The Cambridge School Committee's list of unfinished business catalogs 108 items "awaiting report" from the superintendent.

Item 43 requests a "plan for replacing worn out musical equipment." Item 83 asks for recommendations on "revisions to the controlled choice plan," the city's desegregation plan.

Several of the items have been awaiting action since September 1998--though about 40 percent were requests generated this term alone.

No wonder that committee members themselves have begun to comment on the list's length, partially because there is very pressing business: updates on the restructuring of Cambridge Rindge and Latin School (CRLS) and the controversial merger of two elementary schools.

Earlier this year, the committee approved these two major changes, both of which will take effect next fall. Now, they are charged with overseeing their implementation.

Last week, members received their first update on the progress of the CRLS restructuring. And soon they will deal with an issue that has already produced impassioned debate: where to locate the new elementary school.

School Committee Business

With so many apples of their plate, it is little wonder that committee members want to dispatch other business as efficiently as possible.