WUWM: Education Reporting

Many children in the Milwaukee area have started the school year with remote learning. But not all parents have the ability to stay home and supervise.

So, some child care programs are adapting to facilitate virtual learning. One of them is the YMCA of Metropolitan Milwaukee, which has been running child care programs throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

>>School Year Starts Virtually For All MPS Students

Back in July, school districts were in the throes of deciding how to safely reopen during a pandemic. The Cedarburg School District was initially not going to require mask-wearing in its buildings. But two high school students put up a fight. 

Whether college campuses can stay open safely during this pandemic is becoming more uncertain as the fall semester gets underway.

On Monday, UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent an urgent directive to undergrad students: limit your social activity for the next 14 days or risk campus shutting down.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, K-12 schools in Wisconsin are making a variety of decisions about how to reopen.

Most Milwaukee schools are starting the year virtually. But some suburban districts and private schools are bringing students back in person, with a host of precautions.

>>School Year Starts Virtually For All MPS Students

All Milwaukee Public School students are back in school this week – virtually. Tuesday was the first day for traditional start schools, which includes most elementary students. High schools and middle schools, most of which are on the district's early-start calendar, started on Aug. 17.

Class is back in session at Marquette University — the largest private university in Wisconsin.

About 60% of Marquette’s classes are in-person, with the rest online or hybrid. Dorms and classrooms are at reduced capacity, and masks are required to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

But instructors say they’re worried about the potential consequences of Marquette’s reopening, as they watch what’s happening at other schools that opened up in recent weeks.

The University of Wisconsin System’s new interim leader wants to expand a free tuition promise program for low and moderate-income students to all UW campuses in the coming years. But it’s dependent on funding that may be difficult to procure during the COVID-19 crisis.

Monday is the first day of school for most Milwaukee public high schools and middle schools. The rest of MPS schools start on Sept. 1.

It’s going to be a very different year. Milwaukee Public Schools, like many large districts across the country, is starting the semester virtually because of the risks posed by the coronavirus. The virtual learning will continue until at least Oct. 9.

Updated at 10:22 a.m. CT

New research on Black-white disparities in metropolitan Milwaukee draws a sobering conclusion about education: Black students here attend the most racially segregated schools in the nation.

Not only that, but schools have resegregated over the years. Black children are as racially isolated as they were in 1965.

Some Milwaukee education leaders say, with the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement, now is the time to change the segregation picture.

Milwaukee schools that bring students back in-person will have to follow dozens of safety rules, including 50% capacity limits and tracking positive COVID-19 cases within the school.

A Wauwatosa private school is facing backlash from alumni after its statement about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Milwaukee Lutheran High School posted on Facebook last week that it supports Black lives and Black families but doesn’t support the beliefs of the Black Lives Matter organization because they don’t align with biblical views. Many took that as an objection to the pro-LGBTQ stance of the Black Lives Matter organization.

University of Wisconsin campuses will test students living in dorms for COVID-19 every two weeks, under a new plan announced Thursday. The plan applies to all UW schools except Madison, which has its own testing procedures for the fall semester.

Updated at 3:48 p.m. CT

On Monday, southeastern Wisconsin teachers’ unions and community groups organized a car caravan from Kenosha to Madison, calling for state action on school reopening.

Updated at 5:05 p.m. CT

Milwaukee schools that want to reopen for in-person instruction got a new directive from the city health department on Friday: they can reopen, but only with an approved safety plan and at maximum 50% capacity.

It’s one of many restrictions on businesses and gatherings to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in Milwaukee.

A cloud of financial trouble is hanging over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as it plans for its first full semester in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic.