Madison City Schools breaks ground on eighth grade – themadisonrecord.com

MADISON – Madison City Schools broke ground on their eighth grade school on Tuesday, October 29th.

The school is located behind the new Madison Branch subdivision west of Hardiman Road on nearly 18 acres of annexed land in Limestone County.

City and school leaders say the school has long been in the works as part of a westward expansion and school growth plan orchestrated by former city council members and school board members in 2016.

The property and surrounding land that the subdivision now owns was annexed to the city in 2021. The city later acquired the property for the school and began ground preparation in 2022.

The school will accommodate 1,000 students in a bid to combat overcrowding and accommodate more growth in the coming years. The district is on track to reach 15,000 students by 2030. This year alone, the district officially reached 13,000.

“This new school will help us. This will help us reduce overcrowding. This will help us have space in all the other elementary schools,” said Madison City Schools Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols. “Our teachers will no longer have to carry carts around when this school and another elementary school addition opens.”

In the wake of an accident outside the Madison Pre-K Medical Center on Wall Triana Highway that put a school crossing guard in critical condition, road safety around city schools is on the minds of Madison residents. The roundabout at Madison Branch Boulevard and the extension to Maecille Drive and Segers Road is the city’s effort to help traffic in the area and make the roads safe for school traffic. The road project was a collaborative effort. The city facilitated the east side of the project. The school district maintains the west side, and the developer of the Madison Branch subdivision facilitated the split between them.

“We’re spreading our money as far as we can, taking care of the biggest investment most of us have, which is our education system, and working on something together that continues to help Madison grow,” said Mayor Paul Finley of the Road project around the school.

The school is slated to open in time for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

A principal for the new school is expected to be appointed next year, about a year before the school opens, after which recruitment for the new school will begin.

A name is expected to be announced even sooner. A survey was sent out to parents and students in the area in advance and the results will be announced in the coming months.

With the new school will come realignment, which Nichols says the district is already working on and plans to complete in the spring.