Middletown school board calls special meeting on rejected $10M expansion plan

Just three days after the Middletown school board unanimously rejected a $10 million plan for expanding a school, members will meet again Thursday morning.(Photo by Michael D. Clark/Journal-News)

Just three days after the Middletown school board unanimously rejected a $10 million plan for expanding a school, members will meet again Thursday morning.(Photo by Michael D. Clark/Journal-News)

Just three days after the Middletown school board unanimously rejected a $10 million plan for expanding a school, members will meet again Thursday morning.

The five-member, governing board of the city schools saw an unusually large crowd watch its Monday evening meeting where a 5-0 vote - along with some criticism - were leveled at Middletown Schools Superintendent Marlon Styles Jr.’s proposal to radically alter the Central Academy School.

The board will hold a rare 7:30 a.m. meeting Thursday - on the fourth floor of the Middletown City Building at One Donham Plaza.

According to the meeting notice from school district officials, the special board meeting will include “discussing and reviewing the Central Academy Project. Action may be taken.”

Styles argued before the board Monday that to help reduce class overcrowding at other schools in the district, the $10 million expansion of Central Academy should also include moving the school’s sixth grade to Highview Elementary.

He also proposed changing Central Academy’s long-standing academic program away from its non-graded, project learning format.

Some board members complained to Styles during Monday’s meeting that details regarding the proposal were not shared in a timely fashion.

Styles disputed that characterization but said after the vote he was optimistic that a new proposal could be worked out.

Stay with the Journal-News for coverage of Thursday’s school board meeting.

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