Madison CUSD #12 Press Release - Proposal To Consolidate Buildings

Press Release

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                                                          January 6, 2012

Madison Community Unit School District #12 Announces School Closure/Consolidation Plan

A proposal for all students to be educated in air-conditioned facilities featuring advanced instructional technology starting with the 2012-2013 school year. Community meetings will be held to discuss proposed plans and gather community feedback. 

Madison, IL- Today Madison CUSD #12 announces its plans to consolidate building usage within the school district from its current four operational school buildings to a proposed plan for two operational school buildings. Bernard Long Elementary school at 1040 College St. and Harris Elementary School at 1634 7^th St. currently house grades K-5 in the district. This plan will vacate the two elementary school buildings and relocate all K-5 students to 1003 Farrish, currently Madison Middle School. Students in grades 6-8 will be relocated to the current Madison Senior High School at 600 Farrish. Pre-K students will remain in the Madison Early Childhood Center wing at 1003 Farrish and the Madison Student Support Center will remain in the isolated space at Madison Middle School where it has been housed since it opened.

            This plan benefits the Kindergarten through Fifth grade students significantly by moving them to an air-conditioned facility with classrooms that have been equipped with the best available technology for teaching and learning. Currently Harris and Long Elementary Schools do not have air-conditioning in the classrooms. Temperatures in the fall and early summer months, when students are in school, often rise above 100 degrees in the classrooms causing great discomfort to students and teachers while compromising the quality of the educational environment.

            Middle School and High School students will benefit from this plan through the addition of course opportunities that were previously limited due to the sharing of staff between the middle and high schools which caused teachers to have daily travel time limiting their schedules. Students in grades 6-8 will also have access to courses and equipment previously unavailable to them at the current middle school site.  The students in grades 6-8 will be separated physically from the students in grades 9-12 in many ways. High School students will be housed on the second floor of the building while middle school students will utilize the main floor. The cafeteria and gyms will be used by all students but by carefully scheduling different arrival and departure times, and having staggered lunch periods, the students will not use these common spaces at the same times. The Middle and High schools will also have separate school offices on each level of the building so that the students will not be combined. Keeping the two adolescent age groups separated was a priority for school officials during the planning for this consolidation. The safety of and quality of education for all students remains the top priority.

Physical Changes To Each Site

Jim Laing and Associates, the district’s contracted architectural firm has proposed changes to 1003 Farrish that include: adding walls to transform oversized multipurpose rooms into regular-sized  classrooms and adding restrooms to the early childhood wing to accommodate all Pre-K and Kindergarten students. Madison Senior High School recently underwent several years of renovations that included upgraded lighting, flooring, ventilation systems including air-conditioning all classrooms and hallways, restoring restrooms, window replacements as well as grant funded updates to the instructional technology equipment used by all teachers and students. The current High School building at 600 Farrish will require minimal renovations that include: adding walls to oversized rooms to create multiple regular-sized classrooms as well as the creation of additional office space on the second floor. Working with the architectural firm the district has set a timeline that would begin the construction bidding process in early 2012 and have all projects completed so that all classrooms are operational by the start of the 2012-2013 school year. Projected costs for these improvements are lower than the projected costs of maintaining Harris and Long Elementary Schools in the upcoming years.

Rationale For Reducing Current Facilities

Madison CUSD #12 has experienced a trend of declining enrollment over the past ten years with projections for that trend to continue over the next two years before stabilizing. Current district enrollment PK-12 is 797 students, considerably less than the 1,127 students enrolled in 2002. Madison CUSD#12 has also faced a decline in federal, state and local revenue resulting in millions of dollars trimmed from the annual budget. Through savings associated with reducing the number of facilities used, the district will have the means to continue to offer quality educational programs to the Madison community.

Next Steps

At the December 15, 2011 regular meeting the Madison CUSD #12 School Board voted to allow the District Superintendent, Mrs. Evelyn Kelly, to begin negotiations with the three unions (Teachers, Support Staff and Custodians/Secretaries) for the district regarding a reduction in staff and change of working conditions. Specific budget savings costs will be outlined for the district staff and public in meetings to be hosted by the district in early 2012.

The school district is actively exploring the available options for the use of Harris and Long Elementary Schools that may include public sale and/or transfer of property to another government entity. Inquiries regarding these properties may be directed to the Madison School District Office, 602 Farrish, Madison, IL 62060 618 877-1712 X 5007.