Set your alarms! Students go back to class on Tuesday in Milwaukee Public Schools and several other area school districts.
In Milwaukee, hundreds of students who previously attended Lincoln Avenue Elementary will find their new classrooms at Pulaski High School.
Lincoln Avenue was deemed a total loss after an overnight fire in late June, and students will be attending classes at Pulaski while their former campus is demolished.
At a press conference late last week, MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius encouraged students and families to “expect great things” from the city’s schools.
“We are asking our students to expect great things from themselves, our families to expect great things from their schools and the entire Milwaukee community to expect great things from Milwaukee city schools," Cassellius said.
But she added that expectations alone aren’t enough.
At the start of this school year, she says MPS is facing around 60 open teaching jobs – about half as many as this time last year.
"We have to do the really hard work to make great things happen. That means investing in great teaching, great opportunities, great schools and the people who make those things possible each and every day," she said. "Our students deserve nothing less.”
New projects at north side MPS schools while district weighs closures
Ahead of the new school year, Cassellius shared some of the ways she's trying to turn things around: Hundreds of teachers took part in a literacy bootcamp this summer and the district has completed $13 million in renovations at schools on the north side.
Those renovation projects are designed to update six schools that will one day receive more students if the district closes other nearby campuses with low enrollment. A previous study done by consulting firm Perkins-Eastman recommended the district close Auer Avenue School, Clarke Street School, Hopkins Lloyd Community School, Keefe Avenue School and Siefert School.
One of the schools that will remain open and was targeted for improvements this summer was Frances Starms Discovery Learning Center, on North 25th Street. It may one day enroll students from Clarke Street School if that campus is closed.
The school's hallways were redesigned and repainted, classrooms received new flooring and whiteboards, and the school's gym was updated this summer.
Starms Discovery Learning Center serves first- through eighth-grade students, and principal Dr. Tonya Love said she saw around 50 more students enroll for the upcoming year.
Superintendent Cassellius has not made a decision on which MPS schools to close.
She said she expects a small advisory panel to meet in the coming month to review the previous study by Perkins-Eastman. Cassellius appeared to rule out conducting further studies on the matter at the news conference.
"I don't think we need to study it anymore. I think we need to make a decision," she said.
Do you have a question about education or how schools work in our area? Submit it here to WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal.
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