The closed West Madison Elementary School will be repurposed into a districtwide PreK Center.

The Madison City Board of Education approved a bid Thursday, Dec. 1 from Limestone Building Group to renovate the 50,000 square-foot old school at 4976 Wall Triana Highway to house PreK classrooms.

WMES closed at the end of the 2020-2021 school year when Midtown Elementary opened.

The old West Madison Elementary School at 4976 Wall Triana Highway that would become at PreK Center

The $7.35 million renovation of the old school building could be open sometime after the Oct. 2-6 fall break 2023 The makeover will house 21 PreK classrooms of 18 students, and possibly a couple more in the near future. See WHNT-19 story here.

Madison City's current allotment of state funded PreK classrooms under Alabama's 1st Class PreK program is 12, so the renovation will nearly double capacity and help ease waiting lists that are typically 200 names long.

Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said the district's stand-alone PreK Center on Nance Road will likely be re-purposed for other district needs or perhaps sold. He also said the West Madison makeover could include accommodations for district operations relocated from the MCS administrative annex off Sullivan.

Retrofitting the former West Madison Elementary School into a PreK Center has the added benefit of having a gym and full cafeteria, library and potential multi-purpose rooms.

Learning fun at the Madison City PreK Center
 

The MCS PreK Center at 74 Nance Road