Cape Girardeau School District

In 2010, Cape Girardeau voters approved a $40 million bond issue for improvements to the public school district. Those improvements included a new Franklin Elementary School, a new library at Central Junior High, an addition to Central High with 22 classrooms and a new performing arts center at Central High. Many of those projects came to fruition in 2012.

__November 2011__ -- Construction began on the $10 million, 24,000-square-foot Richard D. Kinder Performance Hall on the Central High campus. Kinder, a 1962 graduate of Central, and his wife Nancy, through the Kinder Foundation, donated $1 million for construction of the performance hall's balcony. School officials anticipated the facility's completion in December 2012.

__July 2012__ -- Work on the new library addition at Cape Girardeau Junior High School was completed. The 8,300-square-foot library cost a total of $2.4 million, although $1.3 million came from a public trust fund.

__August 2012__ -- Old Franklin School, built in 1927, was demolished.

__Aug. 16, 2012__ -- Central High School's 22-classroom addition opened for use. The addition was built at a cost of $3.3 million.

__Oct. 19, 2012__ -- A ribbon was cut officially opening the new $10 million, 55,000-square-foot Franklin Elementary School.

__December 2012__ -- Work continued on the Kinder Performance Hall, it's projected opening having been pushed back to February 2013.