WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE ORIGINAL MADISON CAMPUS?

Post date: Aug 19, 2016 9:16:14 PM

Quick Answer: The original Madison Middle School campus is now empty and will be disposed of soon. Central Middle School staff and students used the old campus in 2015-2016 while Central was being renovated, but they are now back at the renovated Central campus. There is already funding from the 2013 bond issue to demolish and clear the site, but the school board will need to consider if it wants to raze and re-purpose the campus or try to sell the campus with its existing buildings to another entity. The district has no plans to re-occupy the original buildings, since the 6-12 grade reconfiguration in the 2013 bond included reducing from four to three secondary schools to reduce operating costs as well as the number of site transitions for students as they advance from one grade to the next.

The 2013 bond relocated 6-8 grade students from the aging original Madison Middle School to the adjacent and more robust Mid-High building, which was originally constructed in the late 1960s as Sooner High School. The former Mid-High/Sooner site has now been renamed Madison Middle School.

The west end of the former Madison Middle School campus

The original Madison Middle School campus will be disposed of. The new Madison Middle School occupies the campus that was once the Mid-High/Sooner High.

The 2016 bond projects for Madison Middle School are for its NEW location, the former Mid-High/Sooner High campus.

The 9th and 10th graders who once attended the Mid-High shifted to an expanded Bartlesville High School. While Central Middle School was being renovated in 2015-2016, its staff and students were temporarily relocated to the original Madison campus. Now that they have left, the original Madison campus needs to be razed or sold in order to reduce the district's operating costs.

Why get rid of the original Madison buildings?

The original Madison campus has design limitations which would make a renovation an unwise use of taxpayer dollars

The original Madison Middle School was built in the popular “California” style of the 1950s with a great deal of single-pane glass panels, freestanding brick walls, and fire-resistant exterior overhang panels. This design is ill-suited to Oklahoma’s climate; many glass panes have been painted over or replaced with wood panels due to light and climate control problems. Many of the building’s materials have not aged well, causing the site to have high maintenance costs.

The school also has an awkward combination cafeteria/auditorium with uneven floor levels, and its gymnasium floor is frequently damaged by groundwater infiltration. The building has deteriorated to where it needs a full-scale renovation or replacement. While a great deal of money could be put into renovations, such as refreshing the building panels, replacing all of the windows, and trying to solve the problems in the cafeteria, auditorium, and gymnasium, the end results would still be underwhelming.

So $300,000 in the 2013 bond issue was set aside to allow for demolishing and clearing the Madison site. The school board will soon decide if it wishes to take that course or try to sell the existing buildings to another entity. The old Madison campus is contiguous with the former Mid-High/Sooner High as well as Hoover Elementary School, so that will be a factor in the decision.