With school closings looming, MPS releases facilities data but not list of schools on chopping block
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On Friday, Sept. 27, MPS released new data that will help determine which school buildings the district will shut down.
The district's long-range facilities master plan will require some buildings to close in order to right-size the district.
Soon MPS will host town hall meetings for parents and families, but the public will not know at those meetings if their schools are the ones in jeopardy.
What was released Friday essentially amounts to the grading criteria, but not the results.
A lot of data was shared, but not the most important information: we still do not know which MPS schools will be closed as the district looks to the future.
Sean Kane, the senior director of facilities and maintenance, said, "There’s no final decisions, let me make that absolutely clear."
It's just a plan, Kane stressed.
50-plus pages of data were released, but not a list of schools that could be on the chopping block.
Kane said, "You really have to look at our facilities and what’s in the best interest for the students to give them a great educational experience."
The report was compiled by research firm Perkins Eastman. It lays out hundreds of data points from MPS' 144 school campuses.
The goal is to right the district's economic ship by being more fiscally efficient. That means making tough choices and closing schools.
Kane said, "It’s not a one-year plan, it’s a five-to-10-year plan which everyone really has to understand the gravity of this because it’s very important, not only for the MPS district but for the city of Milwaukee."
Every MPS school is being assessed to see if it should be closed or merged, invested in, monitored, or added to.
Here's how they're doing it:
In the first round, schools will first be sent through a flow chart based on four criteria: building utilization, program access, building condition, and geographic distributions.
After they're sorted, the second round will rank them within those groups.
Secondary data points include projected enrollment, student demographics, and building amenities.
An example of the need for more efficiency: enrollment has decreased 14% over the past 10 years, and nearly 2/3 of MPS schools lost enrollment during that time.
And enrollment is uneven: ¼ of schools are underutilized and ¼ are overcrowded.
Additionally, the study found many students do not go to the school closest to where they live.
In making the decisions, the district will follow eight guiding principles, among them: improving access to high quality programming, appropriately staffing schools, and ensuring the district's long-term financial sustainability.
In-person town hall meetings start Monday evening, September 30.
But again, people will not know if their school could be among those closed.