Going to school under one roof

CAIRO, Ill.

Seventh-grader Joella William can't forget the day a group of cheerleaders came running out of the gym at Cairo Junior High School, screaming because a mouse had fallen from a hole in the ceiling.

Fourth-grader Harley Gooden looks forward to a time when he can play basketball in gym classes because his school, Bennett Elementary, doesn't have a gym big enough for basketball hoops.

And seventh-grader Brittany Harrell can't wait for warmer weather so she won't have to sit with her arms tucked inside her sweater. The heat in one of her classrooms hasn't worked for weeks.

William, Gooden and Harrell are just three students in the Cairo school district hoping a $4.1 million bond issue passes March 19 so a new kindergarten through eighth-grade school can be built to replace three existing buildings, two of which are more than 100 years old.

To pass the bond issue, the district has to turn to an already financially stressed community that, within the last five months, has seen its last major industry, Burkart Foam Inc., close. The local unemployment rate ranks seventh in the state after finishing last year at 11.5 percent.

Passing the bond issue would raise the district's current personal property and real estate tax rate of $5.10 per $100 assessed valuation, but superintendent Robert Isom says he won't know by how much until today or Friday. Isom said he was waiting for bond caculations to be finalized by the Alexander County clerk's office.

No matter how much of an increase, Isom said, it's now or never for the project because the state has given the district an entitlement to cover 75 percent of the total cost, $16 million.

"For every dollar we spend on the project, the state will spend three," Isom said. "It's a blessing because we have a profound need for better facilities."

If the issue passes, construction would take place in three phases over two years.

The junior high wing would be built directly behind the current junior high, which would be demolished to make room for the construction of the elementary wing.

Isom said the new building would be a state-of-the-art facility with 45 general classrooms, nine special use classrooms, science labs, art and music rooms, a library and a gym with locker rooms and a concession area.

School board member Brenda Gooden said a new building would dramatically improve the learning environment.

"Right now there are no art or music classes in the grade schools, and there are no librarians either," Gooden said. "The main thing is the students would get a better education if they were all in one building. The education could flow from grade to grade."

Emerson Elementary currently houses grades kindergarten through two, Bennett Elementary has grades three through five and the junior high has grades six through eight.

Bennett Elementary principal Constance Williams said one of the biggest benefits would be the opportunity to have fine arts be a part of their lives at a young age.

"Music and art definitely improve children's opportunities and overall scope on the world," Williams said. "We have quite a few talented musicians and artists, but they can't develop those talents until they get to seventh and eighth grades or even high school."

Rose Gayle Pickett, a fifth-grade teacher at Bennett Elementary, said another benefit would be better access to technology.

"This building is just old, and it doesn't have enough electrical outlets for the technology we would like to use," Pickett said.

Isom said the problems with the buildings have been a long time in the making. Both the junior high and Bennett buildings are more than 100 years old. The Emerson building is at least 50 years old.

"Our schools are old, and the learning atmosphere is quite difficult," Isom said. "We've had some heating and air conditioning problems at each of the schools."

Isom said a new building would drastically cut the operating costs for the district by cutting down on maintenance and repair costs, as well as utility bills.

Over the past several years the district has had to replace the roof at the junior high, the water heater at Emerson along with several smaller repairs made at each of the schools. The total repairs cost in excess of $240,000.

Isom said the roof on Bennett needs to be replaced soon, and the roof at Emerson will need to be replaced within the next five years, two projects that could have a combined cost of $400,000.

"If this bond doesn't pass, we'd be spending the same kind of money, but in the end we would have the same old buildings with the same old problems," Isom said.

Gooden said that was the main fact that drove the board to make the decision for the bond issue.

"We could probably cut our utility bills in half. Sometimes they are as much as $30,000," she said. "If we only had one building to maintain, we could put more money into our schools."

Isom said he hopes the community will realize the need for a new facility, but understands there will be some people in the already heavily taxed community who are against another increase.

Darla Harrell is one of them.

"I already pay enough in taxes. The schools are fine," she said. "I think there's nothing wrong with them, but of course I don't have to go to school there. Brittany does."

Brittany, 13, is a seventh-grader at the junior high school and Harrell's daughter.

"We definitely need a new building," she said. "We have no heat, we have ants in our drinking fountains and it's not clean inside."

Bob Satterfield, who graduated from Cairo High School in 1947, said he will support the tax increase in March.

"The buildings are probably too costly to maintain, and a new one would save a lot of money," Satterfield said.

John Cage moved back to Cairo two years ago after being gone for 18 years. He said if the district needs a new building, he would take a tax increase to make it possible.

"If you've got to have the tax money to build the school I guess it would be OK," he said.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

335-6611 extension 128