Madison Considering Reconfiguring Schools and Grade Levels in Several Years

The annual town and education budget referendum will be held on Tuesday May 12th . Electors residing in the First Voting District shall vote at the Madison Senior Center, 29 Bradley Road in Madison, Connecticut.

Electors residing in the Second Voting District shall vote at the Robert H. Brown Middle School, 980 Durham Road in Madison, Connecticut. Absentee ballots will be available from the Town Clerk’s office at the Madison Town Campus, and will be counted centrally at the Madison Town Campus.

SCHOOL UTILIZATION STUDY – PUBLIC WORKSHOP MONDAY MAY 11, 2015 7:00 P.M. AT DANIEL HAND HIGH SCHOOL

• Last fall, in consultation with the architectural firm, Drummey, Rosane & Anderson (DRA), the Board of Education formally began a process to study the utilization of our school facilities with the expectation of developing a long-term plan. The Board sought to analyze and address the following issues:

• declining student enrollment,

• the facility needs required to deliver the Board’s “Vision for 21st Century Education”, and the overall condition of the facilities, including facility fatigue.

• Following a series of discussions at the Board of Education level, the first of three public workshops was held on March 9. Our consulting firm gathered information from this workshop, consulted with town and district officials, examined buildings and analyzed trend data, in addition to conversations with the administrative team, to begin a brainstorming process for the community to consider.

• A series of potential options of school and grade level configurations was presented to the Board of Education’s Planning Committee last month. These options ranged from maintaining the status quo, to other creative school and grade level configurations, including school closures.

On Monday evening, May 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Daniel Hand High School Dining and Assembly Hall, this conversation will be brought to the community.

This series of potential options of school and grade level configurations has been proposed by the DRA consulting firm in order to address the issues above. This part of the school utilization study is pure brainstorming. A potential solution may not have even been presented yet, school officials said.

Any potential changes to schools and grade level configurations will, in all likelihood, not be in effect for another four years.

All members of the community are strongly encouraged to hear these initial options at the upcoming public workshop on May 11 at 7:00 p.m. in the Daniel Hand High School Dining and Assembly Hall, and to share their input into this consequential school utilization study. All members of the Madison Community are encouraged to attend.