Former Catholic School Sold To Charter School
Milwaukee Academy of Science is third charter school to take over former St. Michael's.
2433 W. Cherry St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
A third charter school has acquired the former St. Michael’s Catholic School on Milwaukee’s West Side.
According to state real estate records, an affiliate of Milwaukee Academy of Science (MAS) purchased the currently vacant building at 2433 W. Cherry St. for $2.48 million on Dec. 22 from the former Penfield Montessori Academy.
Penfield, an affiliate of still-operating Penfield’s Children Center, closed at the end of the last school year, citing financial issues with state funding formulas. After the closure, the Wisconsin State Legislature and Governor Tony Evers passed a funding overhaul that substantially boosted per-pupil funding for charter and voucher schools.
The building, following its life as a private Catholic school, was previously occupied by Urban Day School. The school closed at the end of the 2016 school year, the same year Penfield’s school was launched.
The Urban Day School was created in 1967 and was an early participant in the voucher program, but switched to become a UW-Milwaukee authorized charter in 2011. The Urban Day School, initially the Via Marsi Montessori School for Exceptional Children, leased unused space in St. Michael’s school, which had operated on the site for decades. The archdiocese closed St. Michael’s in the late 1960s, and the building housed St. Michael’s Community School in the ensuing years.
The school building, according to a Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) webpage and a date marker in the building, was originally constructed in 1923 and expanded in 1956. A handful of religious influences can still be spotted in the Late Gothic Revival building, and the still-operating St. Michael Catholic Church, 1445 N. 24th St., looms over the building from the east.
The one-acre, tax-exempt property runs the entire length of N. 24th Place from W. Vliet to W. Cherry streets and includes a grass lot at its southern edge. City assessment records do not list the square footage of the three-story building, but the WHS report says there are 12 classrooms and several additional rooms.
The school building is located in the Midtown neighborhood, approximately five blocks north of the current MAS facility.
Photos
Article continues below
About MAS
The Milwaukee Academy of Science was founded in 2000 by then-Medical College of Wisconsin president T. Michael Bolger to train more minority students for post-secondary education and success.
MAS had 1,401 students in the prior school year. Demographically, 92.4% of the student body qualified as “economically disadvantaged,” and 8.1% had disabilities. The report card says 95.7% of the student body identified as Black or African American.
The report card says 64.6% of students are on track for graduation, but the school publicly claims a 100% college acceptance rate for eight years running.
Anthony McHenry has served as the school’s CEO since 2016. Bill Reitman is the chair of the school’s board. MAS is chartered by the City of Milwaukee.
Penfield had 121 students in K3 through sixth grade in its final year of operation, according to its report card, and also earned a three-star rating. Its student body was 64.5% Black, 14% white, 11.6% two or more races, 6.6% Asian and 3.3% Hispanic or Latino. Demographically, 58.7% of the student body qualified as economically disadvantaged and 28.1% had disabilities, an unusually high percentage owing to the school’s focus on providing for those with special needs.
A representative of MAS said the school would reveal its plans for the building after the holiday break.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
When this school was first open, there was all sorts of publicity relating to how the connection to the Medical College would result in high performing students in STEM fields. After several decades, the school is known for good basketball teams but academically it is similar to most other high schools in Milwaukee with continual marginal academic outcomes. The Republican lead “School Reform” movement that has been going on since the 1990’s has cost taxpayers billions of dollars that were spent on unaccountable schools who continue to have poor academic outcomes.
Private and charter schools opening and closing with no oversight and no regard for children’s consistent education experience. Why the state keeps bankrolling them and bankrupting our own public schools I’ll never know why. (Oh I know why but it’s much too depressing to share).
In the meantime Evers will fight GOP for every penny going to any possible child he can bc he knows if he doesn’t take it now they’ll never get it. Such a sick game being played on the most vulnerable.