Rep. Bowen praises MPS Superintendent for rejecting school takeover proposal
Commends Dr. Driver’s thorough, alternative proposal for OSPP
MILWAUKEE – Rep. David Bowen (D-Milwaukee) released the following statement on today’s announcement by MPS Superintendent Dr. Darienne Driver that MPS had rejected and offered an alternative to the flawed school takeover proposal made by the County Executive and the OSPP Commissioner.
“I was pleased this morning to read that Dr. Driver had rejected the GOP’s cynical school takeover plan and instead offered a well thought out alternative that details the clear need for high-quality early childhood education, sustainable funding, and a stable, inclusive learning environment with strong educational leaders. Dr. Driver’s proposal is a good foundation for a discussion on how to implement the GOP’s bad law while ensuring a minimal negative effect on MPS, its faculty, families, and students.
“Supporting the education of our kids should not a partisan issue. Democrats and Republicans should be able to come together to provide adequate resources to support our students. The original intent of this proposal was to provide wraparound services for children and families in need. If our Republican colleagues wanted to institute real, positive change they would authorize resources to provide those wraparound services targeting schools with families in need. Who controls our public schools has never been the issue – at issue is the lack of resources to provide struggling families the resources they need to have an equitable chance at success. I am more than willing to collaborate with anyone who is willing to address the need for support services, not just in MPS but in other school districts that are dealing with similar challenges.”
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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Excellent reviews about MPS schools does not need to make the alternations for another charter or choice school since the empirical data with public and charter/choice schools have about the same results with the same students .
Perhaps there is another perspective we can review and that is the model of the students perspective.
Presently there is an opportunity with the White House offering an opportunity for all k-12 students to share their ideas for creating a better Anerica with a 3 min. YouTube due 7-15-2016.
Enjoy and share the opportunities for recognizing the visions of the future. Our youth has hopes and perspectives for making a better America.
This July fourth share the ideas of what is and will be a better Anerica and forward those family ideas to the White House.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/filmfest
I warned Alberta and Dale that the left gang would fight any changes to make kids better. They want power and money and this would interfere. WE must teach these kids, as the Left has no answer to the “National Disgrace”.
Can anyone else confirm that elected officials actually take advice from WCD? I don’t take him at his word. I can imagine him sending them emails and claiming that that equals a conversation, but I really hope that no one is actually taking him seriously considering his behavior here.
I just finished reading The Prize, which is fascinating and illuminating. Highly recommended. After Chris Christie and Cory Booker had Mark Zuckerberg’s money and implemented the drastic plan to turnaround Newark’s schools, there were a lot of problems and ultimately it failed. One of the biggest problems, if not the biggest problem, was that the reformers never worked to get the support of the people who were most affected by the turnaround plan: the community, particularly the parents and children in the district. They didn’t seek their input or communicate major changes to them. Essentially they completely ignored them and forced everything on them with little to no notice. Without the support of the community, the plan was destined to fail. Have Darling, Kooyenga, Abele, Means, and other reformers made it clear that they will not make the same mistake? Has any effort been made by them to talk to parents and children in MPS? If not, why shouldn’t people be skeptical of the reformers?
My wife and I live across the street from the worthy
Milwaukee Public Schools Manitoba Elementary.
We are fortunate to be retired, now relaxed on school day mornings.
We sit on our porch and see neighborhood children slowly strolling to school.
Cars driven by good parents of good children arrive
as students are watched or walked safely to school.
The crossing guard is vigilant as our street grows full when buses arrive,
driven by good drivers of good children safely arriving to school.
After all drive away, we suddenly hear almost silence
as learning resumes in classrooms.
At recess, children run outside and chase each other
fortunate to roam on their enormous playground of grass.
Joyful screams of children fill the air,
flow in a spring breeze to please and remind us
how we once played and laughed as children
on our forgotten playgrounds past.
***
For many years as young parents
we walked our two children to the corner school bus
going to their worthy M.P.S. Spanish Immersion School
and to their worthy M.P.S. Milwaukee School of Languages
where they gained fluency in Spanish
and an appreciation of different cultures.
For several years as old grandparents
we also walked our granddaughter to the corner school bus
to ride to her worthy school of choice.
I used to loudly, embarrassingly yell to our granddaughter
every morning as she stepped onto the bus.
I used to loudly, embarrassingly yell to our two children
every morning as they stepped onto the bus:
“Have fun!
Be good!
Work hard!
Eat lunch!
Speak Spanish!”
The children smile and wave from windows as they slowly grow away from us,
driven by good drivers of good children safely going to their worthy schools.