CENTRAL JR. HIGH

Located at 1910 Whitener St., in CAPE GIRARDEAU, Missouri, CENTRAL JR. HIGH is a reasonably sized intermediate school that educates 633 students (grades 7 through 8), one of the schools within CAPE GIRARDEAU 63. By comparison, Missouri's public schools average about 461 students each, so CENTRAL JR. HIGH sits 37% larger than that benchmark.

CAPE GIRARDEAU 63 runs 8 schools in total, collectively educating 4,310 students. CENTRAL JR. HIGH is one of those campuses.

Looking at the student body, CENTRAL JR. HIGH lists that the largest single group is White at 42%, but no single group is in the majority; the rest is composed of 34% Black, 15% multiracial, 7% Hispanic. That is noticeably less White than the county at large, where the share is closer to 85%.

On the income-and-resources front, The school lists 54 full-time-equivalent teachers, for a student-teacher ratio near 11.7:1. That figure is tighter than the state norm's 13.0:1 average. An estimated 100% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a commonly cited indicator of low-income enrollment. By comparison, Cape Girardeau County runs at roughly 62%, so the school's eligibility rate is meaningfully above the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), CENTRAL JR. HIGH tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 49.4% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 31.7%.

In the surrounding community, ACS estimates for Cape Girardeau County put median household income runs about $68,464, 33% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and the poverty rate sits near 6%. CENTRAL JR. HIGH is one of 27 public schools in Cape Girardeau County (combined enrollment of about 11,025 students).

The closest other public school is CENTRAL MIDDLE, roughly 0.2 miles away. 8 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a five-mile radius. On composite proficiency, CENTRAL JR. HIGH comes 6th of 7 in the immediate cluster, below the nearby-schools average of 47.8%.

The school occupies a high-density site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at CENTRAL JR. HIGH has changed only slightly, going from 624 students in 2018 to 633 in 2025. White enrollment moved from 57% to 42% across the same window. The student-to-teacher ratio pulled in from 13.0:1 in 2018 to 11.7:1 today.

Within the allk12 community for this school, posts here usually surface around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. The community welcomes input from current and former families.