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School Renovation Plans On Track

While it may take a little more time before ground breaks on the construction of Madison’s newest elementary school, school officials say the construction and renovation project is well underway. Students at Brown Intermediate School and Polson Middle School will see improvements to the buildings’ entrances when they return to school on Monday, Aug. 29.

“It is exciting to be at this point, but most importantly for the public and our students. It was nice to see the progress at Brown and Polson at the entrances, and there is certainly a level of excitement with the new school and the reorganization around that,” said Superintendent of Schools Craig Cooke. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we are very happy with the progress.”

According to Cooke, the Building Committee has been making steady progress, hiring an architect and soliciting bids for a construction manager. The Committee has also been looking for ways to obtain community input, Cooke said.

“The architectural firm is drafting plans on how to obtain community input, so they are having discussions with the building committee about that and working on ways to do that,” Cooke said. “We do have two teacher liaisons who will also be working with the committee to provide teacher input as well.”

According to Cooke, renovations at Brown will take place over the 2023 and 2024 summers and both a renovated Brown Elementary school and the new Green Hill Road Elementary school will open their doors at the same time. Renovations at Brown include changing the entrance to the building, converting ground floor classrooms into a kindergarten wing, renovating spaces for grades 1-5, and general renovations and improvements to bathrooms, corridors, the outdoor courtyard, and parking lot. The renovation project will also include security upgrades.

“The actual work we are hoping to start next summer will be for the portion of the building that will be converted to kindergarten and first grade classrooms,” said Cooke. “It is very important for the Board and the Building Committee that Brown School will have similar amenities as the new school. So, we are working closely to try and have the two schools be in line as much as possible.”

In addition to building a new elementary school on Green Hill Road/Mungertown Road and converting Brown Intermediary School into an elementary school, the project also calls for the Town Campus Learning Center (TCLC), Jeffrey Elementary, and Ryerson Elementary Schools to be taken offline. Ryerson and TCLC are slated to be demolished.

The Renewal Plan dedicates approximately $21 million for renovations at Polson Middle School including HVAC replacement and installation, auditorium updates and improvements, and security upgrades, according to the Board of Education (BOE). Currently only 50 percent of Polson has air conditioning and some of the heating and ventilation system in the building is original to the 1960s construction. Sections have been replaced over the years, but the last major replacement was in the 1990s. This plan would replace the buildings electrical system and put HVAC throughout the entire building, according to Cooke.

“We are not as far along at Polson, per se, as some of the other projects, but we are satisfied with the progress so far, and that project is expected to be completed by 2025 as well,” Cooke said.

The remaining Polson projects, such as locker room renovations and pavement restoration, are accounted for in the town’s Capital Improvement program over the next 10 years, according to the BOE website. Cooke said that parents and residents will have an opportunity for input and to provide feedback on the projects via a series of public forums and meetings.

“We do have a portion of the website dedicated to that, so folks can always keep track of that. And we also want folks to keep an eye on the opportunities to have community involvement,” Cooke said. “One of our first events will discussion with our PTO leadership, probably this fall. And then there will other public forums scheduled and residents and parents can also find out information on that through our site.”