Central Academy of Excellence

Central Academy of Excellence (formerly Central High School) is a high school located at 3221 Indiana Avenue in Kansas City, Missouri and it is part of the Kansas City Public Schools.^[1] Central was established in 1884 in order to help educate the growing population of Kansas City. The school colors are blue and white and the school's athletic teams are referred to as the "Eagles". Central has an enrollment of approximately 1,000 students annually.

School Background

The high school is in front of the now vacant Central Middle School building at the corner of Linwood Boulevard and Indiana Avenue. It features a large, one acre square fieldhouse, Greek Style Theatre, and an Olympic size swimming pool with a one and three meter diving board.

Central Academy was also part of the now defunct "Magnet Program" which was a response to a court mandated, forced desegregation plan that was designed to try and lure students from the suburbs with targeted programs. As part of this effort, Central High School was rebuilt and renamed to Central Computers Unlimited / Classical Greek Magnet High School. The two magnet themes where not complimentary to each other and most of the money spent on the new facility went to the Classical Greek theme for sports related facilities like a fully outfitted weight room (inspired by the weight room of the Kansas City Chiefs), two indoor racquetball courts, a one-acre square field house, a fully equipped gymnastics training facility, and an Olympic size swimming pool. The computers unlimited theme brought with it a fully networked classroom environment with computers in most of the classrooms and a Novell NetWare v3.11 network. There was also a small robotics lab, a video / photography / graphics lab, and a CAD lab. The cost, to taxpayers, for the new facility was over $32 million and it was completed in 1991. Unfortunately, the new facilities and programs were not enough to bring in and retain suburban students in this and other Magnet program schools. The program was an abject failure by any measure and was abandoned. The references to the Magnet themes were removed from the schools name and it was returned to a normal curriculum.

Name change

In July 2012, KCPS unanimously approved the proposal to change the schools name from Central High School to Central Academy of Excellence. This proposal was heavily promoted by the schools current principal Linda Collins who strives "to put a new name on what the principal hopes will be a transformed school on the inside." There is also hopes for getting the school more Technology in classrooms and stronger discipline. The name change officially went into effect for the 2012-2013 school year.^[2]

Notable Alumni

• Edward Andrew Braniff, (1876 - 1965) St. John's Military School, Salina, KS. 1887 - 1889; Kansas City Star reporter (1898); Yale University Forestry and Environment Class of 1903; appointed by Teddy Roosevelt to the Forest Service 1903 - 1912.
• Kutt Calhoun, rapper signed with Strange Music
• Walt Disney, Animator, Multiple Oscar Award winner and innovator
• Derek Hood, professional basketball player, class of 1994
• Muna Lee, Olympic sprinter, class of 2000
• Jackie Michaels, Singer/Songwriter
• Irene C. Peden, first American woman engineer or scientist to conduct research in the Antarctic.^[3][4]
• William Powell, actor who was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actor
• Lee Shippey, writer and columnist
• Casey Stengel, major league baseball player and manager
• Alexander Woollcott, writer

References

External links

• School website

Coordinates: 39°04′01″N 94°32′31″W / 39.067°N 94.542°W / 39.067; -94.542