Board Proposal Would Take Away Two Carmen Charter School Facilities

Carmen High School of Science and Technology. Photo courtesy of MPS.

An overflow crowd packed the Milwaukee Public Schools Central Services auditorium last night with many objecting to a proposal that calls for removing two Carmen charter schools from the buildings they now occupy. Carmen South would be removed from the building it shares with another MPS charter, Academia de Lenguaje y Bellas Artes (ALBA) and Carmen Southeast would be removed from the Pulaski building it shares with a MPS traditional International Baccalaureate program. Both Carmen programs would have to find a new home after 2025-26.

The proposal was made Milwaukee School Board director, Missy Zombor, to make room for the crowded and growing district-run schools that operate in the same buildings: ALBA and Pulaski High School. Superintendent Keith Posley took no position on Zombor’s motion, but asked for another month for analysis and recommendations. Board members agreed to hold over the proposal for a month.

At the meeting Tuesday night, more than 80 individuals spoke before the board committee. About 40% of the speakers supported Carmen and spoke against the resolution. The majority speaking in favor of the proposal were staff members from Pulaski with a smaller number from the ALBA community.

Pulaski and ALBA supporters said their programs are running out of space in the buildings they share with Carmen. Often their programs are using closets and hallways for meetings and instruction. Carmen supporters did not address the issue of overcrowding but spent most of their time praising the quality of the education their students are receiving.

One former Carmen student spoke of the collaboration between the programs on the Pulaski sports team. But Pulaski supporters said there was very little academic collaboration due to conflicting class schedules.

On all sides, each school’s supporters said they support Latino students.

Critics of Zombor’s resolution may see it as nothing more than a school privatization opponent taking aim at a charter school program. The reality is more complicated.

Creating co-locations was a championed by the Gates Foundation effort that emphasized the creation of small schools in the early 2000’s. Eventually, Gates concluded creating such schools proved ineffective and stopped funding such projects in 2010. In 2007, Carmen South joined ALBA and another charter at the Walker building. Carmen Southeast joined with a regular MPS program at the Pulaski building in 2016.

The quality and needs of each program make it difficult to find easy solutions.

Carmen has gotten praise from U.S. News and World Report, which states that “Carmen High School of Science and Technology is ranked 40th within Wisconsin. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® coursework and exams. The AP® participation rate at Carmen High School of Science and Technology is 80%.” Much of Carmen South’s recognition is its emphasis on a college prep program.

The 2022-23 Wisconsin state report card gives Carmen South a ranking of 68.1, “Meets Expectations.” But its ranking has slipped in the last few years. In 2020-21, Carmen South ranked 86.1, “Significantly Exceeds Expectations.” Still, it ranks above most MPS schools.

ALBA, with a state report card at 74.2 ranks higher than Carmen South. And it is very crowded, Zombor told Urban Milwaukee, with school projects flowing into the hallway and one classroom artificially divided just to give some space to its special education program. In order to accommodate expansion into a middle school program, it had to trim its lower elementary classes from three sections to two at various grade levels. ALBA has a waiting list of 68 students wanting to enroll. Carmen South and ALBA have fought over classroom space, with the issue arising at school board meetings.

At the Pulaski building, Carmen SE enrollment fell from 785 in 2021-22 to 676 in 2023-24. Its state report cards have fallen as well. In 2019-19, its report card was 64.0, “Meets Expectations,” but continued to fall every year. In 2022-23, it fell to 54.3, “Meets Few Expectations.”

Meanwhile, the Pulaski IB program has improved. Its enrollment rose from 859 in 2019-20 to 965 in 2020-23 only to again fall for the next two years to a low of 921, but rose to 945 in 2023-2024 with a waiting list of 39 students.  In 2017-18, Pulaski IB had a dismal report card of 26.9. But with its new International Baccalaureate program, its ranking continued to rise. 2022-23 was the first year it marginally surpassed the Carmen SE score of 54.3 with a Pulaski IB score of 55.1, but both ranked as “Meets Few Expectations.”

A UW-Madison study by its Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborate found in November 2020 that the Carmen/Pulaski co-location was problematic: “it seems clear that the partnership has thus far fallen considerably short of its intended outcomes,” the study noted.

At last night’s meeting Board member Henry Leonard expressed concerned that, “if we lose” high achieving Carmen students, this could lower the MPS state report card which could be a trigger for the County Executive to take over some schools. (A 2015 state law allows the Milwaukee County Executive to appoint a commissioner to replace five MPS schools per year  with charter or voucher schools; neither current county executive David Crowley nor his predecessor Chris Abele have ever acted on the proposal.)

Zombor stated that one of the selling points for charter schools to partner with MPS is the ability to use empty district buildings. Both UW-Milwaukee and the City of Milwaukee require their charters to find their own building. Posley did say that there were possible MPS buildings, but they would be on the far north side, far away from the neighborhoods where most Carmen students live. Finding alternative MPS locations on Milwaukee’s South Side is a problem. Carmen could eventually not renew its MPS high school charters and move on to another charter provider.

Leonard remembered when these co-locations were first established. “I knew some day this would be the end result” if these schools became successful, he said. Zomber has said “I never agreed with co-locations,” and that she will not support renewal of Carmen charter contracts if they include sharing buildings.

But she has also stressed that she didn’t want to blindside Carmen. “We have lots of time before these leases expire,” she noted. Her goal with the proposal is to “push this discussion out” and come up with possible solutions that benefit all, she said.

The board committee ultimately decided to hold the resolution in committee for another month to give the superintendent time to offer some possible solutions.

Disclosure: As a school board member, Terry Falk voted against the sharing of the Pulaski building between Carmen and the regular Pulaski program on October 29, 2015.