Madison City Schools breaks ground on eighth elementary school

MADISON – Madison City Schools broke ground on its eighth elementary school on Tuesday, October 29.

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 been a long time coming as part of the western expansion and school growth plan orchestrated by former city council members and school board members in 2016.

The property and surrounding land that now holds the subdivision was annexed into the city in 2021. The city later acquired the property for the school and began land preparations in 2022.

The school will hold 1,000 students in an effort to fight overcrowding and accommodate more growth in the coming years. The district is on track to reach 15,000 students by 2030. Just this year, the district officially cracked 13,000.

“This new school will help us. It will help us to reduce overcrowding. It’ll help us to have space in all our other elementary schools,” said Madison City Schools Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols. “No longer when this school opens and another addition at an elementary school will our teachers have to carry carts around.”

In the wake of an accident in front of the Madison Pre-K center on Wall Triana Highway that put a school crossing guard in critical condition, safety on the roads around city schools is on the minds of Madison residents. The Madison Branch Boulevard roundabout and expansion 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 is supporting the west side, and the developer of the Madison Branch subdivision facilitated the section in between.

“It’s stretching our money as far as we can, taking care of the biggest investment that most of us have, which is our educational 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 scheduled to open in time for the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

A principal for the new school is expected to be named next year, about a year ahead of the school’s opening, after which staffing will begin for the new school.

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

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