Cairo Unified School District 1 is a unified school district

Unified school district

A unified school district or unit school district is a school district which includes both primary school and high school under the same district control....

 located in the southern Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

' Alexander County

Alexander County, Illinois

Alexander County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 8,238, which is a decrease of 14.1% from 9,590 in 2000. Its county seat is Cairo. Alexander County is part of the Cape Girardeau–Jackson, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical...

, and more specifically in the county seat of Alexander County, Cairo, Illinois

Cairo, Illinois

Cairo is the southernmost city in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is the county seat of Alexander County. Cairo is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The rivers converge at Fort Defiance State Park, an American Civil War fort that was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant...

; its location in the southernmost city in Illinois implies that it is also the southernmost school district in the state. It is composed of three schools: Emerson Elementary School, which supports grades PK-2; Bennett Elementary School, which educates third graders to sixth graders; and Cairo Junior and Senior High School, which encompasses grades 7-12.

More poverty-stricken children attend this district than any other district in the state of Illinois.