The district opens its schools Monday and Thomas Scarice, Madison’s new superintendent of schools, is promising an exciting year ahead.

“The Board of Education has passed policies that will open up greater use of technology in the classrooms. We are working now at expanding our network, our wireless environment for the middle schools and high school. We are wiring the schools so our network will be able to take the demands for the new use of technology that we will be introducing,” he said. “We will be harnessing technology, seeking new ways to teach and to learn.”

Scarice said he and the school board will also be “charting a new course” for the district.

“This is an excellent school district,” he said. “To maintain its high standards and to get to the next level we need to consider ways to re-envision the work of the district.”

He credits the two former superintendents—Dr. H. Kaye Griffin and David Klein—with establishing a firm foundation for upon which to begin “the exciting conversations about the future.” The district, and all education, he believes, must establish the environment in which students have the capacity “to think, collaborate, and commincate.”

Scarice, previously assistant superintendent of schools in Weston, has spent the summer in his new post learning about the schools and the community, a process he clearly enjoys.

“My assistant will tell you I don’t spend much time in my office,” he said.

He added, “It is clear that this community takes pride in its schools and its shows. We have such powerful educators and our students come to us ready to learn. Their parents have prepared them well.”

The superintendent is not the only new administrator in the district. Over the summer Scarice and the Board of Education named two assistant principals at the middle schools. Rebecca Roy was appointed assistant principal at the Dr. Robert H. Brown School, which teaches students in grades 5 and 6. Rebecca Frost was appointed assistant principal at the Walter C. Polson Middle School, which teaches students in grades 7 and 8.

Roy replaces Kathryn Hart, who was recently named principal at the J. Milton Jeffrey Elementary School. Frost will replace Jill Hale, who left the district to assume a position as principal at the Guilford Lakes Elementary School in neighboring Guilford.

Enrollment Increases

Scarice and the school principals across the district are experiencing an August surprise. Schools will open Monday with an estimated 120 to 130 more students than originally projected. The Board of Education’s 2012-2013 budget was built on the expectation of 3,210 students. By mid-August, the district had flown past that number and was heading to higher figures.

School districts anticipate some late summer enrollments, particularly in its kindergarteners. But the numbers for Madison are startling. The original projection in the budget called for 108 kindergarten students. The board is always prepared to handle a few more. With a week to go before school opens, the district had 147 kindergarten students enrolled—nearly a 50 percent increase over projections. New sections are being added.

Kindergarten, however, is not the only grade feeling the impact. Students are pouring into Brown, Polson, and the high school as well as elementary schools. What’s the reason? Scarice is not sure. He believes it is a combination of factors.

First, there has been a 22 percent increase in home sales this year when compared to last year. Home buyers are most likely to have school age children. Secondly, the leasing market has exploded. When parents come to the school to register their child, they are often producing copies of home leases as proof of residency.

“I don’t know how we are going to be able to wrap our arms around the leasing market in order to make accurate enrollment projections,” Scarice said.

Many lease arrangements are not being handled by realtors but privately on Internet sites such as craigslist, making it harder still to gather the necessary information.

The Board of Education, aware of the numbers and the strain it will create within its budget, is determined to “handle this internally, to find a way to stretch the budget,” Scarice said.