Cardinal Elementary School

Located at 16175 Almeda Dr, in Middlefield, Ohio, Cardinal Elementary School is an average-sized elementary campus that hosts 396 students (grades pre-K through 6), overseen by Cardinal Local.

Cardinal Local runs 3 schools in total, collectively educating 732 students. Cardinal Elementary School is one of those campuses.

In terms of who attends, Cardinal Elementary School logs that 88% of students identify as White, making the school strongly White-majority. The remainder is composed of 6% multiracial, 3% Black.

On the resource side, Staff filings list 19 full-time-equivalent teachers, which works out to roughly 20.5:1 students per teacher. The state averages around 17.9:1, so this campus is higher than the state norm typical. An estimated 46% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, a number frequently used as a low-income enrollment indicator. That share is higher than Geauga County's rate of about 21%.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), Cardinal Elementary School tracks the demographic baseline. The model predicts 71.3% given the school's FRL share; actual proficiency is 65.3%.

Zooming out to the county, ACS estimates for Geauga County put median household income runs about $107,860, roughly 41% of adults have completed at least a four-year degree, and roughly 4% of residents live below the federal poverty line. In all, Geauga County runs 23 public schools (combined enrollment of about 9,939 students), of which Cardinal Elementary School is one.

Nearest neighbor: Cardinal Middle School, around 0.0 miles off. Counting just inside five miles, 7 other public schools cluster around Cardinal Elementary School. Among the 6 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), Cardinal Elementary School ranks 3rd on composite proficiency, higher than the local average of 60.5%.

The campus sits in a small-town setting.

Trend over the last 7 years. Over the past 7-year window, the student count climbed 21%: 326 students in 2018 compared to 396 in 2025. The White share of enrollment edged down from 95% to 88% over that span. The student-to-teacher ratio loosened from 18.1:1 in 2018 to 20.5:1 today.

On this page, the page collects discussion, questions, and updates around classroom updates, athletics, and weather closures. Members of the school community can share what they know.