Central Intermediate School

Central Intermediate School is one of the small intermediate schools in Ottawa, Illinois, overseen by Ottawa ESD 141, with 339 students on its rolls from grades 5 through 6. Compared to the state average of about 462 students per school, that is 27% leaner than typical.

Ottawa ESD 141 runs 5 schools in total, collectively educating 1,747 students. Central Intermediate School is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, Central Intermediate School logs that White students make up the majority at 73%. The remainder reads as 19% Hispanic, 4% multiracial, 3% Black. The wider county runs roughly 86% White, putting the school's mix visibly less White than the area baseline.

Looking at the economic backdrop, Staff filings list 28 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 12.3:1 students per teacher. That tracks the state average closely. About 56% of enrolled students meet the income threshold for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal.

After controlling for student poverty, Central Intermediate School performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 39.0%, the actual is 38.8%, a residual of -0.2 points.

In the area at large, the surrounding county (LaSalle County) reports that the typical household earns roughly $73,045 per year, 21% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 11%. Across LaSalle County's 54 public schools (combined enrollment of about 14,523 students), Central Intermediate School is one campus in the mix.

Shepherd Middle School is the nearest neighboring public school, about 0.1 miles from this campus. Counting just inside five miles, 5 other public schools cluster around Central Intermediate School. Among the 8 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Central Intermediate School ranks 5th on composite proficiency, behind the local average of 45.7%.

Geographically, the school is in a small-town area.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at Central Intermediate School has decreased 20%, going from 424 students in 2018 to 339 in 2025. The White share of enrollment shrank from 79% to 73% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio tightened from 15.1:1 in 2018 to 12.3:1 today.

Inside the community feed, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around enrollment questions, classroom assignments, and PTA news. The community welcomes input from current and former families.