MADISON (WKOW) -- The Madison schools superintendent says he will announce his plan next week to bring up the test scores and graduation rates of minority students.
It is still not clear whether this will affect the proposal for a Madison Prep charter school.
The Madison school board met Monday, confirming plans to announce Superintendent Dan Nerad's plan to bridge the achievement gap.
"We are in the process of finalizing the proposal," Nerad said.
Much like the proposal for Madison Prep, it aims to reverse disappointing statistics that show just under half of African-American students and only about 57 percent of Latino students graduated in 2010.
"What I have said all along is whether Madison Prep happened or didn't, we needed to take this as a challenge to review what we are doing," he said.
A Madison Prep director says the plan will not eliminate the need for a school designed specifically for underachieving students
"We welcome district-wide efforts. This is such an entrenched problem. It is such a deep issue. This has gone so far to the unacceptable side," said Laura Deroche-Perez, the director of school development for Madison Prep.
Since the Madison school board voted Madison Prep down last month, supporters hoped to start it this fall as a private school before starting it up as charter school in 2013.
"Those plans are still in development and will continue to be for quite some time," said Deroche-Perez.
They are still looking for funding to start this fall and waiting to see if the district will take up a vote on starting the charter school when it no longer conflicts with the Madison teachers union contract.
"We will let this play out, see how people respond to this plan as well as requests from Madison Prep organizers," Nerad said.
Madison Prep supporters asked that the school board vote on the issue in February, but the school board president told 27 News it is unlikely.
He says it is a busy month, and the board has not really discussed it yet.
The superintendent hopes to have a final proposal of his plan back to the school board later this spring.
