Island Avenue School's Future Decided By Madison School Board

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

MADISON, CT – Island Avenue Elementary School will close. The Board of Education voted by unanimous vote Tuesday night to shut its doors. The closing could be as soon as June of 2019.

The vote comes despite the recent overwhelming defeat of a referendum plan to rebuild Ryerson Elementary School. The closing of Island Avenue was supposed to be done in conjunction with the rebuilding of Ryerson.

Madison has six public schools and has had a plan to downsize to five schools as enrollment has declined over the past few years.

Officials said the cost of the Ryerson rebuilding plan coupled with concerns about how the town may be impacted by the amount of funding it receives due to the state budget crisis was likely the reason residents voted 2-1 to reject the project.

Officials added, however, the school board still has the authority to make decisions on school usage going forward regardless of the referendum result.