The town of Madison is voting Tuesday on a referendum that will decide the future of elementary schools in town.
The referendum asks residents if the school district should spend $34 million to rebuild Ryerson Elementary School.
This is part of the Board of Education’s plan to build a new Ryerson School, renovate Jeffrey School and eventually close Island Avenue School. The focus is addressing issues with the older buildings as the town sees fewer students in the district.
The superintendent is concerned that if the referendum is not approved, the district will be faced with future decisions about whether to spend money on students or fix buildings.
"It's really important that people are aware that a failed referendum will be more disruptive for kids," said Madison Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice.
Scarice added that the potential closing of Island Avenue School is an unfortunate necessity.
“It’s really unfortunate. It’s very emotional for a lot of people, me included. It’s unfortunate we have to come to that. Our enrollment is down and we have to right-size our district to be responsible with the building resources we have,” said Scarice.
Local
School officials said that if the referendum failed students may be forced to attend multiple schools and work around construction work. Some parents were on board with the proposed changes.
“I think it’s important. I think if the buildings aren’t at the level where they need to be, if they’re falling apart, I don’t think that’s good for the students and I don’t think it’s good for the town,” said Joanna Zygmont, a parent in Madison.
But some parents have concerns about the proposal.
“Closing schools and knocking down good buildings is just a waste of money when that money could go toward paying teachers more money, having good programs and keeping our libraries and our learning resources available for all the kids,” said Chip Walz, a parent in Madison.
"We are in favor of neighborhood schools and we're very in favor of saving tax dollars for things that actually educate our children,” said Chip Walz, who lives in town.
Tuesday’s vote is the first of three. Later there will be another vote regarding the closing of Island Avenue School, and a third to spend another $34 million on renovations in the coming years.
If Tuesday's referendum is approved, the superintendent expects construction to start at Ryerson Elementary during the summer of 2018 and be complete by summer 2020.
