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07/02/2019 01:00 PMIt’s looking like a busy summer for the Board of Education (BOE) Facilities committee. Having recently taken the mantle from the Tri-Board School Facilities Working Group—the group tasked with coming up with possible solution to address Madison’s aging school facilities—the BOE committee has set a tight schedule for the summer with the hope of putting one final option before the whole BOE in the fall for a vote.
Over the past year, a tri-board group made up of two members from each of the boards of Selectmen (BOS), Education (BOE), and Finance (BOF), had been meeting regularly to try to find alternatives to the BOE’s 10-year, $100 million capital maintenance plan.
The group made a presentation to the larger boards on April 1, listing a number of options to move forward with including the existing maintenance plan (which has often been described by members of the tri-board and Superintendent of Schools Tom Scarice as a Band-Aid fix or throwing good money after bad), a five-school model, a four-school model, and a three-school model. The tri-board eventually narrowed the options down to two potential four-school models.
With two detailed options, the tri-board was disbanded back in May and the work turned over to the BOE Facilities Committee. At a recent BOE meeting, Facilities Committee Chair Seth Klaskin thanked the tri-board again for all its work.
“The committee wants to give great thanks to the tri-board working group and our sister boards for their sustained focus on the town’s most difficult issues,” he said.
Klaskin also gave the wider board and the public a rundown of what happens now.
“The committee now benefits from the fine work of the tri-board working group and will consider and work our way through the mounds of data and feedback,” he said. “The committee will also consult with members of the Academy committee and our consultants and facilities and finance directors as we complete our work.”
The plan is to also keep moving at a fairly brisk pace, according to Klaskin.
“We will be accelerating our committee work to add six additional working meetings over the summer to keep the ball rolling with the goal being to present a plan to the BOE for a board vote in the fall,” he said.
All committee meeting dates, agendas, and minutes are available on the district website www.madison.k12.ct.us.
The Decision
The BOE will ultimately have to vote on one plan to send forward to the other boards and eventually the public.
The tri-board group narrowed the options under the four-school model down to two: 4.1a and 4.4. With the help of Colliers International, a local project management firm with which the district has worked previously, the tri-board undertook a deeper investigation into the feasibility and details of those two options.
Option 4.1a has a price range of $155- to $177 million. Under this model, Daniel Hand High School (DHHS) would be converted to a middle school, Polson Middle School would be converted to a high school, Brown Intermediate School would be converted to a pre-K-4 elementary school, and a new elementary school would be built on Green Hill Road.
Option 4.4 is the least expensive of all options with a range of $118- to $129 million. Under this option, DHHS would be maintained as is, Polson would be maintained as is, Brown would be converted to a K to 5 elementary school, and a second, central elementary school would be built south of Green Hill Road to house grades pre-K to 5.
The BOE will make the final decision and recommendation between 4.1a and 4.4.