Fifth grader Jaihun Chawda was ready for his first day back at Maryland Avenue Montessori on Milwaukee’s east side.
"I'm excited for meeting all my friends," Jaihun said. "I love recess and gym and math."
Tuesday was the first day of school for most Milwaukee Public Schools students. But, the day was cut short due to extreme heat.
As Jaihun awalked into school, the temperature was inching toward a high of almost 90 degrees.
"We want to make sure our students, staff and community is safe," said MPS Superintendent Keith Posley. "We decided to pivot to a half-day session today. 'Cause we looked at the heat index, and the heat pipes up around 2 o’clock this afternoon. ... Our students will be home prior to that time."
The early dismissal times range from 11 a.m. to 12:50 p.m., Posley said.
Like most MPS schools, Maryland Avenue Montessori is in an old building that isn’t air-conditioned. Alice Kirtley is a fourth grader at the school.
"They have fans and they open the windows a lot, so that’s pretty good overall," Alice said. "But I would appreciate air conditioners for the late school year and early school year."
Alice’s mom said it’s unfortunate students’ first day is being cut short.
"Wow, what a bummer that it is so hot today," Ann Kirtley said. "But I’m really glad that the kids could at least do a half day, rather than cancelling school altogether."
MPS has closed schools due to extreme heat before, including a couple weeks ago. But usually those closures happen at the middle and high schools, which are on the early-start calendar, beginning in August.
MPS buildings are, on average, are about 80 years old. Maryland Avenue was built in 1887.
Two years ago, school board member Aisha Carr advocated for using some of MPS's federal pandemic relief on air conditioning. At the time, installing air conditioning in MPS's 28 early-start schools was estimated to cost $140 million. The proposal was rejected.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers joined MPS officials for the first day of school celebration. But he faced a different kind of heat — criticism from the head of the Milwaukee teachers’ union, Amy Mizialko.
Mizialko called out Evers for signing the Republican-authored state budget.
"MPS students are returning to their public schools this year with fewer resources than they had last year," Mizialko said. "While unaccountable private voucher and charter schools that screen, sort and select only the students and families they want to serve, will have more resources, because of the Republican state budget signed by the governor."
The budget provides between $1,000 and $3,000 more per student for private voucher schools, while increasing public school per-pupil funding by only $325 this year. It was part of a deal between Evers and Republican lawmakers to give municipalities like Milwaukee the ability to raise sales tax and avoid bankruptcy.
Evers said the budget needs to be considered in that context.
"Is it a budget that every piece of it was something I loved and embraced? Heck no," Evers told reporters. "But it was important to me to have the city and county of Milwaukee to have a significant increase."
MPS has also been losing funding due to declining enrollment. The number of students fell from about 75,000 in 2019 to an estimated 65,000 this year.
Schools like Maryland Avenue have wait lists, while others are under-enrolled.
In the coming years, as part of a strategic plan, the school board will decide whether to close or combine schools to better match the number of students.
This story has been updated.
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