“It’s just amazing to see it evolve from being on paper to actually being here. The kids are excited, even the younger kids. This will be great for the community and for us. Our identity is our schools. People have a lot of pride in their school,” said Lee Kaple, superintendent of Madison Local School District.
The construction of Madison’s new middle school began two years ago and is slated to open its doors on February 9, 2014. “One thing that I did find out was that everyone agreed that we needed a new junior high because our current junior high was built in 1925. We passed the construction of the middle school during a special election in August four years ago. We began the actual construction on the site two years ago. The community shows a lot of excitement about this new building and what it means to the community as a whole,” said Kaple.
The superintendent noted that age and maintenance issues on the former building had prompted the upgrade. “The junior high is in really bad shape. We try to maintain our buildings, but when they get that old it gets difficult,” he explained.
The new facility offers a variety of features. State-of-the-art technology, auditorium/cafeteria, and new media center number are among its highlighted spaces.
“I look at it as being more than just a school building. I look at it as being a community building,” said Kaple, “There will be an exercise room with exercise equipment that we can open up to the public, but not right away. The gymnasium will be where we hold our varsity games and the gym will seat about 2,000 people. We plan on having our graduation ceremonies in the gymnasium, too,” said Kaple.
The new middle school will facilitate grades fifth through eighth. The combination of the grade levels was prompted by requirements set forth by Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) funds. The district wished to meet those requirements in order to attain funding for the project. “In order to participate in acquiring that money, we had to go with at least a fifth through eighth grade building. That is what really motivated us to do that,” said Kaple.
The district will first move the seventh and eighth graders to the building in order to start demolition on the aged junior high building as early as possible. The district intends to move fifth and sixth graders, currently housed in the elementary building, possibly by February 9.
Kaple reports that he has been pleased with the construction process, labeling it one of the cleanest and well-organized construction sites. He specifically commended the construction manager, Quandel Construction Services, and the general trade contractor Mosser Construction of Fremont.
