New Options Considered For Madison Schools Reconfiguration

By Jack Kramer, Correspondent

MADISON, CT – Ever since the Board of Education made the decision to contract to five schools the assumption has been that Jeffrey and Ryerson would be K-3 elementary schools; grade 4 students would join grade 5 students at Brown; and Polson would serve grades 6-8.

But Superintendent of Schools Thomas Scarice said there is now a second plan under consideration – namely making Polson an intermediate school serving students in grades 4-6 and that Brown would become the upper level middle school, serving grades 7 and 8.

Scarice said: “Both models are under consideration and viable to provide an excellent middle level program to our students.”

Scarice said the administrative team, in conjunction with the school facility consultants, and the district wide "Whole Child Wellness Team", has given attention to both configurations in helping to identify the optimal model regarding programming, grouping, cost, and overall child development, among other considerations.

In the near future, no earlier than the Board of Education’s December 19th meeting, or perhaps even beyond that date, the school board will take action to determine the configuration of grades by level and school, the superintendent said.

Scarice said once this decision has been made, a series of other decisions can be discussed, including redistricting timelines, programmatic decisions, etc.

In October, the school board voted to close the Island Avenue Elementary School.

The vote came despite the overwhelming defeat of a referendum plan to rebuild Ryerson. 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 in the works for a number of years as enrollment has been declining.

Officials said the cost of the Ryerson rebuilding plan coupled with concerns about how the town may be impacted by the ongoing state budget crisis were likely reasons residents voted 2-1 to reject the project.