Board approves Milwaukee Excellence Charter School proposal
July Board update: Vote means charter contract negotiations begin; Board also approves contract renewal for Alliance, nine new school leaders
MILWAUKEE (July 30, 2015) – The Milwaukee Board of School Directors on Thursday night voted to approve a proposal for the creation of Milwaukee Excellence Charter School.
The vote means Milwaukee Public Schools can now negotiate to establish a non-instrumentality charter contract for the school, which would open in 2016-17. A location would be determined after the contract is negotiated.
Under the proposal that was approved with an amendment from the Board, Milwaukee Excellence Charter School would ultimately serve students in grades 6-12 beginning with grade 6 in its first year.
The proposal presented to the Board was updated to clarify its alignment with MPS Discipline Policy and information related to school structure and culture. The updated proposal also includes additional information about academic and extracurricular activities the school intends to offer as well as student and teacher recruitment efforts.
Milwaukee Excellence Charter School expands the broad range of K3-12 school offerings available to MPS families, including strong neighborhood schools; arts, bilingual, International Baccalaureate, Montessori and language immersion schools; and charter schools.
In other action, the Board:
- Approved a two-year renewal charter contract for the Alliance School of Milwaukee, which serves students in grades 9-12 and has been an MPS charter school since 2005-06; the school can serve up to 175 students
- Approved new leaders for nine schools
- Approved 30 additional seats for Carmen High School of Science and Technology – South Campus and 35 additional seats for La Causa Charter School for 2015-16 to match the seat increase provided to the schools for 2014-15
- Approved the receipt of more than $105,000 in donations to MPS during July 2015, including more than $40,000 in Kohl’s Cares Field Trip grants
About Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee Public Schools is committed to accelerating student achievement, building positive relationships between youth and adults and cultivating leadership at all levels. The district’s commitment to improvement continues to show results:
- More MPS students are meeting reading standards
- The MPS Class of 2015 earned $36 million in scholarships and still counting; and
- MPS is home to 7 of the state’s top high schools according to U.S. News and World Report and the Washington Post.
. More MPS news is available at mpsmke.com/news.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.