Cassellius May Use Portable Classrooms for 6th Graders

Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius speaks at an April 3 press conference. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

With Carmen and College Prep charters leaving Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), the district is sure to lose students. Add to that the impact of declining birthrates, and MPS is certain to close schools as well.

But School Superintendent Brenda Cassellius is ready to go on a building spree. As charter students go out one door, she is doing everything she can to keep regular MPS students from fleeing the district to suburban and private schools. She even hopes to draw some of those families back.

As Urban Milwaukee recently reported, Cassellius is ready to allow 23 K-5 schools to add a sixth grade in hopes of keeping more students in the district. At a Jan. 13 meeting, she told the school board she was ready to go even further by considering trucking in portable classrooms the following school year to the 18 K-5 schools that do not have room for a sixth grade in their existing buildings.

“We are looking at portables, not as a permanent solution,” said Cassellius.

Cassellius told the board that each of the 23 K-5 schools with room for a sixth grade will have to have at least 20 students ready to sign up for next year. Board Vice President Marva Herndon said she found schools were receptive: “In District 1, I took it upon myself to poll the schools I’ve had time to get to. And to my surprise, this was met with excitement.”

The loss of College Prep and Carmen could also open up some possibilities for MPS at those sites as well. The two locations Carmen has on the South Side are shared with other schools, ALBA and Pulaski. Both are looking to expand, but have been limited by the lack of space because they are sharing their facilities with Carmen.

College Prep currently educates 1,800 students at four locations. Carmen educates more than 1,500 students at three locations. Just how many sixth grade students MPS can keep in the district that would normally leave, or how many students might go back to MPS from College Prep and Carmen, remains to be seen. It is hard to envision capturing nearly 3,500 students who could be lost from the district next year from these charter programs. However, Cassellius is ready to invest in improving several MPS facilities before she considers closing any existing schools.

At the meeting, Mike Turza, interim chief operations officer, stated that the district has not invested in schools in the 53206 ZIP code, the poorest in the city, “where we just don’t have high-quality programs that would attract students,” he admitted. There is acknowledgment by the administration and the board that one of the reasons many families transfer out of this neighborhood for other MPS and private schools is the lack of quality education in the central city. Thus, the district is “investing in that area,” said Turza, and he listed four schools to receive additional funding in the administration’s proposal.

Slated for renovation and upgrades are:

Brown Street Academy: $2,500,000

Jackson Elementary: $2,800,000

Douglas Middle: $5,100,000

Starms DLC: $2,500,000

Also proposed for investment is $2.4 million for North Division High School to support career and technical education and $3.3 million for River Trail Elementary for a greenhouse in its agricultural specialty.

Ingrid Walker-Henry, president of the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association, noted that “zero dollars have been invested in District 4 schools,” which include several schools in the 53206 ZIP code. All the schools that have been referred to as possible candidates for closure are in the District 4 area: Auer Avenue, Clarke Street, Keefe, Hopkins-Lloyd and Siefert. “District 4 schools have suffered generational disinvestment,” said Walker-Henry, adding that nothing in the administration’s presentation shows additional funds going to these schools.

All four schools listed for investment (Brown Street, Jackson, Douglas and Starms) are in District 4, but none of the schools often considered candidates for closure are receiving additional funding in this proposal.

School board director James Ferguson, who represents District 4, was applauded at the meeting when he stated, “I will do everything I can to protect all our schools in District 4. All of our schools in District 4 need investment.”

Cassellius noted that additional money will have to be allocated to any school adding a sixth grade for books and materials. However, the cost will not be known until MPS is able to identify how many of the 23 K-5 schools wish to add that additional grade. The amount needed will be placed in the annual budget in the spring.

Tony Tagliavia, chief communications officer for MPS, stated that K-5 schools that wish to add a sixth grade will be asked to provide information in early March on how many students could be in their sixth grade for the next school year.

Given the lack of investment in the schools often listed as candidates for closing, school board director Kate Vannoy asked the administration, “What is likely to happen to the schools often listed for closing?”

“We will have to close schools in the future,” Casselius said. “I don’t know what those schools are.”