After nearly 70 years as a public elementary school, the Madison Board of Education (BOE) formally closed Island Avenue Elementary School in response to district reconfiguration and declining enrovllment. However, the building won’t be closed for very long.

The week of June 17, First Selectman Tom Banisch and representatives of Our Lady of Mercy Preparatory Academy (OLMPA) sat down to finally sign the previously agreed upon and approved lease document.

“We did sign the lease with OLMPA last week and so they are planning on getting into the school I believe on Aug. 1, “ said Banisch. “It’s a win-win for the town and the schools.”

In October 2018, residents overwhelmingly approved the lease between the town and OLMPA for Island Avenue School. The terms stipulate that the lease will be for one year beginning in August 2019 (after Madison Public Schools has vacated the building) with no option for a renewal period or extension. The total rent payment is $535,000, payable five days before the building is delivered to OLMPA. OLMPA would be responsible for all maintenance and associated costs in what is known as a triple net lease. The lease document also goes into specific details of the building as well as insurance coverage and indemnification.

One change of note between the 2018 version of the document and the current signed agreement is the payment. The total cost is still the same but no longer has to be paid completely up front:

“The ‘Base Rent’ for the Term is FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY-FIVE THOUSAND AND 00/100 DOLLARS ($535,000.00) payable in three payments: $150,000 within 10 business days of signing this lease agreement; $250,000 on or before the Delivery Date (Delivery Date to be no later than August 1, 2019); and $135,000 on or before January 6, 2020.”

To calculate the lease cost, the town took into account what the net present value of the property would have been if it had been immediately sold, as well as other hard costs like busing and nursing, costs that the state requires municipalities to provide to private schools within the borders of that municipality.

The revenue to the town, net of the cost of a bus and a nurse, would be a little more than $400,000. However, that revenue was not counted in this fiscal year budget and will go into the general fund.

Banisch said OLMPA will also have a chance to use whatever equipment might be left behind in Island once the BOE vacates the building.

“We are on our way,” he said. “I believe we originally said Aug 6. But the facilities director said the building will be ready by Aug 1 so we are letting them go in. They have gone through to look at whatever equipment that might be useful instead of just throwing things away.”

OLMPA’s Vlad Coric said he was pleased to see the lease finally signed.

“It’s a win for the history of Island but also OLMPA and it’s a great thing for all sides,” he said.

Fellow OLMPA representative John Picard shared similar thoughts.

“For me it’s another step in OLM’s rich history and it provides excellent education and choice for all of our children in the area, not just Madison,” he said.

The History

Parents and families from OLMPA first came before the Board of Selectmen in April 2018 to discuss the potential of leasing Island Avenue School. Closing Island is part of the Board of Education (BOE) response to declining enrollment; as of now the plan is to close the school in June 2019.

Our Lady of Mercy School (OLM), located at 149 Neck Road, is the main Catholic K to 8 school serving Madison and Guilford since 1954. Early this year, the school announced that the school building would close at the end of this academic year and the school would be combined with St. Mary’s School in Branford.

Following the news of the imminent closure, some OLM families banded together to begin looking for ways to separate the school from the local parishes to form an independent school grounded in the Catholic faith, and find a permanent home, ideally still in Madison.

Selectmen and members of OLMPA reviewed financial statements and issues like liability and determined leasing Island was a viable option after the Madison Public School District formally turns the building over to the town in 2019.