To the editor:

Imagine, if you will, your dream home. For many of us, this means new plumbing, up-to-date heating and cooling systems, more space and, for some, the newest television and computer technologies which will make our lives easier, more fulfilling and, at time, more secure and safe for our futures.

No image your current home. For many of us, this means old plumbing, leaky roofs, old and outdated heating systems, no air conditioning, rooms too small for a cramped an growing family, old plaster walls which are cracking and bubbling, electrical systems unable to support current needs and, most certainly, not the demands that you'd so much like to have. It's not a pretty picture, but you live there and deal with it every day. While you'd live to build the new house you dream of, all of your money is going to maintaining your current home. New windows are needed, and the furnace just went out. The sewer is clogged. The basement's leaking, and you had to buy a sump pump to keep ahead of the water. You think about renovation, but it would cost more to renovate than to just start over. It's a vicious cycle. In the meantime, your kids don't have the things they need to lead fulfilling lives in our current-day society, because all your money is socked up as you attempt to maintain the old, seeing the new as only an unachievable dream.

And so goes the state of Cape Girardeau's public schools. When was the last time you took a stroll through the halls of May Greene or Washington school? For me the first time was last week as I surveyed the schools for a television program I was helping to produce for the chamber of commerce. I was appalled. The halls were dimly lit. Stairwell walls were cracked and peeling despite the layers of colorful paint that have been applied to make the school bright. Windows were broken and taped shut. At L.J. Schultz, a crawl space had turned into a pump zone as sumps worked overtime as water pours through an inadequate roof. Sinks are cracked. Restrooms aren't handicapped accessible. Posters cover large holes in walls, and paint peels away at the flick of a finger. At Clippard, one of our district's newest schools, children, for lack of space, meet in what used to be a storeroom. And in the midst of this chaos and crumbling, our children work to learn and prepare themselves for their futures. There's something wrong with this picture.

In the same manner many of our old homes are falling apart and keeping us from pursuing our dreams, so are our community's schools bursting and breaking at the seams. Our school system needs change, and we need it now. As an educator (I teach in the Department of Mass Communications at SEMO), I realize the importance of a positive learning experience for our students, our future community, businesses and governmental leaders. I realize that education costs money, just as everything else does. I realize that while taxes sting, they are there to provide much-needed community services that we have all come to rely upon: fire and police departments, city and county governments, our parks, our schools.

Yes, our schools. While I sympathize with concerns surrounding the passage of the Cape school bond issue (the perceived loss of neighborhood schools, the increased taxes necessary to support the school bond issue -- 69 cents per $100 of assessed property value, and the fact you might think the schools were good enough for you, so why not for your kids?) the reality is startling if you really take a close look. How can our children and our community get ahead if all of our time and money are spent just trying to catch up? Sometimes we have to bite off that mortgage loan, tighten our belts and buy that new home that, in the long run, will save us money and allow us to get ahead and allow us to provide for our children in the manner we'd really like.

A yes vote on the April 1 school bond issue will secure our children's future through the implementation of a comprehensive and well thought out plan that will help all of our children. The plan calls for the renovation or building of schools throughout our entire district, and the equipping of these forums with the necessities for a quality education into the next century. It anticipates the future of our children by providing teachers with environments and technologies conducive to teaching, learning and preparing kids for their -- and our -- futures. How are children to learn well from teachers who are overburdened with painting walls, taping windows shut, mopping up water and working in small rooms with lighting which makes it difficult to see? They aren't.

To me, the answer is obvious, and I'm voting yes on April 1. If you still aren't swayed, go to your community's schools and walk around. Look carefully at the old schools our children call home for a good part of their day. Ask yourself if patching holes, sump pumps and holding classes in stairwells is the way to our future. Ask yourselves why our kids can't have their dream home. They can and should. I encourage everyone to vote yes -- twice -- on April 1 in favor of the Cape school bond issue. Make our kids' dreams come true, and secure the future for our community. It only makes sense.

CYNTHIA E. APP

Cape Girardeau