS VISIT TO MIDDLE SCHOOL

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Members of the Cape Girardeau Board of Education will visit a St. Louis middle school Tuesday, the next step toward creation of a middle school here.

School board President Carolyn Kelley said it was time for the board to take some action on the issue.

The board is scheduled to discuss the visit at Tuesday night's regularly scheduled board meeting. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the board room at 61 N. Clark.

Kelley said: "We have all the research completed. We have the recommendation from the committee. We have to move ahead.

"We've got to do a little more than just sitting around and talking about it," she continued. "Any action will have to come from the board, and we have to know if we are committed to this."

In May 1989, a group of parents and educators recommended to the board that a middle school, which included sixth, seventh and eighth grades and utilized some different teaching strategies, would offer better educational opportunities for Cape Girardeau students.

The Schultz feasibility study group met six months before reaching that conclusion.

Currently, Cape Girardeau's middle school educates only seventh-grade students. Sixth-grade students are in elementary buildings; eighth-and-ninth-grade students attend junior high.

"The basic concept of (a middle-school concept of education) has been approved by the board," Kelley said. "But we have to have the specifics of the plan how it works. That's where we are now."

The board will visit Holman Middle School in Pattonville. The school's principal, Dr. John Pohl, lead a workshop for Cape Girardeau middle school educators in March 1990.

Holman Middle School teaches students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades. It has earned the designation of an exemplary school.

"This was one of the schools the task force on middle schools visited before reaching it's conclusion," Kelley said. Kelley visited the school also.

"We were very impressed with this school and Dr. Pohl," she said. "His teachers were so committed to the school and the concept. Plus, there was an unusual amount of course offerings for students of that age."

Kelley said the board needs to set its priorities and take action on those most important issues.

"I asked the board in December that we really begin to narrow down our list of objectives," Kelley said.

"We need to zero in on two or three issues. One is our at-risk students. Another is what is in our future as far as buildings? Will that include a middle school, an elementary school or both?"

Also, the board is in the process of hiring a new district superintendent. Kelley said the board hopes to have the new administrator on board by June.

She said the board needs to be clear about what they want so they can select a superintendent who will work toward the same goals.

Tuesday's visit will give board members a chance to ask questions and see for themselves how the middle school operates, Kelley said.

"The whole board must be sold. We must be committed to the idea," she said. "If the board is not committed how can we ask the community to support it?" she said.

She said the Holman School principal also has information about how the Pattonville school district sold it's patrons on the middle school conversion.