New MPS community committee holds first meeting toward eventual school closures
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) community members met Monday night, Sept. 14, to take the first steps toward the eventual closure of school buildings.
District leaders see it as a critical inevitability that’s needed to help the district stay financially sound.
It was the first of four “Great Schools” committee meetings, which will eventually recommend which schools could close.
The school board will make the ultimate decisions, but this committee will do the heavy lifting, weighing myriad factors to consider how the district can survive and succeed over the next several years.
New schools are needed, existing buildings need repairs, academic programs need to expand, and all of that costs an enormous amount of money.
The committee is comprised of about 15 people from several sectors of the MPS ecosystem: students, parents and community representatives, administrators, union reps, and school board members.
Monday’s meeting was about base knowledge as MPS leaders explained the district’s financial health in detail.
They shared their guiding principles, among them: rightsizing classrooms, expanding programming, focusing on equity, and modernizing buildings.
Regardless of what’s prioritized, tough decisions are likely needed.
MPS Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius said, "There are just a number of things that we need. Air conditioning, obviously, also needs to be addressed. Sprinklers in our schools for fire safety. Just a number of things that we're going to discuss here."
The district says it needs to build three new schools, modernize 20 more, address air quality and energy concerns, and many more needed improvements.
They estimate it will cost about $355 million.
And MPS believes they must close down some buildings in order to save the money needed to survive.
Cassellius said that will be the hard part.
This committee is tasked with crafting a criteria for school closures, then recommending which specific schools should be closed.
At the meeting, MPS parent Bryan Rogers said, “Closures, mergers. It feels like a forgone conclusion. It’s being presented as though It’s some sort of inevitability.”
Cassellius responded, “I don’t think you get to any other solutions of raising revenue without closing schools. Politically. And I’m just being transparent and honest.”
Cassellius said the district will not close a school, or invest in a school, without talking to the school community that’s impacted.
There will be three more committee meetings that are open to the public.
MPS plans to get public input in September and October, with the board deciding in November which schools will close.