Madison Elementary Update

A Madison Mission and Vision Task Force began meeting October 13, 2020, and met six times. Assistant Superintendent of Elementary and K-8 Schools Wes Tuttle and Chief Communications Officer Theresa Myers facilitated the meetings. School Leadership Executive Assistant Renee Fleece took notes during the meetings. Assistant Superintendent of Support Services Members Kent Henson observed the meetings.

The members of the Mission and Vision Task Force were:

• Steve Isenhour, Principal
• Jenny Yeager, Teacher
• Angie Mueller, Teacher
• Sammi Knigge, Teacher
• Bri Svendsen, Teacher
• Missy Tarantino, CLD Teacher
• Eva Chinn, Art Teacher
• Diana Retana, Classified Staff
• Diana Rubalcava, Office Manager/Parent of Madison Student
• Cameron Shinn, Assistant Principal

All decisions of this group were made using the consensus, shared decision making process. This group also got input from other staff, students and families for every recommendation it made. Some of that was through personal conversations, some was gathered through surveys and some was gathered as feedback from meetings.

The first major task the group completed was developing value statements for the newly visioned Madison school. Here are those family value statements:

• We believe everyone on our campus of learning is equal and important.
• We believe that diversity is a strength that we value and celebrate.
• We work to put our students first, academically and emotionally; we always do what is best for them.
• We build positive and respectful relationships with all in our community: students, families, and other stakeholders.
• We commit to being a school where students become lifelong learners who are college and career ready.
• We commit to making a difference through innovation, continuous improvement, and retaining quality staff.

Other recommendations from the task force were:

• Configure the new Madison as a pre-school-8th grade school. (This was also clearly the wish of families, who were surveyed on this question.)
• The focus of the school will be STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and the school will pursue becoming an AVID Showcase School.
• The group also contemplated the name of the new school. They decided to recommend a naming committee be formed under Board of Education policy to decide if the school should remain as Madison, or if a new name should be recommended to the Board.

The opening of the Madison Elementary rebuild will be August, 2023.  When we open in fall 2023, we will add one grade level at a time as we roll up to a PK-8 school, so that fall will include sixth grade, followed by adding seventh grade the following year, allowing it to be a full PK-8 school during the 2025-2026 school year.  To reach this goal District 6 and RLH Engineering have created the following general timeline:

• Surveys and Traffic Study:  12/1/20 to 4/1/21
• Architect/Engineering Selection:  1/20/21 to 2/25/21
• General Contractor (CMGC) Selection:  3/8/21 to 4/9/21
• New Building Construction 3/21/21 to 6/9/23
• Existing Building Demolition/Abatement 6/5/23 to 7/14/23
• New Furniture Move In:  6/12/23 to 7/7/23
• First Day of School:  8/?/23
• New Parking area complete 9/30/23