It serves the cities of Madison and Fitchburg, the villages of Shorewood Hills and Maple Bluff, and the towns of Blooming Grove and Burke.
[4] The district covers about 65 square miles (170 km2), including all or part of the cities of Madison and Fitchburg, the villages of Maple Bluff and Shorewood Hills, and the towns of Blooming Grove and Burke.
It allows eight representatives from each high school (including affiliated alternatives) to meet bi-weekly with members of the board to discuss and change district policies for the benefit of Madison students.
The first public school in Madison held classes in 1838 in a room of the home of Isaac H. Palmer, with schoolteacher Louisa Brayton.
In ensuing years, it had several names, starting as Madison High School, with graduates including noted architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The plan aimed to reduce the disproportionate number of minority students at Lincoln and Franklin elementary schools, both on the south side of Madison, to approximately 30%.
[25][26] The new policy instructs teachers how to assist children as young as five in "social transition" to another gender, and prohibits notifying the parents without the child's permission.
This assistance could involve using different names and pronouns, or could include allowing access to opposite sex restrooms, changing rooms, and sports.
[25] In September 2020, a Dane County judge issued an injunction prohibiting MMSD from implementing the policy in a way that "allows or requires District staff to conceal information or to answer untruthfully in response to any question that parents ask about their child at school.
"[28] In 2021, a controversy developed around an East High School teacher's use of hidden surveillance cameras in hotel bathrooms on a field trip.