Dear MPS Students and Families,
With much enthusiasm and excitement, I welcome you back for another great school year with Milwaukee Public Schools!
The start of the new school year is one of my favorite times of year. It’s a fresh start for our students, families, and staff, and is the perfect time to recommit ourselves to the very important work ahead.
Exciting things are happening in MPS, and our staff have been working diligently to prepare for a strong year. As we begin our 2018–19 school year, I firmly believe that we will make progress in our district with a strong academic focus in reading, writing, and mathematics.
We are committed to applying the following Five Priorities for Success.
• Increasing academic achievement and accountability
• Improving district and school culture
• Developing our staff
• Ensuring fiscal responsibility and transparency
• Strengthening communication and collaboration
We are also focused on ensuring that every student is in school every day, and that all students are getting the support they need. We launched a new attendance campaign, Attend Today. Achieve Tomorrow. with the goal of increasing student attendance so all students can succeed and graduate on time. We need your help to make daily attendance a priority!
Parent involvement is the key to a student’s academic success, and I encourage your active involvement and partnership with our staff to ensure a successful year. Please contact your school’s office to find out how to get involved!
As a district, we are celebrating many successes that we will continue to build on this school year.
• The graduating class of 2018 earned a record-breaking $82 million in scholarship offers.
• This July, we celebrated 173 summer graduates.
• We received a grant of more than $3.3 million from the Wisconsin Department of Justice to make upgrades and improve safety efforts in our schools.
• Pulaski High School earned authorization to deliver the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme, giving students access to IB coursework. Pulaski is the fourth MPS high school to earn this distinguished honor.
Thank you for being part of the MPS family, and I look forward to a successful school year. With your partnership, we expect to win!
Dr. Keith P. Posley
Interim Superintendent of Schools