Madison Junior High principal, Tom Wolff, addressed the Board of Education with updates on the students during Wednesday evening’s meeting. Superintendent, Lee Kaple, made an announcement about an upcoming program that will occur. In other business, the Board discussed the naming rights of the Madison Athletic Stadium.
Wolff updated the Board on both the students of the junior high and the construction of the new middle school building. “The excitement at the junior high for the new building is beyond words. Students and teachers are ready to get into the new building. We have about 476 kids as of right now in the junior high,” said Wolff.
Wolff also highlighted school activities at the junior high. “We have 119 kids that are participating in sports at the junior high and that include seventh and eighth football, volleyball, cross country, and cheerleaders. We would certainly like to get that number up and it usually does increase in eighth grade,” said Wolff.
“There are two subjects we are really pushing and those would include reading and math. We are having less and less problems with discipline and it has continued to decrease. I truly believe our kids understand that they are there for an education. We did meet all six indicators on our grade card last year and one thing that was really exciting for our teachers was our new report card, and I think we were the best middle school in Richland County. That is quite an achievement,” said Wolff.
Kaple noted that a program titled Rachel’s Challenge is to be held at the Madison Comprehensive High School gymnasium on October 2 at 7 p.m. The program’s platform is “Overcoming Bullying with Kindness” and will be open to the public. Bullying is a concern in every school district and we have support groups within the school and this is just one more activity that we would like to do. I know it is an excellent program and I hope we get many participants to fill the gym,” said Kaple.
“We will be having a work session on Saturday, October 12 at 8 a.m. regarding the Board’s decision regarding grade level buildings for next year. I have done a number of month’s worth of research and I think there is no particular sequence of grade spans that will guarantee student’s success. I think if grade level buildings were the way to go, then we would all have them. There are pros and cons to everything. I think the Board’s toughest decision will be deciding on what is best for Madison. I will tell you this right now, no matter which direction we go we will be alright. We’ve got everything going in the right direction because of our teachers and administration. We’ve got the ball rolling in a great direction,” said Kaple.
The Board discussed approving a naming rights agreement of the Madison Athletic Stadium. The name of the field would remain Ram Field and the potential name of the stadium would be Star Tek Stadium. No decision has been determined on what the name of the stadium will be at this point.
