Central High School project winding down

Construction on the new Central High School wrapped up sooner than anticipated.

The building was due to be complete by Aug. 15, but if all goes well with final inspections, the school plans to take possession Thursday, Cape Girardeau school board members were told at their meeting Monday.

The new high school is part of a larger project that calls for reconfiguration of the entire school district for the 2002-2003 school year. The fifth and sixth grades, once included in the district's five elementary schools, will now be housed in a newly-formed middle school in the former Central Junior High School building.

After vacating the Louis J. Schultz school, seventh-grade students will join eighth graders at the former Central High School building this year. And students in grades nine through 12 will attend the new high school next to the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center on Silver Springs Road.

While construction on the new Central High School was completed weeks in advance, school administrators have turned their attention to another building project: the conversion of old Central High into the junior high school.

"Right now the junior high looms as our greatest concern," said superintendent Mark Bowles. "That building really looks rough."

Despite concerns, Bowles said the project should be completed before the start of school Sept. 3.