MPS May Have a Licensed Teacher for Every Classroom

Casimir Pulaski High School at 2500 W. Oklahoma Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

For the past few years Milwaukee Public Schools has operated with approximately 100 teacher vacancies throughout the school year, filling the gap with substitute teachers and provisionally licensed teachers. But MPS is cautiously optimistic that is could start the school year with a licensed teacher in every classroom. That includes meeting the goal of Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to hire 89 additional teachers to lower class size.

Last week, MPS was still short 111 teachers. But with new hires coming in, the number of vacancies is down to 66 and falling. Had the district not set the goal of lowering class size, it would have already met its teacher needs for the coming year.

On Wednesday and Thursday, MPS hosted a teacher recruitment fair in Chicago, as Urban Milwaukee was the first to report. The story noted that Chicago schools were laying off over 700 teachers because of budget shortfalls. While most of the teachers would ultimately be called back, some 200 Chicago teachers might be looking for new employment.

A bullish Dominick Maniscalco, MPS chief human resources officer, told Chicago’s Fox 32 how great the first day of recruiting went. “The good thing about Milwaukee Public Schools is there is no residency requirement. You can live and work anywhere. I live in Skokie [Illinois]. I make the commute every single day. About an hour, give or take a few. A very nice drive. Reverse traffic, both ways… We have not laid off teachers in decades. There is a lot of stability for teachers in Milwaukee Public Schools.”

MPS made sure the word got out to other Chicago media outlets that covered the story.

“The most consistent feedback we got from [teachers who went to the MPS recruitment fair] was they want stability,” Maniscalco told Urban Milwaukee. “They are tired of Chicago schools laying them off every year, and throughout the summer, they are worried about whether they will have a job in the fall. And some of them being called at that last minute, the day before school starts. Stability was the one thing I could guarantee in Milwaukee.”

More than 70 teachers showed up for the recruitment fair. MPS made offers to 31 classroom teachers and two teachers who wanted to be substitutes. The numbers don’t stop there, says Maniscalco.

“We followed up, all of them, on Friday as well as yesterday [Monday]. We are going to also offer them a $2,000 travel bonus for the first year… We are onboarding them as we speak. In addition to the 31, we had another 12 apply between yesterday and today from Chicago Public Schools. We are calling them as we speak,” said a confident Maniscalco. “I think we will have more Chicago teachers trickling in over the next week or so.”

The pay is a little more in Chicago, but if they move to Milwaukee, they may actually come out ahead, noted Maniscalco. “I already have Chicago teachers that are apartment hunting. The fact that they can save twelve, thirteen hundred dollars a month, they are ecstatic about that. They are not even looking to commute, they want to relocate to Milwaukee.”

And MPS is still out there recruiting and getting the word out in Chicago, hoping to hire at least another 100 teachers, more than the number of vacancies it has, in order to replace those who may still retire or take another job.